The Furry Gnome asked.....

 March 16, 2026

about the root cellar.

We discovered this old farm in January of 2017.... yes, we found the listing, and visited it late in January, snowshoes to hand, and after an exploratory walk around, checking things out, put in our offer. Even under all that snow, we knew. 

Older folks around could remember this place when a family lived here and actively farmed. They told us there had been a root cellar where there was now a sort of hump beyond the NW corner of the barn. The youngest son of that last family to actively farm here up into the 50's, came to visit us. His family moved off the farm when he was 11, but he also remembered there being a root cellar in that particular place. This small house, which didn't have the front verandah at the time, held the parents and 12 kids, although with the age spread of the siblings, some would have moved out. I often wonder how they all fit in! He brought a picture taken at a family reunion a few years ago, 5 men and 7 women, of which we have since lost a few.

Later in the summer of 2022 , Hubby cut and milled hemlock trees into large square timbers. This is just the beginning of the pile required, stacked at the end of the barn.

Spring of 2023, the build began. Using the bucket on the tractor, he scooped out the earth, and did find evidence of stone walls in the spot. There is another large pile of soil out of sight behind the barn. You can see some of the stones that tumbled out, on the grass on the left.

The build started in early summer and continued through to fall. There were a few glitches, equipment failures etc., but the project was completed in September.

The walls started to go up. 

Cut out for the door.

The last sunlight, the interior would ever see!!

Roof going on. He used the tractor bucket to help lift the big timbers.

The whole edifice was encased in hardware cloth to deter vermin.

Then layers of thick tar paper and heavy plastic.

Starting the burial. There is a vent pipe extending out of the roof, and a sock covered drain was installed in the bottom, sloping down and away, out to the side. By the time he got to this point, Mother Nature had clothed the piles of earth with greenery. She abhors a vacuum!

Entrance way attached..

More burying...

Doors installed.

Then it occurred to me that the space to the left of the door would be a good place for a cold frame, so, a retaining wall of hemlock was put up with cedar bracing and supports.

The cold frame was built out of cedar, which Hubby had milled out of trees on the property,

and was levelled into place.

The window was attached, extra Styrofoam insulation bolted into place across the front, and the other edges buried. The interior was filled with layers of sticks and leaves, then soil.

Along the right exterior side, I've planted sage and oregano, which has taken well in the rather dry, sandy soil. The screen cover is to keep out vermin when the lid has to be up in the summer.

Perhaps putting the root cellar entrance on the north side would have been better, but it works. The temperature inside stays mid to high 30's F, throughout the winter, which is perfect. It does take a while to cool down in the fall, and we also found it was very humid inside. Vents with closures have been put up high and down low in both sets of doors, and that has helped with the humidity. Once we get into serious cold weather, they are shut.

This winter was the first real test, although potatoes kept in there last winter did not even show signs of sprouting until well into late May. Last fall I moved my strawberry planters in there, the fig tree, some potted amaryllis bulbs, and from the garden, carrots in milk crates of moist wood shavings, and of course, potatoes. It has been wonderful to have fresh, crisp carrots that I grew, right up until now, when the supply is dwindling. 

So, Happy St. Patrick's day to all. This is the cold frame today.

Yesterday was a snowing, blowing day. The temperature this morning was at 0C when we awoke, and is 8C now, mid-morning. The snow was heavy and wet to move, and now we are expecting rain.....

 

 

Back to the white stuff.....

 March 14, 2026

It has been a week of interesting weather. Mild temperatures melted the snow down a lot, to the point where the raised garden beds were bare and black against patches of snow in the yard. The driveway was clear all the way up to the barn. Then came the wind, rain, ice, snow and minus double digits. The surface of that frozen precipitation conglomerate was so hard, we were able to walk around anywhere in the open, and in the bush with just our boot cleats strapped on. On slopes, even with boot cleats, your feet could slip. I don't remember ever experiencing such an hard crust.  

The rain froze onto all the tree branches and the sunlight, glinting through the ice, made sharp sparks of coloured light with the brilliance of diamonds.

The hanging, marcescent beech leaves, coated in ice, clacked softly like muted maracas when brushed against. 

The branches on the white pines were all drooping, and the needles were all splayed out.

There is still ice under everything today, still glinting in the sunlight on tree branches, but on the ground, is hidden by the snow that fell last night. Note the three little free-loaders waiting on the railing.

It is a totally white world again, but look...the pond is filling up! One can just barely see the water/ice level from the back step, where we couldn't see the surface from there all winter. 

Despite this weather, the first Robin graced us with it's presence on March 10, then yesterday we heard the first Red-winged Blackbirds. 

Spinning classes are finished. Our teacher gave each of us some beautiful hand-dyed top to spin. I've spun and plied one skein, and am working through the other.

With practice, I am getting better at getting a consistent, fine thread.

What better way to spend a Saturday morning, than baking? I got the urge to make cinnamon-raisin bagels,

and a batch of oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies for the cookie monster that lives here.

Finally, eight out of the ten geranium seeds I planted have germinated, 

and up in the south-facing window, leaves are busting out on my fig tree! 

 

 

Spring things....

 March 7, 2026

Well, that was quick. We hustled through ice season, long enough for Hubby to spread shavings over the ice where we needed to walk, and only long enough for the ice cleats to be on our boots for about two days.

Now, we are in mud season, and almost all of that visible ice has melted. 

Last week started out cold, the minus temperatures conducive to defrosting the freezer by just setting all the contents outside. It didn't take long before the freezer was clean, back on, and all the contents re-inventoried and back in. The very next day, the temperature rose and things started to melt. 

I shovelled the snow off of the hot frame in preparation for use.

The soil inside was unfrozen. The sun soon melted the residual frost and snow away,

and the path to the root cellar melted off, bare ground surrounded by snow. That spring sunshine sure has some power in it!

This was the snow depth on the last cold morning, March 3,

and after a couple of mild days, and then a day and night of rain, here is where we were at on March 7.

The rainy day was a good day to make another batch of soap...jasmine scented this time.

Today I planted some seeds!! I have geraniums on an heat mat inside, and broccoli, cabbage and onion seeds in cell packs sunk into the soil of the hot frame where the temperature of the soil within is reading 50F.

All will be well in there unless we get some very cold nights, of which there are a few in the forecast, when I'll add some extra insulation over the top. We are back to keeping a sharp eye on the temperature fluctuations. I had to clear out some weeds in there that were showing signs of growth before setting in the little pots. 

Figgy has been brought out of his hibernation in the root cellar, and is up in a south facing window. 

 This morning, the usual flock of Chickadees that swarm us when we go outside, were not in evidence. They seem to hear the inside door opening, and are waiting on the railing outside when we open the outer door. We looked around....and spotted a Northern Shrike up in the crab-apple tree. There are hungry critters everywhere. These wild canine tracks were along the edge of the road last weekend, heading down to the winter deer yards to the south.

Resurfacing.....

March 1, 2026

This past week has been a bit of a slog. From somewhere, and I think it must have been while doing a bit of grocery shopping in Pembroke over a week ago, I picked up a virus, and have been laid low. Other than only me catching Covid a few years back, we haven't even had a cold since we moved here, so this is a bit of a shock. It has been a rough week, but think I am seeing daylight now! Hubby kept things humming along for the past week, and now it is my turn, as he is succumbing now.

Daylight is lasting much longer, and days with the temperature creeping up into positive territory is causing the snow pack to settle and compact, and mud to show up on the roads. There is a big change in the intensity of the sunlight.

I did manage to get out the garden plans pre-virus,

and ordered all the seeds I need. The last order arrived on Friday, so...good to go! This year's experiment will be growing celery. I use a lot of it, and I've never grown it before. 

The only wildlife around seems to be Foxy, who we've seen patrolling the perimeter of the house and buildings for vermin, in daylight hours. Pickings must be thin for him now, as there is a hard crust on the snow, making it difficult for him to pounce through onto mice or voles he hears beneath the snow.

Messages in the snow, spinning and cutting.....

 February 15, 2026

The cold weather we have been experiencing of late, has moderated to minus single digits.

Tuesday blew in with a snow storm that lasted most of the day. The trip home from my spinning class was a bit of a white knuckler, as there had been no ploughing done, the snow was coming down so hard and fast that visibility was very limited and I felt like there was a fog in front of my eyes. Following the vague brownish snow up the middle of the highway was how I made sure I was still on the road!  Since then there have been lovely clear starry nights and sunny days. 

Friday overnight, a pack of wolves/coyotes came in across the back property line, coming right up around the barn and up toward the house a bit.

Apparently they all had to leave a message on the base of the apple tree behind the barn, and play king of the castle on the mound over the root cellar.
The driveway to the barn was just littered with tracks. Out by the garden beds was a big upheaval in the snow,

and on closer inspection, I found that the critters had dug right down to soil level in the end of my garlic bed. 

That line in the snow is the top edge of the caged garden bed. There is about two feet of snow on the level. Lots of lovely moisture to melt and get absorbed come spring. 

On our tramp around the trails this morning, we saw more canid tracks and many detours for territory marking. It is breeding season for them now. 

Other than Chickadees and Blue Jays, the only other bird to pose in front of Bird Cam was an Hairy Woodpecker.

Yesterday was Flannel Fest in Barry's Bay, and a group of spinners took up the corner of the Legion Hall with a spinning circle. 

There were other craft exhibits and demonstrations, including Kashub embroidery, quilting and weaving. 

 The cold weather has put a bigger dent in our wood supplies than usual, so today we rectified that by cutting and hauling in a birch tree from along the road that goes across the front corner of the property. The tree was a bit gnarly and some branches were dying, so an easy choice. Yesterday, Hubby took the tractor and cleared the snow away in a clearing beside the road in preparation, and today dropped the tree there, so we could find it!

We do have enough wood, but the hole in the woodshed from this winter's useage, is bigger than usual, and we would like to make sure to have enough to totally refill it.
 

This is just the first step. Come spring, we will be splitting and piling all of this into the woodshed.

We want to get the additional wood harvested before the sap starts rising in the trees.