Page 182 - The Lost Ways

Of course, tenacious rats will just chew through anything you put in their paths, so be sure
to hide some good-quality rat traps in the corners, along the walls, or under your shelves.

Organization

Whether using totes or banana boxes, organizing your bounty so that you know what’s
stored where is almost as important as convenient access to everything.

Don’t shove crates in front of or on top of other crates if you can avoid it. You need at
least a small space between each for circulation. It also makes it nearly impossible to see
what you have if they’re too close.

Label everything. Don’t be afraid. Go crazy with it. Label the shelves. Label the totes. Label
the cat if you think it would help you to remember where everything is.

Put the variety, the date stored, and the projected use-by date so you know how much

you need to cook before it goes bad. Keep a notebook and pen on a shelf so that you can

keep notes about the climate of your cellar; the keepability of the varieties you chose;
and any interesting incidents or observations that may be important to you, your children,
or whomever inherits your treasure room.

Tomatoes will not store for long, but if you still have tomatoes on the vine when the frost
threatens, you can yank the whole plant and hang it upside down in your root cellar until

the tomatoes ripen.

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