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  • Root cellar

    From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Alan Ianson on Thu Feb 9 00:02:32 2023
    Hi, Alan! Recently you wrote in a message to Alexander Koryagin:

    What is a root cellar?

    A root cellar is a place to "keep" food stuffs.


    Uh-huh. Especially root vegetables such as beets, carrots, potatoes, and turnips... but as you pointed out it may also be used to store canned goods or whatever else "keeps" well at low temperatures as long as it doesn't freeze.

    My parents had a shed in their back yard which they used for much the same purpose until they could afford to add a basement under the house.... :-)



    There was no power lines going there then.


    IOW, no electrical appliances. I can relate.... :-)



    It was dark and it wouldn't get to cold in cold
    weather or too hot in warm weather.


    Yes, I think that's what matters for practical purposes. The climate in Vancouver is moderate, but elsewhere folks do things a bit differently. :-Q




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Anton Shepelev on Tue Feb 14 21:30:21 2023
    Hi, Anton! Recently you wrote in a message to Alan Ianson:

    A root cellar is a place to "keep" food stuffs.

    Probabaly so called because trees above would shoot
    their roots through the cellar walls...


    Hmm... I didn't see a smiley there. Seriously, what I think of as a "root cellar" is akin to what you may have noticed in tales like THE WIZARD OF OZ where it doubles as a storm shelter. The state of Kansas is roughly on the same longitude as a city Canadians refer to as "Winterpeg" because it tends to get quite cold in winter... i.e. like Moscow, or so I understand, and for very similar reasons. In such locations North Americans found they could keep food chilled... but not too cold... below ground level. I've heard of various ways of doing this & I doubt tree roots would be a concern on the prairies.

    Cf. "wine cellar", often located beneath a house or restaurant. :-)




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Ardith Hinton on Thu Feb 23 19:20:46 2023
    Ardith Hinton:
    Anton Shepelev:
    Alan Ianson:

    A root cellar is a place to "keep" food stuffs.

    Probabaly so called because trees above would shoot
    their roots through the cellar walls...

    Hmm... I didn't see a smiley there.

    I am derailing the thread with crazy self-invented
    etymologies. Root cellars are named after what they
    store, which is root vegetables, such as potatoes.

    ---
    * Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)