AK Root Cellar : About root cellars

AK Root Cellar

This blog is for those of you who would like to add more local foods to your diet, meet local farmers, learn new recipes based on seasonal eating and preserving the summer harvest. Food is political too, so here you can learn about and influence local and national agriculture issues, and participate in helping to rebuild the Alaska food system. May each of you chew happily and wisely.

About me

Ellen Vande Visse

Ellen Vande Visse, MS, was an organic market gardener from 1986-2006. She instructs and consults about sustainable agriculture, compost, compost tea, and eco-gardening through her own Good Earth Garden School and for UAA. She is a published author about Alaska gardening. For more info, please see goodearthgardenschool.com.

Local farms and CSAs

NEWSLETTER

Sustainable Agriculture for Alaska

This July-Sept., 2008 Cooperative Extension newsletter includes a story by Matt Shaul of Cranberry Ridge Farm on how his Wasilla farm got started in goat cheese production.

EATING LOCAL

High grocery bills spur CSA interest

Read this June 9, 2008 Fairbanks News Miner story on three Fairbanks-area CSAs and growing demand for their local produce.

DNR's new farm, food, etc. directory

This Excel spreadsheet includes 16 categories from farms to farmers markets, herbs to aquaculture. Provided by the Div. of Agriculture, Department of Natural Resources

Resources

Local Farms and CSAs

Find local produce, eggs, fowl and meat nearby.

WEB RESOURCES

Slow Food USA

Envisions a future food system based on principles of high quality and taste, environmental sustainability, and social justice.

Local Harvest

Helpful website to find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food. Local producers also register on this site.

Sustainable Agriculture

Dedicated to educating the public on a sustainable food and agriculture system that is economically viable, environmentally sound, socially just, and humane.

American Farmlands Trust

The nation's leading advocate for farm and ranch land conservation.

Community Food Security Coalition

Dedicated to building strong, sustainable, local and regional food systems that ensure access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food.

Weston Price Foundation

Dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism.

About root cellars

Posted by farmfresh

Posted: October 24, 2008 - 5:10 pm

Comments (0) |

Root Cellaring, the book
Allie Barker, a home gardener, wild foods harvester and root cellar builder was a guest speaker at the recent Bioneers Conference at UAA. She brought her own copy of the book pictured above, written by Mike and Nancy Bubel, for the information table, and even some potatoes and carrots from her root cellar so conference attendees could see the good shape her year-old vegetables were in after their time in her root cellar.

Barker spoke Saturday, Oct. 18 at a session called "Building a food system that works for Alaskans." Along with this blog's anchor, Kim Sollien, Allie also shared the podium with Kathy Ciarimboli, the sustainable foods coordinator for the National Outdoor Leadership School in Palmer.

Back to Allie. She lives in Chickaloon with her partner and they grow all the food they eat, storing it in a root cellar for winter-time use. After Allie spoke, she agreed to a brief interview in one of the nearby classrooms. She describes the reasons why having a root cellar makes sense in Alaska. She introduces some photos that show the inside of her root cellar and the front view of a friend's. (The photos will appear in a day or so).

Here are three short video clips from that interview. The first is a general introduction.