Root Cellar

[LadyLocust]

If you have a root cellar and are willing to share a pix, tips, things you like or dislike etc.
I thought there was already a thread but couldn’t find it.

 

[LadyLocust]

@Neb I thought you posted one (yours?) of barrels on side. Have I gone kookoo?

 

[Amish Heart]

Oh, yeah, he made one out of a couple of garbage cans

 

[Weedygarden]

I don't have one, but my parents and grandparents had them. They were about the size of a single car garage, concrete walls and floors, joists in ceilings. Between the joists and the top, I have no idea. They were similar to a basement, but with no building on top. They were all covered with dirt, and made a small hill that we often played on. One of my brothers had a collection of toy cars and he would dig out roads to drive his cars in.

My family was not the only ones who had them in the Dakotas. Many people had them. But here's the deal. We had them, but didn't have any food in them. There were a couple old chairs and an old bed in the one that I spent the most time in. I think it was more likely seen as a storm shelter. It may have been used at one time for food storage, but my guess is that having a fridge, freezer, and shelves in the basement for canned food replaced the need for a root cellar.

 

[Supervisor42]

I don't have one, but my parents and grandparents had them. They were about the size of a single car garage, concrete walls and floors, joists in ceilings. Between the joists and the top, I have no idea. They were similar to a basement, but with no building on top. They were all covered with dirt, and made a small hill that we often played on. One of my brothers had a collection of toy cars and he would dig out roads to drive his cars in.

My family was not the only ones who had them in the Dakotas. Many people had them. But here's the deal. We had them, but didn't have any food in them. There were a couple old chairs and an old bed in the one that I spent the most time in. I think it was more likely seen as a storm shelter. It may have been used at one time for food storage, but my guess is that having a fridge, freezer, and shelves in the basement for canned food replaced the need for a root cellar.

When we lived in N. Alabama, almost all residences had a fallout-shelter dug into the ground near their home.
After the cold war ended, they became root-cellars/tornado-shelters.
They looked like this:

 

[Neb]

@Neb I thought you posted one (yours?) of barrels on side. Have I gone kookoo?

Not kookoo.

6 galvanized trash cans on their side built into a stone wall. One is Faraday cage.

Ben

 

[Weedygarden]

When we lived in N. Alabama, almost all residences had a fallout-shelter dug into the ground near their home.
After the cold war ended, they became root-cellars/tornado-shelters.
They looked like this:

If they were built right, they could have had a building on top of them, a shed or workshop or more.

 

[Patchouli]

In Maryland I knew a family who had a root cellar, storm doors like in wizard of oz, all dirt floored of course, very small. They did store food in it, had a good bit of sauerkraut in there. I don’t remember the size and I didn’t go into it, just looked in.