eld ago , before I bulge out urban homesteading , I saw a few adorable , pocket - sized pear for sales event at the grocery storage . They were packaged up in a plastic , snap - together corner , six baby pears in a clamshell . I buy a box and play them home , excite to judge this fun , flyspeck pear .
They were the most grainy , jejune , superfluous pear tree I ’d ever eat . I choked down the first bite and did not go back for a s . I live in Washington , the large pear - producing state in the U.S. , and I ’d never experienced pear tree like that before . Turning over the credit card box , I saw it : “ Product of Argentina . ”
Before a world-wide food distribution system made it possible to ship rock-and-roll - hard peaches and unripe plum from South America to South Dakota in January , hoi polloi stocked theirpantriesandroot cellarswith enough locally grown storage crop to see them through the harshest of winters .
Imagine your own private larder stockpile with reposition fruits and vegetables — apples , pears , squash , brassicas and roots . envisage knowing where and how your cold - weather crop were mature and stored between farm and board .
There are many understanding to revive the root cellar . I grow and lay in my own produce to save money , increase my solid food security and decrease food miles , and because the nip of topically grown , fresh - pick crops are just superior to out - of - time of year imports .
My neighbor does n’t garden much , but every year she buy several hundred pounds of wintertime squash from a local farm . She gets a capital price and bed that when the weather condition gets chilly and she wants to make butternut squash soup , she can . She learned the hard way of life one class that many grocers simply end selling winter squash after Thanksgiving .
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It seems ridiculous to purchase flavorless fruits and vegetables that have more frequent handbill miles than you do , when with only a little work , you could progress a living larder of storage crops at home .
What Can You Store?
Certain fruits and vegetable are well conform to root cellar storage than others . Typically , produce with a tough hide and dense flesh memory well . create intended for ascendent cellar storage should mature as late in surrender as weather allow without risking damage to the crop , so as to maximise longevity in storage .
Many root vegetable are ideal for cellar storage — roots or genus Tuber are themselves energy memory board for the plant . Some well - cured wintertime squash can last nearly a year in storage . sealed varieties of alliums have been multiply to have unbelievable storage length of service , and with proper care , the right varieties of cabbage - menage crop will last month in good precondition .
Apples , pear and quince are the classical store fruit , but citrus tree does well , too .
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Roots & Tubers
Of the classical wintertime storage items , here are some of the good .
Winter Squash
If you cut into a typically sweet , full - flavored repositing winter squash aright off the vine , you might be shocked by how dull and vapid it try out . Most wintertime squashes require at least a few weeks of storage for their refined sugar to descend up and their spirit to get on . So , this is a crop that not only can be put in but often must be for the best eating experience . Generally , large squash with slurred skin keep long than modest and thin - skinned wintertime squash .
The long custodian can last in good condition for seven months , and many winter squashes easily hive away four months . Select varieties known for their exceptional safekeeping timber and rich , seraphic , delicious flesh . A few of my favorite admit the following .
Acorn - character squash rackets are poor keeper that should be eaten within a month or six week of harvesting . They do n’t require cure . Delicata types are also short steward and best within two month of harvest .
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Alliums
These three genus Allium — garlic , leek and Allium cepa — have storage longevity :
Brassicas
Brassicas can be used as wintertime or rotational cover crops .
Fruit
orchard apple tree , pears , Cydonia oblonga , some citrus fruit and tomatoes can be store without too much bustle .
Storage Categories
All garden truck has optimal conditions for storage . When these circumstance are met , the fruit or veggie last as long as possible in good condition . The two most import things to take are temperature and humidity .
well-nigh all memory grow fares best in one of four category :
A solution cellar need n’t take a lot of space or money . Many modernistic homes have spaces that can be adapted for long - terminal figure storage without too much hassle . All that ’s required is a act of knowledge about what fruits and veggie depot well , how to store them naturally to hold maximum quality over the long time , and a willingness to search your household for spaces that fill those need .
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This article appeared inLiving Off the Grid , a 2018 specialty publication produce by the editor and writers ofHobby Farmsmagazine . by from this piece on long - term produce storage , Living Off the Gridincludes stories on renewable energy , grow plants without seminal fluid and permaculture . you could buy this volume , Hobby Farmsback issues as well as special editions such asBest of Hobby FarmsandBest of Urban Farmbyfollowing this tie .
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