May 2012

Mock Root Cellars  

I attended the Utah Preparedness Expo at the Davis Conference center and attended a Mock Root Cellar class taught by Mark Standing. He showed us a crisp hard potato that he just pulled out of his mock root cellar (April 14th). Firm, no sprouts and actually better than store quality. I thought we could all benefit from storing our fresh vegetables or fruits longer without an official root cellar. Mark Standing's mock root cellar design was taken from PrepareAware's Blog, Root Cellars on May 5, 2010. The following is information taken from that article and Mark's class. 

Did you know you can make your own root cellar at home and you don’t need to spend a fortune?  The cost is about $35 and you will have longer lasting fruits and vegetables through the cold season.  Or even a place to keep your food storage when summer temps spike and you don’t have a place cool to keep it. 

First the science behind preserving veggies and fruits is essential to making your own root cellar work well (I promise it will be in layman terms and I won’t bore you to death).   In order for root cellars to work (for most veggies and fruits) you need 90 – 95% humidity.  Which here in Utah (the second dryest state in the union) is tough to come by.  Also, most fruits and veggies store best at 32 degrees.  

That said, LET’S BUILD A ROOT CELLAR:

 1. Buy a 20 – 30 gallon plastic trash can with a lid (plastic is better – if you use galvanized metal, you will need to line it with a food friendly plastic liner). 

 2. With a 1/4″ drill, make 10 – 12 holes in the bottom of the can (so condensation can escape). 

 3. Dig a deep hole into the ground about the height of your trash can. 

 4. In the bottom of the hole put down some gravel. 

 5. Next place your can into the hole and back fill around the can for a snug fit.  If you are ready to store your winter crops, make sure you let all of your fruits and veggies cool overnight before putting them into your new mock root cellar. 

 6. Place a layer of veggies down and separate them from the next variety of veggies by a 2″ layer of straw.  Continuing layering until the can is full. 

 7. Now you have two insulation options – one, you can put the lid on and cover with a dome of 16 – 18″ of straw around the lid (you can also use sand, dry leaves, peat moss, or odorless saw dust).  Or two, you can buy a domed lid for your can and put spray-on insulation on the inside of the domed lid.  Viola!  You are done!

 FRUITS!  It is important that you don’t store your fruits and veggies TOGETHER!  You must keep a seperate can for fruits.  The ethylene gas that fruits emit cause ripening and if this gas comes in contact with your veggies, kiss them goodbye. 

July Newsletter

2009 Preparedness Plan

July Summary

(taken from Syracuse 6th Ward Plan)

Spiritual Goal:

Set aside time this Sunday to read next Sunday’s lessons. Read Sunday School, Priesthood/Relief Society lessons even if your current calling keeps you out of the meeting.

Emergency Preparedness Goal:

Add $20.00 in coin and small bills in your “cash stash”. You should have now

have $140.00.

Radio, flashlight, extra batteries

Food Storage Goal:

Vegetables: In ideal situations, every person should have between 3-5 servings of vegetables per day. One cup of raw leafy vegetables or a half a cup of cooked vegetables makes one serving. One of the joys of summer is fresh vegetables. Vegetables are essential for many vitamins, enzymes and minerals that our bodies need. We can’t always have fresh vegetables, so we need to turn to other means to store them. Some of the methods of storing are: canning/bottling, freezing, pickling, dehydration, freeze drying or the use of a root cellar. In storing vegetables you will lose a certain amount of nutrition in them.

% of loss

Canning 60-80%

Freezing 40-60%

Drying 5-15%

There are some vegetables and fruits that should not be stored together. For example: Apples give off methane gas that makes carrots bitter. Onions hasten the spoilage of potatoes. Other helpful hints are: Cut leaves from all root vegetables at once to avoid nutrition loss. Do not wash vegetables until you are ready to use them.

Seasonings and Flavorings: It is important that when you go to all the effort of storing food, store what your family is willing to eat! One of the ways to help in this is to make sure that you have the seasonings and flavorings that they are use to. Take note of the things that your family likes and what you use to cook with. That is what you need to store. Check your labels for shelf life and make sure you rotate the items.

Challenge:

Harvest your garden and try canning, freezing or even drying your vegetables for your food storage.