Root cellar question

judsoncarroll4

A listener just asked me, "Once upon a few years ago, @Marjory Wildcraft wrote of her intention to experiment with root cellars and how deep one would need to be in TX to keep things at the correct temperature. Do you know if she ever published anything on this? my home is not so hot, but I have not found good info for the depth of root cellars in my region."

Does anyone know the answer (I know Ms. Wildcraft is very busy right now).

LaurieLovesLearning

@judsoncarroll4 I do not, but in a summit (fall 2019?), Tom Bartel showed a unique root cellar in one of his presentations.

Torey

There is a TGN blog article on root cellars that might have some helpful information. https://thegrownetwork.com/how-to-plan-root-cellar/ Not sure if Marjory wrote it or not.

I don't think that it is so much how deep it has to be, but more a question of adequate ventilation and a bit of playing around with your particular root cellar to get the ventilation working correctly for your space. Ventilation is discussed in the article. There are fans that can be put into the ventilation tubes that can be set to come on if it gets too warm.

This is not from Marjory but here is a link to a Guide to Root Cellars at Mother Earth News. It has links to many articles on a variety of root cellar topics. https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/root-cellaring/guide-to-root-cellars-zl0z1403zswa

SuperC

in an arid desert, i have heard digging four feet down, a person can be comfortable during high heat temps. Not sure on the root cellar.

Annie Kate

It seems funny to be thinking of root cellars for hot temps; I've only thought of them in terms of cold and frost lines, etc. I hope you get it to work!