THE CELLAR

“The Cellar” in our case was not the name of a below-sidewalk bar, neither was it a basement room. It was a small shed on the west side of the house accessible just off the kitchen porch. It was of wood construction and the walls were thick. Sawdust had been packed between the outer and inner walls to provide needed insulation. The object was to provide cold storage for food. A cellar should be cool in the summer and protect food from freezing in winter. You need one if you don’t have a refrigerator.

What was kept in the cellar? Root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, beets and onions; also other vegetables such as winter squash and cabbage. Apparently it is desirable to keep fruits, like apples and pears, in a separate cellar. I’m not sure that happened at our place because I only know of the one cellar. Also in the cellar we would undoubtedly find dairy products,  salt meats, and just anything that needed refrigeration.

When I was a child, while Grandma Ina and Aunt Lynn lived at the farm, my dad installed a propane refrigerator in what we now call the mechanical room. I suppose it was better than the cellar for a number of reasons – steady cold, no need to worry about the effect of seasonal temperatures on stored foods, located inside the house and in proximity to the kitchen. Those are just the reasons that come to mind. Whether or not the cellar had been compromised in some way I don’t know.

I never entered the cellar alone. I thought it rather creepy there. But sometimes if Daddy was in there, I would peek in. I remember that it was cool in there despite the summer heat. It had become a storage area for this and that – jars, odds and ends of kitchen utensils, maybe some tools. And as time passed, the things in there became more and more “cool” – you know, antique oddities. In fact, my mother’s breadbox was in there – the one that matched her 1920’s green canisters. Seems like Daddy kept seeds in it. One of my half-sisters decided she would like to have it and I was supposed to get it for her, only that didn’t happen before the big pine tree hit.

Yes, the little cellar was in the path of the big pine tree that fell and hit the house that wet spring of ’96. Of course, the cellar was demolished and we found the smashed breadbox as we cleaned up the mess.

The other thing I remember about the cellar was that one summer while we were there – I mean Mike and I and the children – one of the boys found a dead rat in there while exploring. I said, “You mean a mouse.” And the finder said, “No, Mom, it’s big; it’s a rat.” I never went to check.

Even in this age of refrigeration, I think a cellar has its place for volume storage of vegetables and maybe some folks still have one. If you grow your own carrots, onions, and potatoes, you might store them in your cellar for use throughout the winter. KW

[I was glad to find these pictures. The cellar was actually bigger than I remembered. That could be because the thick walls would make the interior seem smaller. Photo 1 is the house in 1940. You can see the cellar behind the back porch. Photo 2 is quite picturesque, I think – the cellar graced by hollyhocks; note the watering can. And photo 3 shows plainly the double door.

Photo 3 identification: This picture was taken Aug. 5, 1956, while my cousin Stanley (Ina’s oldest grandchild), was visiting with his wife, Betty. My dad, Vance, sits in front. On the left, I’m playing with L.J. My half-sister, Harriet, L.J.’s mother, sits beside me; then her husband, Bill Reece. Next is my maternal grandfather, C.O. Portfors, and Pat Nunan (half-sister Joni’s new husband).]