We had a root cellar that was actually under the house. I was always cool in there even in the hottest summer days. I remember all the canned stuff on shelf after shelf, and the egg boxes with the lime water. <-- Square, oak tubs. Each week, some eggs were placed in the tubs. One side was for putting them in, the other for taking them out.
Beets, potatoes, dried beans, onions, carrots, rutabagas, turnips, cabbage were all in their places.
Something else I remember... I find it hard to believe how utterly
normal it was to me as a little kid: Hanging from a hook in the ceiling was a big ham. It was sorta covered with a green mold. When we were gonna have ham, some mold would be scraped off, and a steak was cut from the main body. I do not know how that worked... but it clearly did.
Modern folks say if you cut the ham, you gotta cut it all up and friginate the unused. Nope. All you gotta do is cut off the green mold <-- even on the already cut surface... get that, too. The ham was always delicious, never any leftovers.
Looked like this, sorta... only our walls were rock. Note the roots on the cabbage.
HAH!! I can see the usual green mold on the bottoms of the 4 hams in the center. No big thing.