Introduction
Introduction
How many times were we told to eat our vegetables while growing up? How many times have we said this to our own children and encountered resistance to eating that chunk of green produce? Vegetables and fruit are essential parts of every diet and provide vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and calcium. Despite a host of healthy benefits, from cancer protection to a glowing complexion, few people consistently get their recommended daily allowance of produce each day.
For a variety of reasons, eating enough produce can be a challenge. Fresh fruits and vegetables usually require more preparation time than processed foods, and some do not taste good. Providing a family with a wide variety of wholesome produce can stress the grocery budget, especially when the children will not eat what is put on their plates.
Would you like a solution to this produce dilemma that will actually save you money and get your children to eat their veggies? The humble root cellar might be that answer. Although this might sound too much like living off the land and too complex for the average homeowner, root cellaring is a reliable storage method that has been used for centuries. Sometimes referred to as a cold cellar, an earth cellar, or cold storage, a root cellar is a structure built partially or completely underground that ranges in size from a multi-chambered room to a small can buried in the ground. The primary purpose of root cellaring is long-term, remote storage of produce at temperatures that will significantly slow the deterioration process — without chemicals, preservatives, or additional preservation methods, such as canning. Easy to operate and practical to use, a root cellar still has a place in the modern home.
This approach to food storage is similar to the grocery stockpiling approach of those who use coupons or buy in bulk at warehouse stores. As a root cellar user, you are able to buy or grow in large quantities and store the food for future use. Perfect for the self-sufficient and adventurous family, this project has something for everyone. If you are a gardener, keeping a cellar will cut your workload during harvest time and give you more room to store a winter’s worth of produce. If you are not a gardener, using a root cellar will allow you to buy in bulk from local sources and cut your grocery budget by thousands per year. Root cellaring stretches your food budget, and best of all, you are stockpiling nutrition. After your first year of root cellaring, you will wonder how you ever lived without it.
If you are interested in adopting a more eco-friendly lifestyle, the root cellar fits. By growing your own produce or purchasing it from sources close to home, you eliminate the high environmental costs of stocking supermarkets with produce. The produce you find in the canned foods aisle, freezer cases, or fresh produce section is typically grown on big, commercial farms. To plant, harvest, and transport this produce, these farms consume large amounts of natural resources, such as land, water, and fossil fuels. Even more fuel is required to keep the produce cool on the shelves and for you to drive it home for dinner. Estimates now show American food travels up to 1,500 miles from farm to cupboard. Many people refer to this use of natural resources and the subsequent pollution as a carbon footprint, and even a 1-pound bag of commercially produced potatoes affects the environment.
Nutrition and taste are the other big advantages of root cellaring, and it might just be the way to get your children to eat their veggies. Most produce available on your supermarket’s shelves is highly processed. It is either treated with pesticides during growth or preserved with chemicals after harvest so it stays shelf-stable longer. Many fruits and vegetables must be picked before they are fully ripe so they can make the journey to your store; this means the nutrients and flavor are not at their peak when you purchase them. Because you will be transferring your own produce directly from the ground to storage, those nutrients and great flavor are locked in at their highest levels. And when your children are able to help grow and harvest this produce, their interest in eating it goes up. Just think of all the valuable life lessons learned a child learns when he or she is allowed to dig in the dirt and enjoy the fruits of hard work.
Back to Our Roots
Root cellars date back to the earliest days of civilization; archaeologists found evidence of ancient root cellars in Australia from 40,000 years ago. Of course, root cellars from this time consisted of little more than a hole dug into the ground to store yams. Our current vision of the constructed, walk-in root cellar filled with produce was most likely developed in 17th century England because people of this time had the perfect conditions for growing root crops and the ideal climate for preserving these crops underground.
As these men and women immigrated to North America, they brought with them their knowledge of root cellaring. When they reached their new home, they found new food crops but similar geographies and climates — and native populations willing to share their methods of preservation. Learning from these practices, the immigrants modified their root cellars to work in their new land and passed these ideas on to the next generations. As settlers moved west, so did this type of root cellar and the preservation techniques to go with it. During even the harshest Northern Plains winters, pioneer families survived off the produce and other food they packed away in their cellars.
Created before full basements existed, these spaces doubled as storm shelters, safe houses, and even hiding places for slaves on the run. Built to last, thousands of these structures still stand today in the open or hidden under the grasses of original homesteads. Colleges and archaeologists throughout North America are now searching for these lost root cellars and documenting any they find. The National Register of Historic Places keeps a list of discovered root cellars, and after they are registered, they will be chronicled and preserved for future generations.
With the advent of electricity, refrigeration, and industrialization, the practice of root cellaring fell out of favor. As people moved to towns, they had no place to put root cellars and began to rely on buying produce from corner stands and supermarkets. Not so ironically, people’s diets changed to include more processed grains and meats and less fresh produce. This trend has somewhat reversed as people saw the benefits of a more naturally based diet and search out organically and grown produce. Gardening of all types has emerged as one of the most popular pastimes in the nation, and cities all over the country have seen a resurgence of farmers markets and food co-ops. A natural progression of this trend is an increase in home preservation practices, such as canning and freezing, and keeping a root cellar fits right into this lifestyle. In fact, keeping a root cellar means you do not have to process the produce to store it, so all year you will find time, money, and environmental savings. These can include:
Living with a root cellar will most likely change your eating habits for the better. You will start to eat more food in season and savor foods during the seasons in which they are meant to be eaten. By the end of this book and your growing season, you will have a fully stocked and operational mini-market right in your backyard. Hungry for parsnips or rutabagas followed by apple strudel for dessert? Just take a trip to the root cellar and help yourself to the main ingredients. No more driving to the grocery store to buy food that has been shipped from halfway around the world.
Every Home has Room for a Root Cellar
The basic principles behind keeping a root cellar have not changed much from the original design. The technology used in root cellaring is a simple harnessing of the Earth’s internal temperature and humidity. In most climates, these two factors stay at a more constant level underground and are perfect for prolonging the life of a wide variety of root crops, fruits, beverages, and more. Electricity and improved monitoring systems have made controlling the environments of our own cellars much easier. Technology has also been used to hybridize many root crops so they reach their prime closer to the proper storage season and last longer in cold storage. Today’s designs fall into three basic categories:
The following chapters will thoroughly discuss each of these designs and offer unique design plans to make your root cellar a reality. The book will help you find hidden storage options that do not require a shovel or sweat equity. It will help you determine the best choices for your region and lifestyle and give you step-by-step instructions for building and maintaining your new root cellar. Also included within each chapter are instructions for planning, planting, and harvesting your own produce. If you are not a gardener, the book offers ideas for finding fresh produce at a fraction of supermarket costs. You will also find tips for preserving your bounty and recipes to round out your winter meals.
This book is designed to help everyone from the beginning gardener to the experienced carpenter. The first two chapters focus on the basics of planning and building a successful root cellar. In these sections, you will learn the fundamentals of what makes a root cellar tick, how to choose the best design for your needs, and where to find materials. The following chapters provide season-by-season instructions, helpful hints, and stories from around the country of people who have lived with root cellars. The book starts at the beginning of the year and works completely through your first year of building and gardening. As each chapter progresses, you will get closer to a bountiful harvest for your family and a new root cellar in which to store it.
In the end, this book will help you save money and provide your family with healthy, nutritious produce all year long. Best of all, you will be able to take pride in your own creation and reward all your hard work with a hearty meal.