So, while I wouldn't call this a bumper crop by anyone's definition, we ended up with more beets that I know what to do with at the moment, but not really enough to justify canning them. I think that I'm going to try root cellaring.
Our soon-to-be new old house was built in 1925, and has a HUGE dug-out basement. The basement stays fairly cool and (for better or worse) a bit damp; ideal conditions for a root cellar. Based upon my obsessive research on the subject, I've come to learn that the best way to store an uncooked beet is to trim off the greens (leave 1 inch of stem to prevent "bleeding"), and bury the beets in a crate filled with clean, slightly damp sand. Making sure that they stay cool @ 32-40 degrees, and lightly misting the sand regularly, the beets should last for at least 4-5 months.
As for the trimmed greens, what doesn't get fed immediately to the bunnies and chickens gets chopped and dried in my food dehydrator for supplemental green fodder for the critters come wintertime, when green things become scarce. The greens are actually more nutritionally dense than the roots, containing vitamins A, B1, B2, B6 & C, and even more iron than spinach.
Dwight Schrute, have I done you proud?
