[Fen Weald]

I have a springhouse that stays right around 40 degrees winter or summer. I also made a bog cooler many years ago that usually puts ice crystals in the food if I leave them there too long.

 

[Fen Weald]

I am not familiar with those terms... Could you explain "Spring House" and "bog cooler" to me.?

Before refrigeration springhouses were either built over springs or a windmill pumped water up into a trough in the house. The house is usually made out of stone or well insulated and often set down a bit into the ground to use the earth as insulation. Water from the earth is quite cold anywhere from 35 degrees F to 50 degrees F. It makes the inside of the springhouse quite cold. Old dairy farms were known for them as a way of keeping the milk cold.

A bog cooler is a hole in the ground, often in a cold place like a bog, Bogs here in northern Wisconsin stay frozen all year long, so storing food in that hole usually freezes them a little.