Welcome!
Welcome to my first ever blog post! It may be getting onto winter but we’re keeping busy here on the farm. Solving problems, asking questions, that sort of thing. For example:
What to do when your organic farm comes with a chlorine drinking, time sucking, energy hog of a swimming pool?
Fill it with carrots, of course!
This was the predicament we faced when we moved to our farm about 2 years ago. To us, a swimming pool is a luxury we, and the environment, cannot really afford in this era. But, with every problem, an opportunity presents itself. A swimming pool, when empty, is also a concrete foundation embedded in the earth. What better place to store our vegetables?!
After consulting with Chris Vanderhout of Evolve Builders Group, our particular pool was deemed an ideal starting point for a root cellar, providing an insulated space for storage crops in the winter and reducing energy requirements drastically for cold storage of summer crops. We could convert our pool into a root cellar at a fraction of the cost of a conventional cold storage unit, and run it using practically no energy.
With support from the Carrot Cache, a foundation that lends a hand to local organic farmers,we embarked on what we believe is the first ever swimming pool root cellar conversion! The building uses rot resistant hemlock to cover the pool and give it lateral strength to resist caving in. Additional insulation was sprayed inside and a door cut into the side of the pool, which is accessed by means of a ramp taking you below ground level. To increase the insulative value of the cellar, it will be under a living roof, looking like little more than a grassy hill when completed in the spring of 2010.
Best of all, we still have a place to cool off, and so do our carrots!
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December 17th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Awesome! Thanks for blogging about this. My husband and I just moved in to a new home and we’re trying to decide what do with our pool. We came up with the same idea you did, to turn our pool into a root cellar and maybe a garden on top.
Thank you for sharing your adventures! It’s inspirational. Maybe we’ll tackle our project too!
Thanks
December 21st, 2009 at 10:23 am
Whenever I begin to despair for the future of the human race, someone comes up with a simple, effective, and creative idea like this.
This is how the culture will be improved; one good idea at a time.
All the best with your venture.
Shane.
December 29th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
At first I thought pool, nice. I do love water and swimming,but after your description of a pool I have definitely changed my mind. What a fabulous re-thinking for your pool problem. Good luck, keep us posted. Have you considered drainage at the lowest point of the ramp just in front of the entrance to the root cellar.
December 31st, 2009 at 6:40 am
Thanks Mary! We have indeed put in a drain exactly where you suggested. We will also be using space in the cellar to wash veggies, and after we have let the soil that clings to the veggies settle out of the water, that too will go into the drain, which leads to a pond a couple hundred feet away.
December 31st, 2009 at 6:47 am
Tri-Girl, Good for you! I haven’t figured out how to put this on our site yet, but we put together a step-by step guide on how we did ours. If you email me I can send it to you. It will at least point out things you’d want to consider to make sure your pool will be suitable.