root cellars

[donna]

This advice for storage of onions pertains to today. I am sure they used the type bag or cloth that could be used during this time period (19th century). I just wanted to give some information on storage of onions in root cellars.

 

[dvrmte]

In the Deep South where I live, onion seeds are planted in the Fall or plants are transplanted in early Spring for a late Spring-early Summer harvest. The variety is generally a short or intermediate day type. That means that they only begin forming bulbs when the days reach a certain length. Northern varieties are typically long day types, Southern days are too short to initiate bulb formation. Onions don't grow well in high heat. We hang ours in mesh bags under the house in the crawlspace. It's cool and airy enough for them to keep at least into the late Fall. I would think that Valley Virginians could grow late day type onions through the Summer and store them through the Winter.

It gets too hot for potatoes to grow through the Summer down here, we plant ours in the early Spring for harvest in late June and early July. I store them in mesh bags laid on the ground of our crawlspace and they will keep until late Winter. I can then use them to replant the next years crop.

My Appalachian ancestors often dug caves in the sides of hills for storing food. Cabbage was often stored bedded on and covered by straw, then dirt was heaped over the straw to insulate the cabbage. Cabbage and onions were also dried for late Winter use.

 

[donna]

Another interesting book is "Appalachia Home Cooking: History, Culture and Recipes" Mark F. Sohn.

On Root cellars he writes:

"A root cellar is a big and permanent hole in the ground. Mountain families dug root cellars into the side of hills, under farmhouses, and off basements. The cellar stayed warm in the winter and cool in the summer months. in comparison to can houses, root cellars are more moist and the moisture helps preserve roots. Root cellars had stone, concrete, or wooden walls and were used to store apples, pears, carrots, turnips, green tomatoes, onions, cabbage , potatoes and sweet potatoes." page 50.

 

[M.Warren]

In the Deep South where I live, onion seeds are planted in the Fall or plants are transplanted in early Spring for a late Spring-early Summer harvest. The variety is generally a short or intermediate day type. That means that they only begin forming bulbs when the days reach a certain length. Northern varieties are typically long day types, Southern days are too short to initiate bulb formation. Onions don't grow well in high heat. We hang ours in mesh bags under the house in the crawlspace. It's cool and airy enough for them to keep at least into the late Fall. I would think that Valley Virginians could grow late day type onions through the Summer and store them through the Winter.

It gets too hot for potatoes to grow through the Summer down here, we plant ours in the early Spring for harvest in late June and early July. I store them in mesh bags laid on the ground of our crawlspace and they will keep until late Winter. I can then use them to replant the next years crop.

My Appalachian ancestors often dug caves in the sides of hills for storing food. Cabbage was often stored bedded on and covered by straw, then dirt was heaped over the straw to insulate the cabbage. Cabbage and onions were also dried for late Winter use.

Here the old timers would pull the cabbage up, flip them and rebury the heads before the ground froze. We kept onions just as you said, on a screen or mesh bag hanging. You can keep them in a cellar as the OP asked, but they need to be hanging or aired as stated before. You can also plant a late crop and treat them like the cabbage by leaving them in the ground below the freeze line. Most people here have back porches that were somewhat heated and thats normally where onions were kept hanging.

 

[ole]

Here the old timers would pull the cabbage up, flip them and rebury the heads before the ground froze. We kept onions just as you said, on a screen or mesh bag hanging. You can keep them in a cellar as the OP asked, but they need to be hanging or aired as stated before. You can also plant a late crop and treat them like the cabbage by leaving them in the ground below the freeze line. Most people here have back porches that were somewhat heated and thats normally where onions were kept hanging.

Where I grew up, the freeze line went down a couple-three feet, but we had onions throughout the winter in the cellar.

I don't remember how The Mom kept them, but I now understand that they must be kept dry, in the dark, and not touching each other.

But we're not talking about root cellars, are we? What we are talking about is how produce survived pre-refridgeration. Not being of German extraction, we didn't grow cabbage to allow it to rot in a crock and survive to be called kraut. OK, bad taste. But speaking of sauer kraut, bad taste isn't far afield.

Enough ethnic pokes. I'm sure the ethnics learned a few things from each other back in the days. My experience will be similar and maybe different, but it remains that we're not really talking about root cellars.

 

[M.Warren]

Where I grew up, the freeze line went down a couple-three feet, but we had onions throughout the winter in the cellar.

I don't remember how The Mom kept them, but I now understand that they must be kept dry, in the dark, and not touching each other.

But we're not talking about root cellars, are we? What we are talking about is how produce survived pre-refridgeration. Not being of German extraction, we didn't grow cabbage to allow it to rot in a crock and survive to be called kraut. OK, bad taste. But speaking of sauer kraut, bad taste isn't far afield.

Enough ethnic pokes. I'm sure the ethnics learned a few things from each other back in the days. My experience will be similar and maybe different, but it remains that we're not really talking about root cellars.

The freeze line here is only about 12 inches. I'm pretty sure kraut is pickled too. I was always told if you used a crock for pickling kraut you had to keep using it for that because it would make vinegar, (couldn't use for wine),Im assuming due to the yeast cultures left in the pours of the crock its self. Cellars are how people kept produce pre fridge. Spring houses would be for short term keeping of milk etc. Lots of things were dried on back porches as they were usually partially heated. Back porches here in the Mtns. refer to a closed room on the back of the kitchen of a house, usually where a spring house would have been at some point before. I'm sure yellowthorn asked about cellars... Maybe I'm just losing it, lol..

 

[M.Warren]

LOL, actually ole, my original questions should have been more like, "what fruits and vegetables would have been available in Oct for the ANV for foraging?" or something like that..LOL
root cellars came into play as per my opening post. LOL

I thought you said cellars, lol.. ole had me second guessing myself though! Dang it, ole! lol..

 

[M.Warren]

This advice for storage of onions pertains to today. I am sure they used the type bag or cloth that could be used during this time period (19th century). I just wanted to give some information on storage of onions in root cellars.

Here they were called onion, or cabbage sacks. They were made of a webbed material, sometimes burlap. Even if you store onions in cellars they should be stored this way, otherwise anywhere they're touching something else they will rot. Sometime people make wood frames with window screen in the bottom and use that to store onions, garlic, and some types of dried beans, like shellys. Air flow is key.

 

[M.Warren]

Lol I think I titled it wrong!

Lol regardless, you asked about veg's available in Oct. Most would have been available then. That is the end of the growing season or harvest season, just after the first high elevation frost. We don't usually get snow before Halloween at the earliest and more likely the middle of Nov. The really cold weather is Jan through the second week of April. Tomato's were probably still available then actually. After that they'd have been canned, here. Corn cribs would be full of corn, cellars full of onions(that weren't still in the ground), potatoes, cabbage, carrots. Peppers would still be in season or dried. Beans (late runs) would be available, fresh and dried. Fall squash would be available at that time (butternut etc.) Old farmers and most "farmers" today will have multiple "runs" of many crops, beans, corn, radish, greens, etc. One planted in April, for eating through the summer, the other in June or there about for a fall harvest and winter storage. I've lived this way my entire life and still do. We've just started canning season here and I've been canning beans, corn, and tomatoes for the last week or more. We'll still have a late harvest in Sept, of corn, beans, cabbage, and greens. They'd have had all kinds of stuff at their disposal in Oct.

 

[ole]

It remains that troops going through "fresh" territory had lots of stuff to eat. With every farm having pigs, chickens and beeves, not to mention root cellars, there was stuff to be gathered up at the expense of the families whose farms were "visited" on the way.

 

[John Winn]

It remains that troops going through "fresh" territory had lots of stuff to eat. With every farm having pigs, chickens and beeves, not to mention root cellars, there was stuff to be gathered up at the expense of the families whose farms were "visited" on the way.

Wow ... bummer.

 

[ole]

What would one expect? Got a thousand guys going from here to there? Eat crackers and salt meat? Not so long as there was stuff along the way that was right there.

It has been supposed that one of the greatest losses of the innocents was the fences and the out buildings that were confiscated to build the fires that cooked all the chickens or pigs that were also also confiscated.

One doesn't argue with 1,000 armed men. It is not healthy.

 

[CSA Today]

Then there are those that dug a hole in the ground, filled it with straw and put the above items in.

I remember sweet potatoes hills as a boy, virtually all country folks had them back then. They were similar to what you describe except the conical shaped hills were mostly above ground. You would layer the sweet potatoes with pine straw or hay and then layers of straw between the potatoes and mounts of dirt covering the outside.

 

[diane]

I remember sweet potatoes hills as a boy, virtually all country folks had them back then. They were similar to what you describe except the conical shaped hills were mostly above ground. You would layer the sweet potatoes with pine straw or hay and then layers of straw between the potatoes and mounts of dirt covering the outside.

We did that with acorns - store them in little hills for grinding later!

Our root cellar wasn't used much until we could repair it so the creek didn't flood it every winter. Now it's nice and snug - potatoes, onions, canned things that wouldn't fit in the pantry, sacks of nuts, dried meats - all sorts of things were stored there. These days, it's mostly tool storage because we haven't been able to keep a garden to maturity before it burns up! We had a breezeway alongside the old cellar that was just about as cool as the cellar itself and kept items all along it. Auntie had a good deep dark root cellar with stone steps going down to it...like something you'd find in the Addams Family house... She had lots of persimmons stored there in the fall, walnuts and peaches, too. We couldn't keep peaches and pears too long but she seemed to be able to keep them well into the winter - the only thing was the apples tended to get mealy and were best cooked. Pie!

 

[12th Missouri Yankee]

Some of my Nebraska relatives used root cellars right up to the 1940's.. sand covered potatoes (spuds), carrots and carrots. Most food was canned, only a few special items placed in the ice box. I remember walking into my grand dad's huge cupboard and seeing lots of canned jams, pickles, fruits, etc even in the 1960's....

 

[unicornforge]

....... Spring houses would be for short term keeping of milk etc.......

Good point! Water from the ground, if memory serves me, is 58 degrees. My in-laws had a restored spring house that they maintained in case the electricity went out. The water flowed over shelves/steps of increasing depth of water. Containers could be placed on those shelves submerged in the water and very effectively refrigerated. Such Maryland farms also had ice houses and root cellars with the root cellars also about 58 degrees ..... as well as "servants" to do the work of preserving food.

 

[ole]

We didn't call ours a root cellar, David, it was just the cellar. Stone lined and cool. Potatoes would keep forever.

Now that I think of it, my basement stays about 58 degrees throughout the summer, but I no longer grow potatoes.

Have you ever seen a potato planter? Or a potatoe plow? Gad! That takes me back further than I'd like to think.

 

[James B White]

We didn't call ours a root cellar, David, it was just the cellar. Stone lined and cool.

That's a good point for reenactors especially. If one looks at period (pre-1865) uses of the word, "root cellar" is often, not exclusively, used to refer to an area under the barn used to store roots for feeding cattle or very large quantities. Sometimes "root cellar" is used to refer to the area under the house, but what's under the house or in the hillside is often just the cellar.

The development of ensilage has pretty much replaced the feeding of roots to cattle, but before that, Americans in the northern sections were interested in copying the British idea of wintering cattle, which worked better over there where winters were milder, because roots could be left in the ground longer.

For example, from 1858:
https://books.google.com/books?id=F3gXAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA15
"In preserving and storing roots for winter use, I prefer a cellar under the barn, or building intended for stabling cattle, of the size of the building, dug; if the ground will admit, six or seven feet deep, and built up of stone or hard burnt brick. The inner part of this basement I would use for a rootcellar, and the outer part to tie up the cattle in. By this plan you have the cattle and roots in one building on the same floor. You can have divisions in the root cellar to store all the different varieties of roots, so that you can feed any kind you wish. You can feed them to the cattle with comfort and without going out into the cold. Roots can be put in easily by slides from the outside of the building, or by a trap door from above."

The term certainly wasn't unknown when referring to storage of food for human consumption near the house, especially if there was a separate cellar for root vegetables and another for apples, for example. But it seems modern people always call a cellar for storing food for humans a root cellar, and I don't think that parallels period usage.