peas planted!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

my larder

(I'm taking some pictures now....)

Finally - the photos....

squash shelves 2

My larder this fall includes: Winter squashes: Butternut, Long Island cheese, Acorn and Delicata. A couple small orange pumpkins. Potatoes, and lots of sweet potatoes. Onions, garlic. My chile ristra has grown and is drying well. My root cellar (a small basement refrigerator has about 5 lbs of carrots, 10 lbs of beets, some celery, and a head of purple cabbage.

In past years, I kept my potatoes and squashes in baskets in the basement. This year I was disappointed I couldn't see the ones at the bottom of the basket. My husband made the perfect solution - shelves. Now I can admire all my stored vegetables!

Most of my vegetables are from my garden. Some are from Piccadilly Farm, whose CSA distribution I hosted this year. A nice acorn squash I got in trade for a big bunch of dill. (I love the idea of trading! I will try for more trades next year using our new bulletin board that is being installed this winter.)

squash shelves 1 ristra
onions

My onions and carrots will not last the winter. These I should try to grow more of next year. Looks like I have plenty of potatoes sweet potatoes, squashes and beets.

16 comments:

  1. What a lovely post and lovely pictures! They make me hungry:)
    Have a nice week,
    Charlotta in Sweden,
    Cesar's Garden

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  2. Looking forward to seeing them!

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  3. wow just amaisingly beautifoul ....great post

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  4. I've always wondered how you store things in the winter! Thanks for this.

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  5. I've enjoyed your garden since I stumbled across it last winter. Thank you. How cool is your basement? I can't seem to find a good place to store unprocessed produce that can't be refrigerated. I like the way your squash is stored and I am considering it here. Winters can get long in ND...

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  6. I really like the shelf your husband built, where did the actual shelves come from? They are a great size!

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  7. Great larder shelves! Nice air flow. Is your basement heated? My old basement was cool and a little damp, great for storage. My new one is warm and dry - good for canned goods storage and hanging laundry, but not cold cellaring. What is your basement temperature and humidity like in the winter? I am looking at the unheated garage to make a colder space that doesn't freeze.

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  8. how are you storing your carrots?

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  9. My carrots (also beets, celeriac, cabbage, winter radish and parsnips) are stored in my root cellar! Not half as exciting as it sounds. My root cellar is a small energy efficient refrigerator that I keep on low setting in the basement. These roots need a fairly high humidity for keeping. Higher than potatoes or squashes, so you can;t keep them out on shelves. I keep them in plastic bags inside the refirgerator.

    One year I learned the hard way by leaving a beautiful harvest of big beets in a basket. They shriveled up within a couple weeks. Right now I have a lot of beets and some cabbage, parsnips, fennel and carrots in my root fridge. But carrots are very hard for me to keep. My husband eats them very fast :)

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  10. Shelves?? Did you buy them locally at Ikea or a big box hardware store?

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  11. I got the shelves many years ago at home depot for some other use and found them last week in my basement. Home Depot still carries them :Home Depot little shelves

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  12. THANKS a bunch Kathy!! I will be picking some up at my next trip to the Depot. :)

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  13. Do you know how much your energy efficient frig costs to run? I am wondering which model it is? Thanks.

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  14. I admire your shelves! I just showed them to my husband. We grew sweet potatoes for the first time this year. We harvested 4 grocery bags of huge sweet potatoes. We do not know where to store them in our little townhouse.

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  15. Well done! The excellent photos of your larder have given me some space saving ideas for mine. Thank you.

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