Root Cellaring

Part of fall harvest is root cellaring.  I have tried many ways to keep roots in good shape through the winter, and have found that burying them in sand in a cool, damp root cellar keeps them about as fresh as just dug from the ground.  I think this is because the sand is like the soil they where they grew.  

The down side of root cellaring is that it is labor intensive.  But there are also advantages - once the work is done, there is little maintenance - checking temperature and keeping towels damp, and no added costs of buying a cooler that dries out the vegetables, and paying for the electricity to run the cooler. 

Here are a couple shots of this year's beets as they go into sand