BACK TO THE LAND -
A HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE
By Al Durtschi
An Old Time Dugout Root Cellar
Root cellars have been and still are
extensively used for storing potatoes, carrots, apples, and in the
fall of
the year, other garden produce as well.
How we used to do it...
As told by Glenn Adamson
© by Al Durtschi
The first root cellars were usually dug with a pick and
shovel. (In 1965 I used the front end loader on
my tractor to dig the root cellar I’m using now.) The
only wall we had to build was the front wall the
door was in. The other three walls were formed by the
dirt from the hole we dug. I made the roof with
three logs as supports, then I laid 2X10 planks over
them and nailed them down (See illustration). Over
the top of the roof I put about 2 feet of dirt, with
grass eventually growing on top of it. The front wall
was also made from 2 inch lumber. Unlike the drawing,
this wall extends up another three feet (see
photo). The stairs were made with these same planks,
as well as the side walls on both sides of the
stair case. The planks in the roof, stairs and front
wall were all made from rough, unplaned lumber,
actually 2 inches thick.
You will notice from the photograph
there is an upper door and a lower door.
It is important you do this as each door
adds greatly to how cool the root cellar will be in the
summer time and how
lower door on my cellar is constructed
with a sheet of 1/4 inch plywood on each
side filled with insulation. The upper door
is tilted slightly so water will run off
when it rains, and so it will be easier to
find in the snow. To prevent rain from
dripping down between the outside of the
cellar and the top of the door, I use a couple of pieces of tin that are wide enough to hang over the top
of the closed door after being wedged in between a couple of the planks on the outside of the cellar.
This helps a lot. The upper door is constructed from two layers of 3/4 inch rough lumber. There is no
insulation in it, and it has a layer of tin nailed to the top of it to keep it water proof. This door is hinged
to the stairs side wall on the left side and is hinged so it can swing all the way around and lay on the
grass.
Our main reason for having a root cellar is to keep our
vegetables from freezing in the winter. We
have very cold winters. For example, last winter we had
several days when the thermometer dropped
down past 40 degrees below zero F. How well has out cellar
worked over the years? Very well.
Nothing ever froze, except for once, and then it wasn’t
the cellar’s fault. On one of the coldest days
last winter, I went to get some potatoes and carrots
and was surprised to find the lower door open.
Even with this, only a small part of the potatoes were
frozen. After closing the lower door the
temperature rose to above freezing again. I have never
tested the temperature in the cellar during the
winter time, but in the summers the temperature hovers
around 51 degrees F. This is a bit cooler than
the temperatures you would expect to find in a root cellar
in the warmer parts of the USA. This is
because our hottest days in the summer are only around
90 degrees F. And the cold winters tend to
keep the ground a bit cooler throughout the year.
Last year my center cross beam in the roof broke right
in the middle. The dampness from the earth
above it had gradually rotted it over the years. I did
not waterproof my roof when I built it, and should
have. After it broke, we jacked up the center of the
roof and put in a vertical support beam in the
middle of the room. This should help the cellar last
for several more years.
Al Durtschi, E-mail: mark
All contents copyright (C) 1996, Al Durtschi. All rights reserved.
