Food storage

[Mortblanc]

Clamping also works with pumpkins and assorted winter squash.

The question here is not "is it a good idea?" or "will it work?", clamping is a preservation method that has been in use since humans stopped chasing woolly mammoths and started planting garden patches.

The real question is, if you are going to hide your stores in plain sight do you not need to make "plain sight" the normal condition?

No, this is not something I would consider as a "last minute prep". A fresh pile of dirt is a dead give-away. You buried something there, lets dig it up and see what it is!

Clamping is something I would consider as a part of long term prepping from year to year, starting the plans with lay out of the veggie patch and flower beds to conceal the produce, and planting something as a cover to the stores even if each crop fails and you turn to buying veggies to hide.

Make sure the neighbors look out the window and see the pile of dirt that is "always there", the flower beds covered with straw as the normal condition for wintering and your veggie patch always tilled up and looking ragged with bits of straw sticking up through the till.

Hide your stores in the dark of night and retrieve them in the dark of night.

Some of the old almanacs even have recommended times for burying clamps so that the produce will not sprout or spoil.