Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Root Cellar Creation Story: Part 1

In the beginning, the basement was humid and full of boxes and junk. Darkness and mouse scat were in every corner. Aimee and Jeremy looked upon the far south-east corner and said, “Let there be a root cellar here.” And the family upstairs said, “Okay.”

The family helped clear away unwanted things and Aimee swept down cobwebs, dust, and crumbling bits of mortar from the walls. Copious quantities of Quickrete were applied to holes in the walls and floor. Then Aimee mixed up a large amount of whitewash (water, hydrated lime, salt, and a little elmer’s glue) in a galvanized steel bucket and proceeded to paint the whole space.







Many evenings and mornings passed, and it was the first step done.

5 comments:

Jed Carosaari said...

I don't understand. Your concern for the plant kingdom is impressive, but why do the roots need a cellar? Is it for them to hide in during a tornado?

Aimee said...

Yes. A freezing snow tornado, otherwise known as winter. The roots must be kept cool, but just above freezing. If we keep them in the house, it's too warm and they go bad. If we keep them outside, they freeze solid and are only good for...nothing I guess. So we must protect the roots in the cellar.

Jed Carosaari said...

Didn't God/evolution make the roots able to withstand winter and grow again in the Spring?

Aimee said...

Yes, I suppose that's true. But what if you want to pull the roots out now and eat them during the winter (and not wait till the spring when the ground has thawed so you can dig things out)? If we had to wait till the spring, there would be no potatoes, no carrots, no turnips, rutabagas, celeriac, beet, radish, or other root vegetable for months! And besides, we're also storing non-root vegetables like winter squash, onion, garlic, apples, pears, and all of our canned things.
God/evolution has also taught us humans how to store things up over the winter so we don't starve. =)

Jed Carosaari said...

Oh, nuts. You're right.