Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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nettie
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Gearing up for storage -the cheat's way!Hi folks, the glut on the allotment is about to start - loads of cabbages, the carrots, more squashes than I can shake a stick at, loads of apples from the tree in the lane etc etc.
For the root veggies, when I pull 'em up later in the year, I understand the traditional way is to store stuff in boxes of dry sand. However I'm an 8 st weakling and live on my own, and don't fancy trying to haul heavy bags of sand home.
Is there another way around it that someone here may have tried? Could I perhaps pack stuff in newspaper, or maybe in straw in boxes in the garage?
And as for freezing things, what veg can i just bung in without blanching? Can I get away with it with beans? I'm spending too many nights just processing food  Please help me get my social life back 
Nettie x
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Bernie66
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with root veg you can dig it all up and then bury it under a mound of earth then straw to prevent frost getting to it. Mind you alot of the winter or late veg are supposed to taste better after a frost has got to it.
I have never had success freezing veg without blanching it. Tried it once making "home made chips" and wasted 20 lb of pots. Noone would eat black ones for some reason
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culpepper
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one of my old gardening books suggests piling potatoes in the corner of a frost free shed,seperating layers with straw and then protecting with sacking. I assume you'd need to have straw on the floor too.
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cab
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I've got a book that suggests putting spuds on wooden trays and leaving in a dark shed, so that's what I'm planning. Then there's the carrots, they'll stay in the ground till I want them I rekon. Cabbage... Well, that'll be stored for a while in the shed, but I'm mostly relying on some late kale sowing, leaf beat and chard for my greens. Haven't had enoug beans to freeze yet (still finding my feet; first year on the plot!). Celery, parsnips and leeks stay in the ground, along with mooli, scorzonera and burdock... Onions drying out now, shallots already dried and in the shed. Butternut squash should store okayish. Looks like I'll have lots of sweetcorn to deal with... Freeze or dry?
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judith
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I was thinking about having a go at salting runner beans this year. I froze a lot last year, and they really weren't very nice at all - no bite to them at all, almost soggy - so salting can't be any worse.
As for root veggies, I've recommended "Keeping Food Fresh", Ed. Eliott Coleman, before. It contains an absolute wealth of old-timey storage and preservation methods, and is a nice read even if you don't use them!
Under root cellaring (which I would extend to include a frost-free garage), it suggests for cabbage that you pick before the first frost, remove roots and outside leaves, then place the cabbages upside down in a single layer, not too tightly packed, in well-ventilated boxes such as fruit crates. Stack the crates and cover with a tarpaulin. If the room temperature stays low and the air circulates well, they should keep for several months.
For carrots it suggests that you line a crate with newspaper and place the carrots upright against one another. Then place dried leaves (straw?) between the rows. Fold the excess newspaper over the top, then place the crate on a couple of bricks to help air circulation.
It also suggests sawdust (from untreated wood) as an alternative to sand.
There are loads more, but I'm not typing them all out 
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nettie
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That sounds good Judith, I want the veggies on hand so I don't have to nip to the allotment every day!
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Lozzie
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Does any one have or has any one read this book? I was considerng buying a copy -
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