As we head into deep into fall, and the desire to store apples, potatoes, garlic, onions and the like through the winter is at a peak, those of us without a root cellar get despondent. Okay, maybe not completely despondent, but we wish we had a way of storing these foods for long periods of time.

You see, living in an area where we rarely get snow, let alone cold enough temperatures to keep things in a garage or shed makes it difficult to store these foods without some sort of cellar or shelter. So, what’s a desperate food storage obsessed person to do?

Some might suggest building in a root cellar. For many of us that is not only impractical, but impossible. What’s another option? Well, if you have any bit of yard you can easily make your own mini root cellar. Even if you rent – because this is an impermanent solution and it doesn’t take up much space.

Have I got your interest yet? Okay here goes. Dig a hole in the ground to accommodate a fairly large sized plastic container like an old cooler, a garbage can or a large storage bin with a lid. Place your receptacle of choice in said hole, making sure you leave a few inches sticking out of the ground to prevent rainwater or runoff from entering your “cellar”. You can dig a little drainage ditch around the cellar and cover with insulating straw and plastic as well to further protect your storage container.

If you want a lot more storage space and don’t mind digging a bigger hole, consider burying a 55 gallon drum or something larger. In spite of the space limitations, I would imagine that a long storage bin or insulated cooler would be ideal since you could place smaller bins or racks inside to keep some semblance of order and make it easier to find what you are looking for. But if you are looking to store a lot of large items, like 15 pumpkins, you’ll need to find a larger container.

Once you’ve got your cellar loaded, pack it with newspaper or straw or whatever you have on hand to help keep things insulated and then snap on the lid securely. You want to make sure that the only one getting into your food supply is you and not the neighborhood bugs and critters. You’ll also want to make sure you check your stock occasionally to remove any items that aren’t looking too good.

If this type of cellar works out for you, you can be looking at these kinds of storage times for your bounty:

Apples: ~ 2 – 6 months
Radishes: ~ 3 months
Beets: ~ 4 months
Carrots: ~ 5 months
Pumpkins: ~ 5 months
Squash: ~ 5 months
Turnips: ~ 5 months
Potatoes: ~ 5 months

Now, this solution isn’t perfect or ideal because of the limited space, but it’s an easy option to give a try. Just don’t store your potatoes with your apples!

For more info and ideas check out Sharon’s blog and search for root cellar.
Source blog

No, I’m not talking about saving scarlet runner beans from extinction, I’m talking about seed saving. My daughter’s preschool has a small patch for their playground and the director has somehow managed to squeeze in a mini dwarf apple tree and pear tree. I didn’t know that last spring she had planted scarlet runner beans along the fence until I noticed a bowl of these giant beans sitting in the preschool kitchen. The teachers were planning on drying the seeds for use in the classroom and informed me that they just learned that people actually eat them!

Okay, they are young so I’ll forgive them that. I asked if I could take some of the pods as I’d like to dry them for planting in the spring. The lead teacher was initially surprised by my request. I could almost see the wheels a-turning. But, then she got very excited about the prospect of giving away seeds to parents to grow in their own yards as a fun project for the kids. I think it was the first time she looked at plants and food as something that could be perpetuated instead of just bought in the grocery store.

Anyway, I grabbed about 7 of the large pods. Realistically, it’s best to dry the beans in the pod on the vine, but that wasn’t really an option for me. If you just have the pods and no plant, there are two ways you can try to dry them: in the pod and out. I decided to shell the beans as I figured it would take forever to air dry them without getting extremely moldy. Once dried, runner bean seeds should last in storage for at least 3 years.

Many people grow scarlet runner beans as an ornamental vine, since they have beautiful red blossoms (that hummingbirds love), and since it is a perennial it will keep coming back year after year. This bean is truly a food work horse: you can eat the flowers, the whole bean pod when young, or shell them for the beans when they are bigger. In fact, the starchy roots are still eaten by Central American Indians. They are also one of the heaviest yielding crops (up to about 65lb from a 10ft row) and are not difficult to grow.

When I was shelling them, I was surprised at the wide variety of color and sizes of the beans from the same plant. I’m saving all but the tiniest ones and those that got nicked during removal. I’m hoping that they’ll dry okay outside the pod and so far the larger ones seem to be drying out better than the smaller ones. If that doesn’t work out I’ll see if the school plans on leaving some on the vine to dry out. In the meantime, I’m already planning where to plant the beans next spring.

Picture courtesy of Stock Photo

Deanna writes for the blog, Crunchy Chicken and Mother Earth News Blogs.