Extension Gardening & Home Storage Tours

The final two Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County Kitchen Garden Tours feature gardeners who have built root cellars to help preserve their harvests -- and are IthaCan members. The following sites have an admission fee, are limited to 40 visitors each, and pre-registration is required; additional tours will be added if these fill:

Home Food Gardening & Storage I
Thursday, September 10, 6:00-7:30pm
This guided tour visits the extensive vegetable and fruit gardens and root cellars of f Kathy, Bill and Dan Halton's farm on Danby Road. In 1984, Bill used a construction technique from Ken Kern (The Owner Built Home) to build a circular root cellar dug into the hillside. In 1991, when they built their house, they put in another root cellar below ground, which they use to store the produce from their gardens. They have found root cellars to be very useful for storing: potatoes, beets, carrots, and other root crops, as well as wine, beer, and rain water for dyeing fiber. The Haltons also make their own electricity from solar panels which stand inside the garden. Visitors must pre-register for this tour by calling 607-272-2292. Tour fee for this site is $5/person or $8/couple, limited to 40 visitors. If tour fills we will start a waiting list for a second tour.

Home Food Gardening & Storage II
Thursday, September 17, 6:00-7:30pm
This guided tour visits the gardens, orchard and root cellar at Peasant Dreams Farm ( www.peasantdreamsfarm.com) owned by David and Katie Quinn-Jacobs in Ithaca. This farm focuses on root crops for winter home storage and offers information about root cellaring. The farm uses certified organic seed and no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. The gardens are a mix of raised beds, raised rows and larger crop plantings. The orchard includes apple, pear, peach, pawpaw, northern kiwi, Cornellian cherry, and an assortment of berries and nuts. The root cellar below their porch is divided into two storage areas: for cool/dry and cool/moist storage to accommodate different crops. Chickens and Romney sheep provide manure to the gardens. Visitors must pre-register for this tour by calling 607-272-2292. Tour fee for this site is $5/person or $8/couple, limited to 40 visitors. If tour fills we will start a waiting list for a second tour.


For additional information or to register, please call Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County at (607) 272-2292 or email growline@cornell.edu.