Beyond the Root Cellar is an inspiring guide by a man who built a winter storage farm in Alaska, and has successfully grown crops to sell in winter for the last four years. His methods prove that winter storage is a great way to diversify farm profits, and spread the workload through the year.
Use no-dig gardening and fruit protection bags (over netting, which can trap birds and wildlife). Learn how to create gardens safe for pets (use humane slug/snail deterrents). Avoid facing indoor foliage to outdoor gardens, to help stop birds flying into windows.
In this book, you’ll learn the best crops (and varieties) that are best to store, learn how to store with planning and financial acumen, plus learn how to harvest, process and move crops into storage. Also learn how to design, create and manage humidity-controlled storage areas.
The book includes profiles of 9 storage farms, plus a compendium of 18 storage crops, with colour photos of storage facilities, methods and crops.
Also read Root Vegetables (A Grower’s Guide), a book to grow tasty root veggies, using biointensive farming methods. Learn how to grow potatoes and carrots (plus lesser-known gems like oca and salsify).
About the Author
Sam Knapp grew up in the woods near the shores of Lake Superior, with little knowledge of farm life. After earning degrees in physics and chemistry and becoming an engineer, he caught the farming bug, while working on vegetables farms in Sweden, Michigan, Wisconsin and Alaska.
He started his own farm in Michigan, to earn extra income, while taking a master’s degree in plant ecology. When he moved to Alaska, he built Offbeet Farm from scratch which provides vegetables to people in Fairbanks during the long dark Alaskan winters (through a local community-supported-agriculture scheme and to local groceries).
