i am wondering if any of you have built a fruit cellar and how you did it. can i build one in my basement? it's poured concrete and we have a ranch. i was thinking maybe i could just build a room in one corner and that would stay cool enough. any thoughts? thanks! jen
sherry
bend in the high desert
oregon
USA
3775 Posts
Posted - Feb 07 2010 : 07:31:03 AM
hi jen, welcome to the forum. what i would do is go to the magazine mother earth news. they have plans for cold rooms. i would think the basement would be perfect. i know the temp. needs to be consistent. i have even seen them built out of water tanks and partially buried. i am sure someone here will be able to help you more. lots of folks with know how.i think if i had a basement i would have a root cellar./ sherrye
the learn as we go silk purse farm farmgirl #1014
Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts
Posted - Feb 07 2010 : 08:45:44 AM
I don't see why that wouldn't work. I know you would have to be careful about moisture control though.
Melody
The Great North Woods in the Land of Hiawatha
USA
3318 Posts
Posted - Feb 10 2010 : 10:50:14 AM
My parents, when the retired, bought an old farmhouse with a root cellar--- it was kinda creepy and it smelled really earthy--but it was very cool down there. We kept our potatoes in there and a few root vegetables that my folks would garden.
Also, it was a great place for my father to store his dandilion wine!
"The best mirror is an old friend." - George Herbert
We have a home that was built in 1920 and it has a fruit cellar that has a dirt floor and still has the bins built right on the dirt floor to hold potatoes and root veggies. So I thought I could buy apples by the bushel in the fall and they'd keep all winter like ours did when I was a kid at home. BUT...our room is too warm. Someone before us put big sheets of styrofoam on the ceiling and there is a door on the room, but I can't, for the life of me figure out why it's so warm in there. There aren't any heat vents in there. Does anybody have any ideas?
Sister-chick# 905 Judy Hugs&Squeezles! I am not contained between my hat and my boots! -Walt Whitman-
My parents had a root cellar and also Mom kept her canning down there.It was in the corner of her basement and it was quite cool She always heated with wood so the basement stay cooler. It was a room with a door and shelves. They kept baskets or wood bins for potatoes and squashes. It worked great. It wasn't insulated in any way. I don't know why yours would be too warm.Is your basement particulary warm?
MJ
There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do. Freya Stark
Sort of, even though we've shut off the vents down there. It's in a corner too and the bedroom is over it. Mom use to keep her canning in her fruit cellar when I was a kid at home. Hers didn't have a door so she hung an old quilt over the door. Actually hers use to be under our back porch and was at one time the cistern. To a child it was creepy and full of spiders and webs. *shivers* ewwwww....Memories. hahahaha
Sister-chick# 905 Judy Hugs&Squeezles! I am not contained between my hat and my boots! -Walt Whitman-
Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts
Posted - Feb 13 2010 : 7:09:12 PM
I wonder if doing an old fashioned white wash with lime would help. Or lime and chalk to help take care of moisture?
fruit cellars
Posted - Feb 04 2010 : 9:52:16 PM
