The biggest challenge, at least for me, with gardening is preserving the harvest. It makes me sick to think of the amount of food I have let go to waste through not having these skills. Root cellaring is something I am looking at hard as it is a no impact way to store food. It uses the earth to maintain the freshness of the crops stored within.
Idea #1
Bury a 5 gallon bucket and cover it with a straw bale.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/do-it-yourself/mini-root-cellar-zm0z10zhun.aspx
Idea #2
Build a root cellar from plastic drums
Idea #3
Make it out of pallets
Pallet wood root cellar
Idea #4
A galvanized trash can. This is basically the same as the barrel one so I am cheating a bit.
Trash Can Root Cellar
Another Trash Can Root Cellar
