Look for an upcoming post on preparing your family to take over.
Bruce’s aunt is getting ready to move into a small apartment and is cleaning out her 4 story Victorian. My S/BIL have been going down to help out. They stopped by yesterday with a treasure for me. I am now the proud owner of Bruce’s Grandmother’s quilting frame and her cast iron fruit/cheese press. I have no room for the quilt frame but I plan to make room for the press. Picking that thing up certainly points out the difference between things made on the cheap and those made with planned obsolescence in mind. My cheese press is nice enough but it clearly has a life span. The cast iron will outlive me by a few lifetimes. It’s meant to be bolted to a solid floor. I’m thinking I could add a space for it in my planned summer kitchen.
It’s tag sale season and I’m on the hunt for a few things. I need another couple of tall wooden cabinets to hold canned food. I also need kitchen supplies for the summer kitchen. I don’t want to be running in and out every time I need a measuring cup or a wooden spoon. My plan is to have a cabinet that under the table (my fantasy stainless steel table) with bins to hold my equipment. I also need to find a wagon to haul jars back to the house. It has to be small enough to fit in the walkways. We didn’t think about the width when we bought the garden cart and it doesn’t fit. I need a small hamper to hold rags (I go through a lot of rags when I can), a bunch of big pot holders, a compost bucket and a big ice chest. I have been offered some large stainless steel panels. I am thinking of using them along the back wall, gettting some of those magnetic hooks and strips and hanging my knives and tools.
On a different note. I pre-pay my fuel bill each year. It saves a considerable amount of money. Last year I paid $3,500 for the fuel to heat my house and hot water and to run our stove. I just got this year’s estimate. It’s gone up to over $5,000 dallars!!! I’m mighty glad I bought that wood stove and have contracted to get my chimney rebuilt. I’m afraid that people will be forced to choose between food and heat, gas for their cars or new shoes for their kids. I also fear that they will take unsafe shortcuts for heating and use improper chimneys or stoves. If you do use alternative heat sources, don’t wait until fall to get them checked for safety. People die of carbon monoxide poisoning every year. I think most fire departments offer CO2 detectors if you can’t afford one. It’s a must-have item IMO.
June 15, 2011 at 7:47 am
$5000??!!??! WOW! I heat with natural gas (including hot water), and even when I first moved into my un-insulated, 80+ year old house (in Canada), my heating bill wasn’t that high! Not even half! Mind you, my house is probably smaller, and only one person, but still!
Actually, your heating bill just made me feel better about spending $5000 this fall to get my chimney re-done, and to convert the non-functioning fireplace to a woodstove that I can also use to cook on, if I have to. Which, of course, should reduce my gas bill even more- after insulating and switching to a tank-less water heater, my bill has dropped by almost 70%!
June 15, 2011 at 8:45 am
hokey smokes! that’s a LOT of money. guess we’d better get our wood cut and done!
nice find on the press…the steel panels sound like a good thing! I would use them that way too.
I need some tall cabinets for home canned stuff too…hard to come by though. I’m seriously thinking of just building shelves in the basement that will be “just right”.
June 15, 2011 at 10:22 am
One of my old cookbooks (I can’t find the reference, so it could be McFaddon’s Physical Culture, Farmer’s Boston School Cookbook, or Harland’s Complete Cookbook) offers advice on creating a nice kitchen. They recommend buying a sheet of zinc, and covering a plain table and hammering it into place rather easily. I don’t know as whether or not zinc is still a viable option, but perhaps you could find thin, pliable, sheet metal to do similarly for your summer kitchen.
June 15, 2011 at 11:36 am
The summer kitchen sounds inspiring. I hope you’ll post photos of that, too, when its in progress and when in use.
Itching for a wee bit more land here. We’re running out of room on our .15 acre!
June 15, 2011 at 11:40 am
The increase in fuel doesn’t surprise me – everything that is trucked in, then trucked out has increased in price. A home delivery from Lowe’s has gone up $10 in just the past month. Any method to reduce heating costs is a good investment. I’m sure you caulk, wear layers, close off rooms not needing heat. Do you hang heavy drapes or quilts on your windows – we found it really helped. And, I’m pretty sure I’ve read on your blog, that you congregate mainly in one room – body heat really helps keep a room warm, as does cuddling.
Altho I don’t have a summer kitchen I do try to keep 3 sets of stainless measuring spoons & cups and numerous wooden spoons and stainless cooking spoons on hand – I’m phasing out the plastic ones – as I dislike having to stop the cooking to wash a set. They are the first things I check for at yard sales & thrift shops.
June 15, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Sure glad we live in the Ozarks where you can get a double trailer load of seasoned oak logs for $250…that heats our two story farm house all winter plus our water.
Besides a CO2 alarm don’t forget those smoke detectors and fire extinguishers…our neighbors lost the beautiful cedar log home they just build themselves to a kitchen fire last week. Hear there will be a building bee for them soon. We are so pleased that we are going to have a fire department here soon…our little crossroads has always been served by a town 12 miles away and they never loose a foundation! New neighbors on the corner will run it plus they are both EMT’s which will benefit a number of elderly neighbors,too.
June 15, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Kathy, how ’bout a photo of your summer kitchen? I’d love to have an outdoor cooking area in this sultry climate. Best wishes!
June 15, 2011 at 7:09 pm
If I remember correctly, my great grandmother had a huge quilting frame…and to deal with space problems in her tiny 4 room house, she suspended it from the ceiling and was able to raise it and lower it when she needed it.
June 16, 2011 at 6:42 am
I love my summer kitchen! The building was already (sort of) existing and my husband completely remodeled it. It was an old smokehouse that was original to the property. I’m lucky girl – and you will love yours too! How do you find time to go to sales???? I never have any time, even with taking every Friday off!
BTW – I haven’t actually learned many new things in my master food preserver class – but it is fun – and the things I have learned will probably save my life from some food borne illness someday!
June 16, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Hi Kathy,
I enjoy reading your blog and your book is a constant reference around our house. You didn’t mention whether you heat with electricity, natural gas, or propane, so was wondering? When you said, “fuel,” I jumped to the conclusion it was either natural gas or propane. My in-laws buy their propane for the year and it locks in the price. Just wondering……
On another note about price increases, we buy organic dried blueberries every six months (5 lbs.). The price jumped $27 for the five pounds in six months. I checked around and that is the going rate everywhere now. We are planting blueberries soon…..
June 16, 2011 at 2:21 pm
We heat with propane. That’s an astounding jump in price. We put in a blueberry patch a few years ago. I didn’t do well. I think it was a combination of too much shade and not enough acid. The new patch ;looks good as we addressed both of those issues. I’ll ask Bruce about the zink.