Don’t miss it!!

This Saturday morning, Deep Roots Food Hub will sell off produce remaining in its unique off-grid root cellar at 230 Davidson’s Side Road.  Designed specifically to hold up to 70,000 lbs of root vegetables and other produce like cabbage and onions, it’s the “anchor” facility for DRFH, an organization that intends to make Canadians and the world, food secure….one rutabaga and one local food system, at a time.   

Other than organic rutabagas and potatoes, and some even grown regeneratively, there will be lots of opportunities to find out how DRFH and sister organizations like ExerFarm, intend to achieve food and climate security, and better nutrition as well.   You’ll also listen to an expert on the soil biome who is creating a Permaculture Food Forest and a beautiful “Mandala” garden on site.  There will be a Ford F150 Lightning truck providing electric power.  You can view the root cellar and find out how it works on only a few hundred watts of solar power.


Who knows!  You might even pick up a few tricks to make your own backyard garden more sustainable and more able to provide some of those delicious micronutrients you might be missing.  There will be prizes, and some activities for the kids.


It’s this Saturday, May 13, 9 am to 12 pm…  See you there!

Site visit for our neighbours from Parkdale Food Centre.  We love to share what the Root Cellar can do to support a local sustainable food system!

COMMUNITY SUPPORT:
We are grateful to have received a donation from our local FCC Farm Credit Canada branch through their Community Investment program.  Thank you Brent Clark, Farm Credit Canada's VP Credit Risk.  ​VISIT FCC HERE

Follow us to read our stories about how we support local farmers and serve our community!

In August, we were thrilled to assist JCB Gourmet Mushrooms in Kinburn with storing their mushroom spores while they upgraded their facility. We estimate that 100 pounds of fresh mushrooms were saved! 

Deep Roots Food Hub’s 2020 progress
Prepared by Phil Reilly
 
Much has been accomplished in 2020 by Deep Roots Food Hub members at the unique Davidson’s Side Road root vegetable storage cellar (near Shirley’s Bay). 
 
Thanks to over 3000 hours of volunteer labor, contributed by about 18 members of Deep Roots Food Hub (DRFH), the root cellar is structurally completed. A few local farmers are currently using the root cellar for storing about 4500 pounds of carrots, potatoes, rutabagas, beets, Daikon radishes, and other vegetables for distribution to their CSA customers. We are pleased to have BeetBox Farm, Our Farm CSA, Heartbeet Farm, ExerFarm, Gaia Organic Seeds, and 100 Mile Wine Inc. using the root cellar. 
 
The various vegetables are being stored in a variety of containers (boxes, totes, or burlap bags appropriate to the vegetable), and stacked in their containers, or placed on provided shelving, such that they have ready access to their produce for distribution to their clients.
 
This root cellar is not of the historic hole-in-a-hill or home basement variety (see photos). It is a super-insulated, above-ground, metal Quonset building which is 24 feet wide X 40 feet long.  Three 100watt solar panels, which charge four 12-volt truck batteries, provide the electrical power needs of the root cellar.
 
The humid and just-above freezing (+ 2 to +4 degrees C.) conditions of the storage chamber are regulated by monitoring sensors and fans. The plywood floor of the vegetable storage chamber has 2” of Styrofoam sheets on its underside and sits on 8” concrete building blocks. This is designed to isolate the building’s warm gravel base, which continuously radiates heat upwards from the earth’s core’s, from the stored vegetables which require constantly cool temperatures. Also, this raised floor allows fans to circulate always-available heat into the storage chamber during very cold periods. Cold air can also be brought directly into the produce chamber at night when daytime temperatures are warmish.
 
Deep Roots Food Hub is pleased to acknowledge significant recent funding contributions resulting from ‘in memorium’ donations from family and friends of Kinburn-area’s Brent Schwieg. Also, we are thankful for the donation, by Big Steel Box, of a 20’ foot shipping container for storage of various materials used throughout the year. In the past, DRFH has received significant grants from the Ottawa Community Foundation, the Greenbelt Fund, and the City of Ottawa.
 
In the coming months the Deep Roots Food Hub’s board of directors will be looking to recruit people with a variety of practical skills. Postings for volunteers will appear on our web site as needs arise. 
 
We believe that this community project, when scaled up to full capacity, will improve food security and the health of many of our local community members.