Cutting food costs has led many people to produce a part of their own food supply. Along with this is an increased interest in home food preservation. Among the methods to preserve home produce is canning, freezing, drying, and storage.

About this time of year the freezer is full and you’re "burned-out" of canning all your excess garden produce in a hot kitchen. Storage may be a method to consider since no processing is involved. Our ancestors used storage extensively ranging from an outside pit, mound storage, to an exterior root cellar. With the modern-day conveniences of refrigeration and supermarkets the root cellar has all but disappeared. But there are still people who have root cellars and/or basements on their property that are used even now.

This article will high-light some of the fruits and vegetables people are interested in storing along with information needed for proper storage. Those fruits and vegetables are apples, pears, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and winter squash or pumpkins.

Apples can be stored for 2 to 7 months depending on variety. Pick mature fruit leaving stems on to minimize infection. Pick and place in a smooth sided container or line baskets with paper to minimize scratches to the surface. Wrap in newspaper, cool quickly and store at 30 to 32° F.

Pears can be stored for 2 to 4 months depending on variety. Pick when they are hard and the color has changed from dark to pale green. Pick with stems in tack. Wrap in newspapers to minimize moisture loss. Store at 30 to 32° F. Unlike apples, pears will not ripen at these storage temperatures. Remove pears from storage and allow to ripen several days at room temperature.

The sugar in apples and pears prevents them from freezing till 29° F. By lowering the temperature to 30° F causes the fruit to go dormant. Even an increase of storage temperature to 40° F will reduce storage life by one half. Wrapped apples and pears can be placed in a card board box lined with perforated plastic to minimize moisture loss. Excessive moisture loss will cause fruit to shrivel. Check regularly for signs of spoilage. Do not store apples and pears next to vegetables. Ethylene gas produced by fruit can cause potatoes to sprout and tomatoes to ripen.

Potatoes can be stored for 2 to 4 months at 40° F in darkness. Remove sprouts when they appear. Sprouting indicates too high storage temperatures or excess ethylene gas given off by apples or pears. Potatoes stored with apples can give apples a musty, moldy taste.

Sweet Potatoes are more difficult to store than potatoes but can be stored for 2 to 4 months at 55 to 60° F; avoid temperatures below 50° F. After the first frost dig carefully to minimize damage to the roots. Cure for 1 to 2 weeks at 80° F, 2 to 3 weeks at 70° F before storage.

Tomatoes can be stored for 1 to 2 months at 55 to 60° F, do not go lower than 50° F. Pick mature green or slightly pink tomatoes with stems. Place on a rack covered by newspapers. Cover the tomatoes with newspapers to keep dark and retain moisture. You can regulate ripening by bringing a few tomatoes to room temperature where they will ripen in about one week.

Winter squash and pumpkins can be stored for 2 to 6 months at 50 to 60° F. Pick when fully mature with a one-inch stem. Maturity can be estimated by pressure from a thumbnail on the skin. A hard mature fruit is impervious to scratching.