Toured a barn in Vermont and the owner showed me his carrot trick for winter storage

Piper Anderson · 2026-10-12T01:55:05.854932+00:00

I was up in Woodstock, Vermont last weekend visiting my aunt and we stopped at this old dairy barn that a guy named Harold converted into a storage space for his two Model A's. What caught my eye was not the cars (though the 1930 pickup was sharp) but a big wooden bin in the corner packed with sand. Harold told me he buries his radishes and carrots in dry sand down in the cellar to keep them crisp all winter, and then he laughed and said he does the same thing with his spare carburetors and small chrome parts. He has been doing it for 22 years and swears the sand pulls moisture away so nothing rusts or pits. I asked how deep he goes and he said about 6 inches of sand on all sides, in a wooden box, never plastic because plastic traps sweat. I stood there thinking about the $60 I dropped on a sealed parts cabinet for my garage and felt a little silly. Has anyone here tried sand or any other old school method for keeping small parts from rusting over the winter?

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Toured a barn in Vermont and the owner showed me his carrot trick for winter storage | Classic Car Storage - Thought Shares