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Bullfrog
3rd July 2010, 10:06 AM
This is what I am using.
1 styrofoam cooler
some very fine grain sand
lots of carrots

I got the sand by digging a little bit deeper than 6 feet into a clay hillside. At around 6 foot the clay turned to this sand. I think any find grain sand should work.

Put a layer of sand on the bottom of the cooler. Put in your carrots, covering each layer with sand. Store the cooler in a cool dark place like a root cellar or basement.

The carrots will keep all year, and will look and taste the same as the day you placed them in the cooler. Home grown frozen carrots are good, these are better. We do both.

Almost forgot, the reason for storing some both ways is because once (and only once) some rot got into the carrots stored in the cooler and ruined them.

Edit 2: You don't have to use a styrofoam cooler, I used to use a wooden box.

Heimdhal
3rd July 2010, 10:48 AM
how many carrots do you grow and consume from the garden in a year?

I love carrots and my FIL and I were just discussing last night about ways to keep things fresh year round without freezing, since some things dont freeze very well.

How do you store potatos, and how long do they last? What about thigns like celery, onions, garlic, etc? Sorry to overload you with questions, its just funny that I was just literaly talking about this last night and you come in here with this post today.

Bullfrog
3rd July 2010, 12:11 PM
We put in 1 row of carrots a year, the row is 50 to 60 feet long. I'm not sure how many carrots that is. You could try dehydrating them, I haven't done that yet, but I think I will this year.

The cooler your food storage place is, the longer the food lasts.

The potatoes get dumped into wooden bins in the root cellar. They will keep all year too, depending on their type and condition.

I have reds, whites, and golds. The reds don't last as long as the whites and golds, but I like them better so I eat them first. How long they last is also dependent on how much water content they have when put into storage.

So, towards the end of the season, I decrease the amount of water they get. For example I go from watering every 4 days to every 5 days. And then at some point I just stop watering them altogether, and wait for the plant to turn brown before I dig them.

Usually have 100 - 150 potato plants in the ground each year.

Garlic, can be stored anywhere I think, except inside a plastic bag where it will rot if you put it there before allowing it to dry out. Found out the hard way on this.

I can't get onions to grow here, tried twice, but the growing season is short and it just didn't work. I was growing from seed. My neighbor was able to grow onions, but he bought plants from the nursery. I have tried storing store bought onions in the root cellar, it didn't work.

I don't know anything about celery, except that I don't really like it and the store bought stuff can't be used fast enough before it spoils.

MNeagle
3rd July 2010, 12:34 PM
To keep celery fresh longer, wrap it in foil. (no plastic)

Bullfrog
4th July 2010, 01:56 PM
It just so happens I have dehydrated carrots.

Last night I found some from 2005. The texture was still good, the carrots were more brown than orange, altho you could still see some orange. They did not taste good. They weren't rotten or anything. I think this would work to store them for a couple years, but 5 years was too long. It would be a waste of time to dehydrate them unless you did not have a root cellar or a cool basement so you could store them in sand.

I also did some apple and banana chips in 2004. I opened them up this morning, both tasted good.

I had them stored in sealable plastic bags inside a gallon glass jar. I did not use oxygen absorbers.

I did some tomatoes about the same time 2004 - 2005. I had to throw them out a couple years ago, they had mold on them.

jaybone
5th July 2010, 12:55 PM
Ahh, another purslane farmer!
Easiest crop in the world to grow.
I make a bean salad with purslane, along with some dandelion greens, lime and mayo.