For the first time I thought I would take a few pictures of things in my kitchen and join the fun over at celia’s. Just a few shots today because as usual there are a number of culinary projects hanging about cluttering up the place.
This is Johns great-grandmothers coffee grinder. We use it every morning to grind our coffee. It works like a charm. Wish it could talk. It looks like it could talk though if we animated it!
I have limited pantry space so here is how I store my cans and yes I do use them. There is a knack to getting one out and popping another back into the gap before the whole thing falls over. 
I have a deep mistrust of drawers and doors. I like to keep everything I use on shelves where I can see what they are up to. Plus I am the most absent minded person I know so if I cannot see what I have I forget that I have it. Everything has a spot where it lives. I probably should have tidied and polished but that kind of felt against the rules. Anyway I am butterfly housekeeping today and everything inside is half done!
In the previous picture you will have glimpsed my pantry, I use jars to store everything. I have a long standing love affair with old glass. It bewitches me. My own grandfather (Pa) used to collect old bottles. Apparently Johns grandfather had a similiar idea with jars. There are boxes of these Blue Ball jars in The Matriarchs barn. See that Swayzee one? Ball bought out a lot of their competition. Swayzee Glass, Indiana, started up in 1894 and were bought out by Ball in 1904.
The sand hill Ball used to make the blue glass (Hoosier Slide Sand) was completely mined out by 1937. This particular sand on the shores of Lake Michigan was lower in iron than other sand, resulting in this intense blue cast. No-one seems to know why this happened right there and it has not been found again anywhere else in the States, as far as I can work out. This is why these particular Ball jars were only made for a limited time. So it is safe to assume that these jars in their dusty old cardboard boxes, put into the barn by Johns grandfather are at least 80 – 100 years old. Some are even older as I can see the marks of being hand blown.
The kitchen has tall french doors that are always open onto the big covered verandah where we eat every meal until winter around a big long harvest table I made from an old barn door. This is where we work, gather and talk. We wash vegetables and sort the produce from the gardens. This is where the animals join us for a beer in the late afternoon. It is a disaster area today though, so I will show you another time. Apparently a sleepy couple are lying right outside the screen doors, just waiting.
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
79 responses to “In my Kitchen, a tiny glimpse”
Loved this peek into your kitchen. I also like my things where I can see them or I forget I have them. You are so lucky to have those beautiful jars!
Absolute luck Cindy and I believe in using beautiful things so into the house and onto the shelves they go where i can see them! c
Just plain beautiful, all of it!
I put up the curry recipe for you on the comments with my curry post from the other day. Enjoy!
K
oh Thank you kathryn i shall go back and grab it. We are off to Chicago on monday so i can buy the special spices while i am there! c
I wanna go to Chicago! I’m out of sports peppers for a proper Chicago hot dog 🙂 You have some serious pots and pans there. t
Miss T, what is a sports pepper? c
To be honest, I’m not quite sure! But they are one of the prerequesites for the hot dog. Natural casing hotdog, poppy seed bun, mustard, tomatoes, onions, celery salt, neon green relish, dill spear – and the peppers! Oh heck! I just need some Garretts popcorn 🙂
t
Well i can see why John has no use for my hot dog nights… Now I know what i have been doing wrong! Thank you Miss T.. c
Great kitchen! Love the jars.
Thank you, pure luck really, thanks to johns grandfather who never threw one thing away. bless him.. c
OK, no mention of the Star Trek poster, come on! Your kitchen rules. We also love Ball jars, but don’t have any of the Michigan blues. Your kitchen is so homey and I love that you can eat outside in the summer. Even if our porch was covered, we’d still be hunkered inside. Cute pets too.
Thank you greg for not mentioning the retro, original, folded, 19 something or other, behind special antique protecting glass, Star Trek poster. It appears that I married into a star trek family. However it goes nicely with my yellow walls!! c
I’m happy to see that the cans don’t obstruct the Star Trek poster!
There were rules about that! c
I have a thing for old jars, too, but as I share my kitchen with someone much ‘neater’ than I, most of mine are in the Plant Room in the basement…
To be fair, it was his kitchen for a long time before he met me!
Never knew why the older jars were blue, thanks for the clue!
I am very lucky not to have married a neat person.. I use these jars for everything they are so useful and so pretty.. c
I do admire your Star Trek poster! I am moving home myself and your great photos have given me quite a few ideas. Thanks!
Oh thank you.. really it is all about what you find along the way.. The shelves of pots are above the stove which is really handy, when a pot is on the stove I can put the plates in its place to warm before dinner! c
I love that old school coffee grinder, who needs a power one when a hand cranked one let’s you do it just the way you want right? 🙂 my favorite from all your pictures? is how east it is to access everything! nice! 🙂
Thank you Andy, really I think all kitchens should be designed by lazy cooks! Plus we don’t always have power out here, especially in the winter.. c
I guess! no power sometime also means more peaceful moments most of the time though doesn’t it? 🙂 no tv’s or repeating radio music, just the breeze? 🙂
True Andy, actually I would love to be able to live OFF the grid, but both solar and wind have so many imported components and are so expensive that i think it will only be a dream! However I am still working on my solar heated outdoor shower and bath for the summer.. c
Nice. Well-written, interesting and really excellent way with phrases. I’ll be back. Dan
Thank you Dan. see you again soon. c
That antique coffee grinder is amazing. I agree with your way to store pots…also helps so you don’t forget about certain pans in the back of cabinets! That photo of your dog and cat is adorable, great that they get along. 🙂
Hi caroline, yes they are sweet, until the dog wakes and realises the kitten has cuddled so close. c
C, thanks for playing and for the linky! So nice to see what’s in your kitchen – impressive that you can keep so much stuff out and still keep it neat! I’d love to see you get that tin of beets from the bottom row out.. 😉
Live long and prosper! 🙂
Thank you Celia.. The only reason it stays so neat is that I do not have a lot of stuff to mess it up with!! Tiny kitchens have their advantages! c
I’m in love with your coffee grinder. Great kitchen. Really interesting about the glass. Now is that a tree house or a look out I spy in front of the verandah on the second to last photo? Looks rather interesting as well. Sorry I’m nosy like that! ha ha
Regards Florence x
Oh Florence that is fine.. it is a tree house, mostly used by cats nowadays, they all solemnly climb the ladder then sit up there in the evenings and look about. So i suppose you could call it a look out too.,.. c