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”
Love the coffeegrinder (!) and somewhat got a kick out of the fact that my wife and I have the same pot racks in our kitchen. 🙂
Well, Glutton how clever of you and your wife.. well at least we are in good company! c
Love this!! Someday…!!
Thanks for dropping in!! c
Absolutely love those mason jars. I just love drinking juice out of those things. And I love the exposed shelves. Beautiful and rustic. I just adore your kitchen
Thanks kay, it is a lovely light and workable space.. I know you don’t drink but I actually drink wine out of those little mason jars, I put the lid in my pocket and wander over the farm, if i get busy i just put the lid on and stand it on a fence post! I love glass.. c
What a wonderful kitchen. It has so much atmosphere with the old jars and antique coffee grinder along side the Star Trek poster. I wish I could watch you get one of those cans out of your stack.
Well karen, it is a very delicate business getting a can out of my pyramid!! c
I love that Star Trek poster and coffee grinder.
Ah, a closet trekkie!! The coffee grinder is definitely my favourite thing, it is so old yet will grind your beans exactly the way you want them so easy to adjust.. c
I, too, am so thrilled with the peek into your kitchen.
I have an old grinder, but my son likes his burr coffee grinder, better.
I have a small collection of the old blue mason jars, but my husband thinks they are junk, so I have them hidden from him so they don’t end up in the trash.
I have stacked cans- but on the side of my steps going into the basement- I don’t have the dexterity to exchange cans fast enough to keep the whole thing from coming down on my toes.
I love Star Trek- no poster. 😦
I love your kitchen- would love to sit and have a cup of tea with you- I’ll bring some scones or coffee cake.:)
Good morning heidiannie, lovely to see you.. are we kindred spirits? c
The veil is lifted, even if but a little … Love the coffee grinder but, I have to admit, those cans would never last more than a couple days in my kitchen. I am so clumsy. If I haven’t tripped myself, Max will surely do it . One way or another, those cans will spend more time on the floor than nicely stacked like you’ve arranged them.
I have to admit John that one of the reasons that i have them stacked up (other than the ease of finding just the right tin) is that i like the colours, it is my little can installation in my kitchen gallery (laughter) c
Your Star Trek poster is definitely the best!
John loves it.. he is quite the trekkie.. oh well we all have our vices!
I love the old coffee grinder and the jars with the light coming through them, but I can’t imagine what happens when you want one of those cans from the bottom row!
All in the wrist Miss Olives.. and i do agree the morning light worked well with those jars, imagine if they were the window.. wow.. c
I love your coffee grinder 🙂
Thank you Tandy.. it is a very busy member of the kitchen on the mornings.. c
Loved the creative idea(s), the post and the pictures!
Hi Prerna, lovely to see you and thank you.. c
I saw this post and had to yell to to my boyfriend to come see the pictures! Our new kitchen is really lacking storage and we need to start getting creative on how to store things. What we do have is lots of wall space. This is a great piece of inspiration!
Hi Aimee, I have exactly the same problem (lack of space) but it keeps me from accumulating too much junk. The shelves around the walls only stack stuff I use often, so that it stays clean, if that is any help.. thank you c
I came back for another look… you’ll be proud when I (finally) post my kitchen photos. Though don’t get too single-white-female scared if my new kitchen looks a lot like your kitchen!! hehe.
I would LOVE it if a clever girl like you was influenced by my kitchen.. i think that is great.. i am off to have a look! c
I LOVE YOUR KITCHEN!!! Seriously – how wonderful and quite honestly I don’t think I would ever want to leave your table on the veranda – it sounds absolutely idilic! No wonder the little fur children are having a snooze waiting.
Have a super weekend.
🙂 Mandy
Oh it IS almost the weekend Mandy, What happened to this week?. .. you have a great one too! c
Just love looking into your kitchen Cecilia! I also love what seems to be a tree house behind the lovely blue glass jars.
It is a tree house, Diane, quite a high one too, a not wobbly but still going strong!! c
I think I love the comments almost as much as the post, I read the post, look at the photos, then read the comments, and think, “Oh I missed that”, and scroll back up to see what everyone is talking about. I have no wall cupboards in my kitchen, just a big sort of shelf thing with racks for plates, but I ran out of space and have put up shelving in the garage too. I want a verandah like you, perfect place for a snooze in the fresh air and I would like to see you get that bottom tin out too 😉
You are right Joanna, sometimes the comments are like an extension of the post.. certainly my favourite bit is reading the comments!!