Have you ever wondered how food was preserved before refrigeration and cryovacking? Enough was preserved to get whole families through the winter and not one drop of electricity was used. In Columbia County we have many root cellars and keepers but many are aged and have fallen into disrepair. There has been a tremendous resurgence of interest in natural, low energy over winter storage of fresh and preserved produce - come learn how to do it in your own home.

Our instructor, Jack Kittredge, is a homesteader and certified organic farmer. “For over 25 years my wife and I have been putting up most of our family's food for the winter, including root crops, pears, apples, and lacto-fermented vegetables, in our 11' x 11' root cellar.” Jack is also active in NOFA – MA, as its policy coordinator and Editor of The Natural Farmer, NOFA's interstate quarterly publication.

In this workshop Jack will discuss ways to use the underground environment to help preserve food, from simple in-ground burial to fully designed and constructed free-standing and in-house root cellars. He will talk about proper conditions for root cellar preservation, how to achieve them in various settings, and what crops to preserve this way and what crops need alternative storage conditions. He has catalogued many different root cellaring methods all over the Northeast and will share his vast experience and knowledge of how to best use those with us.

Our workshop will include a tour of an active root cellar and a power point tour of many other cellaring systems and a narrative by Jack of many different modalities and options. If you live in an older home - you may have one on your property.

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These workshops are deliberately designed to be low tech and home-scale and emphasize hands-on-learning so that you can easily incorporate these kitchen arts into your daily or weekly routines. All food demonstrations will send you home with lots of information and samples, when possible. Please peruse the entire schedule - you may want to take more than one!

Annual RFFP membership is $50 and will discount all upcoming events and classes. Discounts are offered for farmers, students and seniors of $25, please use the info email to inquire. We are trying to keep these events as affordable as possible without compromising our teaching staff or materials. We are keeping these classes small and they will be filled on a first come, first served basis. Any questions, please contact info@farmandfood.org.

Let's have some fun!