Of all the structures on the farm, which is the most important? The house? The barn? The work shop? The outhouse? The chicken coop? They’re all important for sure. But what about the rootcellar? My friends thought I’d gone nutty, when I decided to dig a pit into of the side of a small rise and build a rootcellar out of stone and cement. That was in 1978. I wanted to store as much food as possible without canning or drying or freezing. A rootcellar seemed like the perfect solution.

It was a big task. It took a lot of stone and a lot of cement and a lot of time. But despite being small (only about 8 ft x 10 ft and barely five feet high), by the following year I was convinced that the rootcellar is the most important structure on the farm. True, it would be hard to live without the other farm buildings, but the rootcellar is fantastic. We store apples, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, beets and much more down there for months. No processing. No electricity. Just earth surrounding what is essentially a rodent-proof box with high humidity and temperatures that hover just above 32F. It’s not good for squash, garlic and onions, but it’s great for a whole lot of what comes out of the garden and orchard. Fresh fruit and veggies all winter long.

We have two rootcellars on the farm. The original cellar has fallen into a state of neglect over the past five years. I’ve decided to remedy that. Today I had some time in the afternoon and decided to begin the process of cleaning it out and getting it ready for the first cold nights of Autumn. It’ll be great to see it back in action.