Comments on: Building a strong local food system http://sustainablecommunitysolutions.com/2009/01/09/building-a-strong-local-food-system/ Alternative energy in Northfield, Minnesota Sun, 31 Jul 2011 18:49:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Bruce Anderson http://sustainablecommunitysolutions.com/2009/01/09/building-a-strong-local-food-system/comment-page-1/#comment-56122 Bruce Anderson Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:20:17 +0000 http://sustainablecommunitysolutions.com/?p=471#comment-56122 <p>Storing carrots in sand is a time-honored method, Penny. You can get sand from a landscaping company, (or by the 50-pound bag at Menards). You'd want to do it in the coldest corner of the basement, as the optimum conditions for storing carrots are 32 degrees F and 90% humidity, which you're not going to get in your basement. The colder, the better, anyway. </p> <p> There's a good table showing optimum conditions for a variety of crops in a root cellaring document from the University of Alaska: see page four of <a>http://www.uaf.edu/ces/publications/freepubs/HGA-00331.pdf. <br /></a> </p> Storing carrots in sand is a time-honored method, Penny. You can get sand from a landscaping company, (or by the 50-pound bag at Menards). You’d want to do it in the coldest corner of the basement, as the optimum conditions for storing carrots are 32 degrees F and 90% humidity, which you’re not going to get in your basement. The colder, the better, anyway.

There’s a good table showing optimum conditions for a variety of crops in a root cellaring document from the University of Alaska: see page four of http://www.uaf.edu/ces/publications/freepubs/HGA-00331.pdf.

]]> By: Penny H. http://sustainablecommunitysolutions.com/2009/01/09/building-a-strong-local-food-system/comment-page-1/#comment-56064 Penny H. Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:47:54 +0000 http://sustainablecommunitysolutions.com/?p=471#comment-56064 Wonderful idea! We had a root cellar, or close-enough, at our old house, which was built in the teens, but I had such a small garden I never made use of it. A related question: I've heard people store their carrots in the basement in buckets of sand. Frankly, I have no idea where one would get a modest amount of sand. I assume it's available by the cubic yard or some other large scale from a landscaping company, and I don't think I should take home buckets of sand from a local lake. Can you advise me? (I've never grown more than a handful of carrots, but I might someday...) Wonderful idea! We had a root cellar, or close-enough, at our old house, which was built in the teens, but I had such a small garden I never made use of it.
A related question: I’ve heard people store their carrots in the basement in buckets of sand. Frankly, I have no idea where one would get a modest amount of sand. I assume it’s available by the cubic yard or some other large scale from a landscaping company, and I don’t think I should take home buckets of sand from a local lake. Can you advise me? (I’ve never grown more than a handful of carrots, but I might someday…)

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