Sustainable Living

[PA PATRIOT]

Do you have a root cellar? I've got the space to construct one into a hillside pretty easily this spring and I'm putting a relatively high priority on that. I don't want my only storage option to be canning, and I don't have a basement, so seems like a root cellar is necessary. Any thoughts?

The cooler you keep your fruits and veggies the longer they will last and we use a good sized refrigerated cooler box like the ones you see in a smaller restaurant to keep are jars, fresh fruit and veggies in good shape.

Now some may think that the cost of running the cooler would be cost prohibited and it does cost about $100.00 a month in the summer but we can counter the cost by the savings in food we produce and store inside it. At 7WX9Lx8H its a decent size but if I had to do over again I would have gone bigger as it not to hard to fill on a decent season.

[12SERIES]

We have a basement but it takes a lot of space to raise a year's worth of potatoes. They taste so good we eat them quickly. We will raise a years worth this year so we will have to tackle storage for them together with onions and carrots.

Just Six trees not 18. Cherries harvest in early mid July, peaches Kate July to early August depending on the variety and apples are a fall
Crop again depending upon the variety. This staggers the harvest which is important. You'll have summer vegetables coming through out the summer and if you don't plan you'll have so much coming at once that you won't be able to freeze and can fast enough. We been in the garden for most of the day and up canning all night. The fun runs out on that in a hurry. Choose different varieties for each fruit. Some require that for fertilization, but it diversity always helps. Some varieties do better in areas of the country while others resist disease. All if this helps to roll with the environmental changes. Avoid standard size trees they can be huge, you'll be harvesting with ladders and they take longer to bear fruit.

I would recommend holding off on the root cellar until you know you'll have a crop to store. If you don't have much experience with gardening the first year doesn't usually yield well. There's. a lot more to growing than most people think. I would put my energy and resources into strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, asparagras. These take at least one season to establish and you don't harvest strawberries until next year and blueberries take longer. Get these established this year and you will NEVER regret it. Also every year I plant more and the next year I wish I would have done more the year before.

Geese will coexist with chickens but they need water to get into. We have a stream and a spring here so it isn't a problem for us. You might have to provide a small pond and they could easily become more work than they are worth. Row crops aren't nearly as hard to weed as strawberries. We will have a couple thousand berry plants in this year and they are a nightmare to weed. It's worth it for us to keep geese for that alone.

Hope that helps. More to come for those who are interested.

[soulezoo]

Thanks for sharing. Only a few posts and have learned valuable info.

Much appreciated!

[12SERIES]

No problem and I have a lot more to share.

[68W]

Please keep it coming. You are describing the vision of my future...maybe not quite the scale/volume you suggest but truly useful experience.

[PlatoCATM]

Maybe that explains why my grandpa's apple trees haven't produced much, never produced much. Gotta get rid of the walnut trees.

[12SERIES]

Black walnut will kill a wide variety of plants under its canopy. Many trees emit chemicals from their leaves to inhibit growth under their canopies. Called alelopathic interactions. Walnut is horrible in that the roots even emit a chemical called jugalone. It can persist in the soil for years. I'm taking down a few large trees the spring because of this.

If you plan to start with any food crops this spring, fruit tree, strawberries ect plan your layouts carefully. Once your trees blueberries and all are in they should not be moved. If you don't like your layout you're stuck. There are some good books out there for homesteads in suburban and even urban settings that help you plan and maximize your space. They are good to consult. If you'd like I can give everyone a schedule that I follow each spring for a planting and preparing. It might help some to anticipate timing and have an effective start to their efforts. Let me know. I don't want to duplicate info or flood the board with unwanted stuff.

[Straight Shooter]

Now THIS is real info we all need and want...THANKS!!
By all means, post whenever the spirit moves you, Im eating this up!

[rackham1]

Yeah, agreed. It's nice to have this thread without a "SHTF" context. That has its place too... not knocking it... but good to have a plain discussion sometimes.

12SERIES, not to pry but was hoping to get some reference points... how many in your family? Do they all work the homestead? Do you make a living from the homestead, or do you have other employment?

Just trying to get an idea how you shape your life around this. What works for a retired couple with a pension to be self sufficient (for example) might be different than a guy with a whole bunch of kids from diapers to high school (like me, ouch!).

[rackham1]

The cooler you keep your fruits and veggies the longer they will last and we use a good sized refrigerated cooler box like the ones you see in a smaller restaurant to keep are jars, fresh fruit and veggies in good shape.

Now some may think that the cost of running the cooler would be cost prohibited and it does cost about $100.00 a month in the summer but we can counter the cost by the savings in food we produce and store inside it. At 7WX9Lx8H its a decent size but if I had to do over again I would have gone bigger as it not to hard to fill on a decent season.

And that's a good idea and if I had a big enough backup gen and room in my garage I'd think about that. But I'm aiming for non-electric storage for cost and power outage reasons. I think I can dig and build a root cellar for pretty cheap. Might even do it just for fun even if my new gardens don't produce much this year.