How I Store Vegetables On a Small Farm (Fridges, Totes, And Secrets)

Quick Overview

The former executive chef maximizes vegetable shelf life and quality on his small farm by storing produce in commercial reach-in refrigerators, using specialized totes with drain pans, and maintaining 90-100% humidity to prevent wilting, while also detailing the maintenance required for his mobile cooling trailer.

Key Points: The farmer spent over 20 years in the restaurant industry, working up to Executive Chef at a 3,000-room resort before becoming an urban farmer. He uses two commercial reach-in refrigerators (one white painted, one stainless steel 'Motak' brand, which is Kaltom spelled backward) for storage, keeping produce at 60-75 degrees Fahrenheit and 90-100% humidity. He utilizes specialized, expensive totes (around $40-$50 each) that feature perforated bottoms (drain pans) to prevent produce from sitting in standing water. For market sales, he uses 2lb bags for salad greens, inflating them with air to resemble a balloon to help shelf life. He details the maintenance of his DIY mobile refrigeration unit—a 5x8 insulated trailer cooled by an LG AC unit controlled by a Cool Bot—which costs about $4,000 to build. Regular maintenance includes cleaning the AC condenser coil every 30 days to prevent failure, which could otherwise cost $200-$300 for a service call. He demonstrates washing root vegetables in a modified cement mixer/tumbler and then storing them in the vented totes.

Context: The video features a former executive chef, now an urban farmer named Chef Mickey, detailing his methods for storing fresh produce grown on his small farm to maximize shelf life and quality, primarily focusing on his use of commercial refrigeration and specialized storage containers.

Detailed Analysis

The farmer, a former executive chef with over 20 years in the industry, transitioned to being an urban farmer, growing organic vegetables for local chefs and farmers markets in Knoxville, Tennessee. He emphasizes the importance of proper storage to maximize product quality and shelf life. His setup includes two commercial reach-in refrigerators located in his basement 'wash pack station.' One is a white, painted Kalom unit, and the other is a stainless steel Motak unit (which he notes is Kaltom spelled backward). He keeps these units running at 60-75 degrees Fahrenheit and aims for 90-100% humidity to keep greens from wilting. For storage, he uses large, clear, vented food service trays (16x28 inches) with drain pans underneath to ensure produce does not sit in standing water, which he notes is crucial for root vegetables like the turnips shown. He also uses specialized, stackable, vented totes (which he buys used) for transporting and storing produce like carrots, noting that the venting allows air circulation that solid totes lack. The speaker highlights the necessity of regular maintenance on his mobile refrigeration trailer—a DIY project built from a 5x8 trailer insulated with spray foam and cooled by an LG AC unit connected to a Cool Bot controller—stressing that cleaning the condenser coil quarterly saves hundreds of dollars in potential repair calls.