Storage

When I first moved into this house it was fall, and a long winter followed in which I read, researched, dreamed, and pined away for spring. And I kept reading, and reading and eventually I was convinced that this gardening thing was way too difficult and confusing and no wonder hardly anyone did it anymore! Watch out for diseases, and pests, and crop rotation and wilt and and endless amount of insurmountable odds! I was fried, and all I had been doing was researching. I tend to do that, over-research until I'm scared to death to try whatever it was I was previously interested in.

What am I getting at? Well, Liz asked me a while ago about how I store my food for the winter. And, as many of you know by now, the majority of my stockpile is in the freezers. And there's a reason for it too. I'm afraid of canning and root cellaring seems like a scary venture if all you have is a few books and flat land!

I've learned a few things since being here on the homestead. One, is no more than two books on a particular subject! :) And I've also learned that things are usually much more forgiving than those books will ever tell you. My garden grows by leaps and bounds every year, as does my knowledge about gardening, and rarely do I ever do things by the "rules." I tend to go the easy route as much as possible and rarely do I regret it.

My root crops spend their days in the basement. Do I wrap them in newspaper, cover them with sand, separate each crop according to temperature and humidity needs? Ah.....no. I pile all my squashes, pumpkins and gourds on my basement table, as you've already seen in this post. That's where they'll be all winter long. All the carrots, potatoes, rutabagas, sweet potatoes and tomatoes are in the same baskets I harvested them in, also in the basement. Onions have in years past (rotten harvest this year) been in their own basket, as well as the garlic this year.

I am blessed with this house though, and I have a pantry, and what I think was my husband's grandparent's basement "root cellar." Here, come take a look. Through this door.....

Here to the left is grandma's pantry. You can see some of my root crops in baskets on the floor there.

Everything there is pretty much the way grandma left it. We do use these shelves for canned good storage, or egg carton storage. (Ever notice when you have chickens, your entire extended family will start giving you empty egg cartons in droves...in hopes you'll fill 'em for them?!:) I have big plans for this pantry next summer!

Anyway, continuing on with the tour, this messy room in here is kind of our oubliette. We store lots of things in here, including the winter veg. This is what I think used to be the root cellar.

There's a whole section to the right that I just couldn't get a decent pic of because it's very dark. (and spooky...have I mentioned I'm not a big fan of indoor spiders?) It's raised up with a dirt floor and old shelves in the back. There's also a hole in the wall there (ventilation), which is another reason I assume this place was used for food storage.

I keep the door closed and it stays nice and cool in there. My root veggies survive the winter, spring and sometimes into the summer.

Sorry Liz, probably not as informative as you were hoping. But the best advice I can give you is just to try different things out, don't let those books scare you off, and don't be afraid to try the easiest route first!! :)