Cheese A Day: I didn't make cheese today...

Cheese Makers Forum FAQ Equipment part 1 Equipment part 2 History

Friday, March 27, 2009

I didn't make cheese today...

...I dug out a small root cellar! I found a shady and relatively dry patch in the back part of our property here, and dug a hole big enough for a 45 gallon plastic trash can. I have that can in the ground now, about an inch above flush with a few weights and a tarp covering the lid.

I don't know if this will actually work, and I have a couple of concerns:

* Temperature for sure. I'll be installing a permanent thermometer down there (and maybe a webcam? and monitor it for at least a month before I even try putting food in there.
* Creepy crawlies getting in. I have it double sealed, so we'll see.
* Water getting in. It's covered with a lid, a tarp between the lid and the barrel, and a tarp on top held down by pavers. We are expecting rain tomorrow, so the first test is coming!
* Humidity. I'm going to have to get a hygrometer and start really measuring.

I took the hole down about five feet using a combination of a shovel and post hole digger for the deeper stuff. At four feet I found quite a few pieces of charred wood, and since I have found arrow heads out here before I was pretty excited, but didn't see anything besides the wood.

Anyway, I'll keep the blog posted on how it goes!

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Creative Commons License

Cheese A Day by Jeremy Pickett is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at cheeseaday.blogspot.com.

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