By Art Nash, Energy Specialist
A lot of people are thinking ahead as vegetables grow, salmon are caught and hunters go out for the fall hunting seasons. Yet some Alaskans don’t desire to preserve their harvested food with modern canning or freezing methods.
Many would like a different way to preserve fresh produce. There are some examples of those Alaskans who, before statehood, did not have easy access to electricity and figured out ways to stock and store fresh food. Past Alaskans in rural areas used to make earthen ditches filled with sawdust in the summer to keep food cold in areas laden with discontinuous permafrost. Often, hung meats were smoked due to the lack of refrigerators and freezers.
Wooden log food caches several feet off the ground were used to keep food from bears and varmints, but most of our fresh produce nowadays needs storage in the long term that will keep them from freezing in winter and spoiling from heat in the summer.
How about the using the ground such as with root cellar, or utilizing a controlled environment such as an outfitted trailer, reefer (tractor-trailer with a cooler on the front) or an above-ground connex? These can be solutions if humidity control, ventilation and temperature are kept in check while access points to insects and rodents are cut off. Though many residents might put extra fresh foods in their entryway or outside porch, such areas make it tough in combating pests.
The weather, and in many places soils, in the state are changing not only where people grow and harvest food but also their own properties in some areas, which can affect the conditions of food storage as well. Even in some of the coastal marine locations in the state, underground ice houses have thawed and the result can be thawed and rancid marine harvests.
If you are looking into using an earthen facility for food storage, keep in mind the following considerations you’ll want to work in:
• Storage bins that have slots and circulation capability
• Shelves that house different bins and segregated variety types
• Wire-free lighting that can be activated with sensors
• Easy-to-access doors and lever handles to accommodate full arms
• Activated ventilation system that can sense humidity levels
• Accessible steps or ladders for getting in and out (and with your hands full)
Keep in mind also that separating foods in a common storage area can help with “compatibility” of the different varieties. That is, certain vegetables or fruits stored next to others can affect their neighbor while they continue to ripen after picking. This can affect the appeal, taste and in some cases even smell of some of the surrounding produce. Once you get to know the foods you have on hand, you can play zone defense by constructing barriers and controlling the room air.
Make sure that your foods are preserved as well as they can be until you and your family are ready to put them out onto the table.
Art Nash is an energy specialist with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service. He can be contacted at 907-474-6366 or alnashjr@alaska.edu.
