1840 Farmhouse Root Cellar Part 1

[@dinahsisson487]

Wow oh Wow, what a treasure find! My mind just started swirling with so many ideas of what all could be stored in there. My grandparents had a root cellar that was built into a bank that had a small cabin built above it. I loved going in there in the hot summer to get jars or root veggies for them, because it was so cool compared to the hot summer temps outside.

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

It is amazing how cool it is down there in the summer. We're very thankful for our root cellar.

[@raincoast9010]

The root cellars are beautiful, you are blessed to have them.

[@cdarind1]

Now THAT'S a root cellar. Unlike the regular cellars many folks think is a root cellar! Nice!

[@cdarind1]

ours is similar, just a bit deeper.

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

Yes, we are thrilled to have it.

[@bernardlahondes2008]

Hello from France, near Angers city. For the small second cellar in our country its name is a ''cooler''. To keep cream, butter, milk and all others products of the farm, fresher. Have fun and thanks for your vidéo. Bernie d'Anjou.

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

Thanks for the information. It's interesting to see how people had to preserve food in the past. (and which methods we still use today.)

[@angelmiller3224]

I would love those root cellar Those cellars will come in handy

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

I'm THRILLED to have them. The one in the barn is going to take a lot of work to get into shape, but I'm happy we finally have the one in the house functional.

[@pbonniejean]

The iron hooks would have supported a long pole, from which the cabbages would be hung by their roots, upside down. That is how they keep the best.

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

Thanks for letting us know. We'll be growing a ton of cabbage this fall and will have to do that.

[@lyricderbin1169]

I suspect they were indeed used for meats also considering they are pointed. If they were only for holding a rod, there would be no need to have the sharp ends like meat hooks have.

[@FINMrCurly]

sometimes they put meat on it that animals didint eat it. like my granny do with sheep meat

[@winskypinsky]

I’m excited about my little farm AND your farm! I was looking for this very information. So many channels only talk about their shelves and their preserves. That’s fine, but I want to know about true root cellars and temperature. Bingo, I found you. Sensible, curious and funny information. Thank you!

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

Thank you so much. We wish you luck with your farm. We are loving farm life. As for the root cellar, we are still trying to get the ventilation right....more to come.

[@terrilewis172]

Great history on cellars!

[@aserta]

2:05 yup, those are meat hooks. And not just salami hooks, like nowadays, but actual half chunks of pig/cow/sheep whatever they'd have on the table. Possibly salted or smoked. The dirt floor, you should remove of it as much as possible, and replace it with packed treated dirt to kill any potential fungal growth. In such a cellar, the cleaner the surfaces, the better. Those walls would've been whitewashed as well, to kill bacteria and fungae.

[@CB-sr8ee]

This is beautiful. What a blessing. ❤

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

We are VERY thankful for our root cellar.....and for our entire farm.

[@Grizzlife]

The root cellar in the barn looks to have some block patch work at back. Maybe another room on the other side? I love old root cellars. Thanks!

[@kyvndvntr]

Does anyone know if radon effects food in anyway? I got an old farmhouse in Michigan, built in 1874, and the basement foundation is built of old fieldstone. We have slightly higher than average radon levels, have done a lot to mitigate it without purchasing a mitigation system. Just wondering if yall have had to take that into consideration when storing food.

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

From our research, the radon gas wouldn't harm the food, but if there is dust or particulates on the food, that should be washed off. Our radon was extremely high, not just in the root cellar, but in the larder as well. We did install a ventilation system to clear out the radon as well as help to regulate the temperature. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4Sck2V7eryCjZo

[@kyvndvntr]

Thank you. Yeah, i looked into a mitigation system, the company didnt want to punch through our asbestos tile siding due the health hazard. Want my basement to be useful for food storage. Thought maybe building a concrete box down there since it is quite dirty from just being an old michigan basement. @@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764

[@Ringele5574]

I imagine the barn cellar was for vegetables and the house cellar was for meat curing. How lucky you are to have these. Imagine, back then you probably had 5 or 6 hams curing in the house cellar, and all the potatoes, carrots, and turnips you could possibly eat keeping perfectly fresh in the barn cellar.

[@franciscohernandez6163]

I was suspecting that entrance rod sticking out would have been a place to hold a lantern.

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

Great point. I believe you are right! Thank you.

[@gildav222]

Great job, the two of are inspiring...

[@jeffecampbell]

This is where they would have also kept the winter feed for the milk cows and livestock. Mangels, swedes, turnips, rutabagas, carrots and the like. It might also have been used to process the cheese, instead of lugging all the milk to the house. A gallon of milk is 8.6 lbs, ol'Bessie will give you 6-10 gallons a day!

[@shirleykuhse1008]

I LIKE YOUR ROOT CELERS.

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

We do too. I'm looking forward filling them with produce from the farm.

[@13Nussbaum]

I am so jealous. Wow.

[@Mila007a]

Thank You for this Video from Oldenburg lower Saxony in the north west of germany ))))) the funny thing is that South of my city is a little town called Wardenburg , has your ancestors lifed there in the past ?

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

Thank you for the note! Yes, I see Wardenburg on the map in Germany. Our family actually came from Harlingen Friesland Netherlands in the 1890s. I did visit the town of Waardenburg in Netherlands. My wife Brenda is German....by way of 5 or 6 German generations here in the US. By the way we love the Black Forest and the West of Germany.

[@ronjohnson3695]

I almost think this " barn " root cellar may have actually been intended as an ice storage room. Ice was cut off of ponds or nearby river and stored in underground silos.There is what looks like an upside down silo in the ground at George Washington's home. After all ice or a spring was used to keep milk and perishables cold during early American life. I Love Old Farms And Homes. thankyou

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

Ron, you present a strong case. The farmhouse had an ice trough near the farmhouse root cellar. And yes, we know where i e was cut from a nearby mt lake and stored in an icehouse. Some of that ice could be packed in the barn root cellar. More videos on the 1885 barn and 1840 farmhouse to follow this winter as we catch up from growing season.

[@ronjohnson3695]

@@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764 thankyou for responding i am very interested in old stuff and ideas. I feel I'm in the wrong time of history. I had an old farmhouse on 3.8 acres but spent 7 years rehabbing but I just couldn't do everything and we ended up selling the place but it had a beautiful rock cellar and old dairy barn. I had time and blood invested in the place so did my late dad God rest his soul. By the way Ron Johnson is my " stage " name my real name is Dale. I posted a video beautiful mountain spring water. I would love to see a photo of you're old house. I know Pennsylvania has a lot of old stone houses

[@716stewart]

Love you root cellar

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

Thanks...so do we!!! It wasn't shown in the listing when we were looking for a farm, but when we did our first walk-thru and saw it, we were thrilled! We just finished the three year process of restoring it and white-washing it. It's now fully functional. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3KwnX2nrrt1Y5I&t

[@GlacialRidgeHomestead]

The iron post may have been where they hung a lantern?

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

Someone else suggested that and it does make sense. Thanks for the tip.

[@user-wq3jp3qg1o]

What temperature does it stay year round? Also what side of the house is it under? North side? Same with the barn? I couldn’t find part 2

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

The house root cellar varies in temperature from 57 at the end of winter to 63 at the end of summer. We would like it cooler in winter....48-50 and we are working on ventilation. Root cellar 2 link is shown at the end of root cellar 1 video. Also check library...farmhouse renovations. More to follow.

[@user-wq3jp3qg1o]

@@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764 wow, that’s a nice temp. I would love a root cellar but use my basement. I’m unable to store fresh veggies as the dehumidifier dries them out so I can only store canned goods. I never thought about the ventilation. I’m looking forward to watching the rest of the video. I must have fallen asleep. I’m a late night watcher as it’s the only me time I have. I enjoy the videos and thank you very much.

[@erwinbrubacker7488]

Could they have used barncellar for milkhouse ?

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

I guess that is a possibility. We'll do some research to see if that was done back then.

[@joannabaldwin1787]

Is the arched roof for drainage?

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

The arch roof is a common construction method used before they had modern cement to make concrete. The shape of the arch puts each stone in compression. There is several feet of soil over the arch so most of the rain water runs off as surface water. Naturally some water soaks down to the stone arch and it can seep through the old sand and lime mortar. In fact, so much water soaked the root cellar in the barn that I just poured a concrete pad on the ramp over the cellar. It should allow the surface water to run off and no longer damage the mortar/stone. I'm just learning Ll of this myself. Hopefully I'm doing it right! Thanks.

[@sumodvs17]

❤

[@dirtyd9792]

I'm jealous

[@charlenequinilty7252]

Love your root cellars but be careful of what you store together. Some foods make others ripening faster

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

We've been trying to do research on which items are best in the root cellar and which are best in the larder. It is tricky since some foods affect others. Thanks for the warning. We've still got a lot to learn.

[@JustBlessd84]

Amazingggggg

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

Thanks!

[@RichSobocinski]

When you repair that mortar be sure to use lime based mortar and not Portland.

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

Good point....I've never used a line based mortar. I will experiment. Thanks.

[@terezinhamiguelfujimoto1530]

Que pena não tem legenda

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

Você deve conseguir legendas. Nós o configuramos para que esteja disponível. Abaixo estão instruções sobre como ver legendas em seu idioma. Eu espero que isso ajude. Você pode ativar as legendas clicando no ícone CC na parte inferior de um vídeo do KZbin. Uma linha vermelha aparecerá abaixo do ícone quando as legendas ocultas forem ativadas. Ative as legendas pressionando o ícone CC. 2. Você também pode ajustar as configurações de legenda clicando no ícone de engrenagem. Como altero o idioma das legendas? Clique em Legendas/CC no pop-up Configurações. Isso abrirá uma lista de todos os idiomas de legenda disponíveis para este vídeo. Selecione um idioma de legenda. Clique no idioma da legenda desejado no pop-up. Isso mudará automaticamente as legendas do vídeo para o idioma selecionado.

[@Poppy_love59]

Dirt floors in root cellars means rodents in the fall as they set up homes in the surrounding soil!

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

So far, we've not had any problem with rodents. I keep a trap set, just in case.

[@andrzejklaus3948]

It looks like Ed Gain's cellar.

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

Maybe before the renovation? Not after. 🙂

[@melissaroot1092]

Apples need to be separate

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

I may actually keep the apples in a separate fridge because I'm not sure we can get the root cellar cold enough. (My son got a new fridge and gave us their old one---perfect timing.)

[@melissaroot1092]

Whitewash baby!

[@waardenburgfamilyfarm4764]

Funny that you say that, I'm mixing white wash this week! Thanks for watching.