THE PARTHENON OF ROOT CELLARS Page | of 5 Issue No. 29 - September/October 1974 THE PARTHENON OF ROOT CELLARS MIKE WELLS: ILLUSTRATION BY JOE STEUBEN ‘Our five-year search was over. We had found our home in the country: Sky Meadow, one hundred sixty acres of pasture, pines, junipers, bubbling springs and a panoramic 60-mile view of valley, mountain, sky and weather. It was. nine months later before we took up residence in what—barring a subdivision and shopping center on the next section—will be our final move. We arrived, grossly overloaded, on June 1, after three days of unusually heavy" rains. The mile and a half of rutted tracks from the country road had turned into an impassable morass of adobe muck. A neighbor rancher down in the valley led Us 12 miles through the forest on graveled logging roads to a spot only a quarter of a mile from the cabin. We packed in essentials and made camp, awaiting the drying of the roads. While we waited out the three days of sunny, dry weather before the roads became passable, we explored our domain and planned our summer. The garden would go down there on that flat next to the orchard. We'd develop the spring uphill from the cabin first, and then the other two . . . one for the garden and the other for the duck pond. One benefit Of the cabin siding being off was that it would be easy to insulate and wire. We could get the poles for the deer fence over in that big stand of junipers on the east forty. I had to do ‘something about that log shed before it collapsed. And that fallen-in root cellar... . Where did the time go? Suddenly we were well into our second summer and Joanie kept complaining that if the root cellar wasn't completed soon we could split the turnips, rutabagas and Kohlrabi and use them for cordwood. And I'd horse another 125-pound railroad tie into position and exclaim, "Only five more courses to go . . . then comes the roof!” “The 8' X 12" hole at the brow of the hill had, in fact, been started over a year before. Willing summer visitors had wielded shovel, bar and pick with fervor and vigor—for a few minutes— and then had suddenly become more interested in the beer in the spring bax or the view or Just conversation . . . the least of our needs during summer working weather. re made at “the hole” after the spring thaw but seemed to deepen it little. Other priorities beckoned: tilling, planting the garden, getting in next winter's wood (ideally done the prior spring), repairing winter damage to the road, clearing the last mile of the REA pole line, improving the big spring, digging 21 eight-foot-deep pole holes for the ://wwww.motherearthnews.conyprintable/1974_September_October/The_Parthenon_of_.._ 10/1/2005cellar. (During times of extreme cold we just shove a gunny sack into the pipe.) ‘Then we laid a 2" X 12" ridgepole on the flat roof of the ties, followed by a double layer of ‘ar paper with dirt atop to create an insulation barrier grading from 12" at the ridge to 4” at the eaves. This same contour was carried through on the vestibule where 3 X 12's were Used for the ceiling instead of ties. Both roofs were then decked with 1 X 12's and covered with tar paper, with 90-pound, green roll roofing over all. Our early plans called for mounding dirt completely [S x4. fiberglass insulation between, The inner | door f= -oveged) (between the dead-air space of the vestibule and the|3 X 12's (salvaged) main cellar is an old hollow-core type once used as ali x 12's (salvaged) table. It seems tobe idea, as the ar cells between the Fram (caivaged) veneer faces make an excellent thermal barrier. Hinges (scrounged) Beer (estimated) ‘Our root cellar runs good. During the fall and winter, when outside temperatures ranged from the 80's to the teens, the inside varied only from 48° to 52°F... ideal, incidentally, for lagering home brew. Later in the winter, when overnight cold dropped to 20° below and the days hovered between 5° and 10° above zero, the lowest reading in ‘our storage room was 34°... . and two 60-watt light bulbs left burning pushed it up to 40°. Final touches will be applied as weather and mood dictate: trim at the eaves and overtiang, gravel walk, rock retaining wall and facade. But these, though practical, are mostly ‘cosmetic. For now, it's good to know that our provender fares better this year than last. Our first winter we tried the hay bale method of root preservation. It didn't work . . . the deer ate our “root cellar’. http://www.motherearthnews.com/printable/1974 September October/The Parthenon of ... 10/1/2005electricity and a few other miscellanea. Along about early July, Joanie consulted her planting charts and announced, "I have to have ‘a root cellar by September 1." (The garden was, by then, doing its thing all by itself with a litle help from Joanie . . . lke beetle picking, earwig smashing and applying three tons of hay mulch.) "Ok, big mouth. You'll have a root cellar." Back to the pick and shovel. At a depth of four feet a ledge of basalt intruded, and half the last three feet of “the hole" came out in small pieces with the judicious application of sledge and wedge. ‘Sometime around mid-August we had a hole hacked into the hill, 8! X 12' horizontally X 7° deep. The original plan had been to do the cellar in concrete and rock, using the Nearings’ built-up form method. However, the prospect of hauling all that sand and gravel from the riverbed 12 miles away—plus cement from our 60-mile-distant supply source—made the alternative of railroad ties attractive indeed . . . especially when we found a bunch advertised at $1.25 each. (Around here, these days, they bring $2.00-$3.00 apiece . . . if you can find them. And a few years ago they were free for the hauling!) The supply was only 80 miles away and we could haul 25 per load in the pickup. ‘Three trips later a pile of 70 ties reposed grandly on the hill beside "the hole”. "OK, Joanie. September 1: root cellar, Right?" We moved our goodies in on October 10, only six weeks behind schedule. Not bad by country standards. Here are some details of our cella’s construction: The contour of the grade dictated that the storage room's outer door be slanted at 45 degrees, with steps leading down into the vestibule and the inner door. Had the grade been steeper a straight walk-in would have been less trouble but not quite so traditional . . . you can't slide down a vertical cellar door. Since the bottom of "the hole" was either basalt or hardpan ‘dobe, we needed only a minimal foundation. The forms were constructed of salvaged 2 X 4's and were left in place after the concrete set to provide nailers for the later trim. While we waited for the concrete to cure, we thought it prudent to build a model of the cellar to 1"=1' scale so that foul-ups could be made on a tabletop with square homemade Lincoln Logs rather than at the jobsite. This proved to be one of the wisest moves in the whole project. Several modifications to my plans resulted, and when the ties went in they all fit nicely. We laid up our storage room's walls by interlocking the eightfoot ties in "crib" style, Having neither electricity nor a large drill motor at the time of conception, T had planned to toenail the chunks of wood together using 40d ring-neck spikes. Later, acquisition of a portable generator and 1/2" drill motor made pegging not only preferable but possible. (Incidentally, the only drill bit for punching deep holes in ties, logs, etc., is the single fluted "ship auger".) Spikes were in fact used in conjunction with the other method, but the pegging halved the uantity of nails required and ensured alignment of the timbers. Our ties, which had fain out in the central Oregon desert for decades, had developed both longitudinal crowns and humps across their short axes. Therefore, each had to be fitted to its mate beneath. Before lay-up T removed the bulges—by using a chain saw as a super http://www.motherearthnews.comv/printable/1974 September October/The Parthenon of .... 10/1/2005