Making a "Root Cellar"

“At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates.

Deuteronomy 14:28

For a good while we have wanted to have a root cellar to store our produce and veggies in, so we have garden-fresh food all year long.

Mama bought a root cellar book after we borrowed it from a friend and one of the things they said you could use for a root cellar would be an old refrigerator! :) Well, we had one in the shed that we had used before we bought the HUGE one from the Panchisons (friends from church).

So, Daddy and the boys went to work digging a hole deep enough and big enough for the fridge/freezer. (The fridge would be laying on its back so it was about 3-4 feet deep and 5ft wide X 7ft long.) The hole is right in the mulch bed behind our house.

[The pictures below were taken over the course of a few days as we worked on the cellar]

The 3 Wassenberg boys in the hole Daddy (Caleb and Seth helped a bit too) dug by hand and shovel.

The picture doesn't give you a huge idea of how deep the hole is but look at where the edge is on the boys and that gives you a good idea.

Lydia looking for treasures in the dirt Daddy removed from the hole.

You're probably wondering where all that dirt went.

Well, some of it was wheelbarrowed to our orchard (dirt is heavy!) where we'll be growing carrots or something. Then some was shoveled into another bed for more veggies and then some just stayed where it was to fill in the gaps once the fridge was in.

Seth digging a hole in the wall.

Another view.

And another.

This is one of the gardens where we put some of the dirt.

All of you from HEFC (our old church) probably recognize this as our old wood-burning place when we had the bonfire at our house every Fall. For those of you who don't know we used to have a bonfire at our house every year with friends from church in the above spot. (Those are such good memories!) We first had to clean out all the debris that was in there and then we threw dirt on top and made rows.

Lydia and Josiah.

In the swing.

Josiah preparing to push Lydia.

Lydia on the steps.

Josiah's got a worm on his belly!

Lydia digging out Seth's pre-made hole.

Caleb examining the bottom of the refrigerator.

Caleb and Seth were responsible for taking out the motor so it would fit in the hole better. They did a great job!

After the 5 oldest in our family (Alexis up to Daddy) got the fridge in the hole we started to fill the gaps in with the dirt Daddy had removed and tilled for us.

Daddy, Hannah, and I raked the dirt into the gaps around the holes.

(You were supposed to dig a hole that was 1 ft. bigger on every side of the fridge)

Eden and Josiah helped tamp everything for us by jumping/walking on the dirt as we raked. They love getting dirty so taking their shoes and socks off and playing in the dirt was very exciting for them!

The finished product!!

After some mulch we were done!

Now to fill it up and see if it works! ;)

All for Jesus,

Kimber