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

Swimming at the DeLille's Pool

"After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, leader of half the district of Beth Zur, made repairs as far as the place in front of the tombs of David, to the man-made pool, and as far as the House of the Mighty."

Nehemiah 3:16

After a week of gardening, canning, etc. Daddy and Mama took us to the DeLille's pool after church on Sunday. The DeLilles (some friends - http://www.blogger.com/www.delillefamilyupdates.blogspot.com) were gone on vacation and invited us to come swim in their pool whenever we wanted while they were gone.

Daddy and Mama bought us some really good pizza from Papa John's! :)

We enjoyed swimming around in the pool and didn't leave until around 5 pm.

Lydia and I (Kimber).

Lydia wasn't too excited to be in the cold pool! :)

A shark!!!

Having fun with Mama.




Eden





Seth jumping in.



(Lexi asked me to take the picture of him jumping in because she wanted to see if I could catch him in mid-air...making it look like Seth could walk on water! :)






Josiah running around.



Please excuse the flower-floaty! :-D







Caleb and Seth

Hannah

Precious little Lydia! :)

Eden and Josiah aboard the "Mama Caboose."

Caleb

If you can't tell from his lips, he was shivering in the picture! :)

Daddy jumping in on Josiah and Mama.

Maybe that's what Mama thought was funny...

Josiah having fun with Daddy!

As we drove home we stopped by the Polegreen Historic Church. Those of you who live around the Mechanicsville area will probably know what I'm talking about but those that don't...go to this link: http://www.blogger.com/www.historicpolegreen.org to learn more about it.

It was really neat stopping by and walking along the brick sidewalk and reading the history of religious freedom that was engraved in stone along the walkway. The church wasn't too much to see because it was just the frame with windows. After all the church is just a building until the Body of Christ joins together, fellowshiping and worshiping our Lord.

All for Jesus,

Kimber