After all the holiday cooking and baking, I realized I had a lot more counter and shelf space in my kitchen than I was actually using. Imagine that! Well, I got rid of the microwave and some pans that were more chicken pans than people pans. (Now they’re in the chicken coop instead of on my shelves.) Then there were the boxes of sugary cereal we’d been given from time to time and don’t eat. Yep, chickens again.
Then, on to the drawers which were full of flours, nut meats, and baking supplies. My son, Bill and his wife, Kelly, gave me a vacuum sealer for Mason jars for Christmas. So, instead of bags of flours, I’m putting the flours into half gallon jars and vacuuming them closed so they’ll not only store better but be bug-proof. The baking supplies, I’m sorting through. If I haven’t used them in a long time, out they go to the thrift store. Better to have the room for things I do use, huh?
Same with the pantry in the basement. After Christmas, I’m returning to getting all those boxes of full jars off the floor and onto shelves. Like the kitchen, I’m going through my pantry and getting rid of the foods we just aren’t using. Like ten-year-old pickles and relishes I’ve replaced with ones we like better. Those jars took up a lot of room. Now, the foods we love will have a nice place to sit — off the floor!
Then there’s the under-the-stairs pantry where much of our long-term dry foods are stored. What a jumble that has become! I can’t find anything. Guess what’s on my “next” list?
We had nine deer come for feed this morning, which is the most we’ve had since the terrible winter that killed off a whole lot of deer. I just dump out little piles of feed and yell “Deer, deer, deer!” and here they come. It’s so nice to see the herd building back up again. Many of them were fawns and yearlings, taught to come by a couple of old does who knew the routine.
— Jackie
There is something about the new year that makes me want to clean and organize. I have also cleaned my pantry and rotated out some old things that I am not using. It is amazing what sheep will eat! I canned up some dry beans so they wont get too old and tough. I am getting ready to paint my kitchen. About half way done taping the trim and then ready to prime the walls. It feels so good to have winter projects to stay busy. Enjoy your organizing:) Sending prayers for a blessed week.
Have a cousin who rents our place and he generally puts in field corn on rotation every year. We will take a small trailer behind the four wheeler with a couple of plastic barrels on behind and go out and “glean” the field. You don’t find a lot left over with the modern combines but there is always a little. Great for the pheasants and in a pinch when we didn’t let some of the sweet corn dry on the stalk we have ground some for cornmeal.
Spring cleaning in the dead of winter!? I too have been assessing my “clutter” of stuff that I no longer use or need. Lots of it has been given to me by the church or was thrift store finds so I don’t have any issues with parting with it. It was appreciated and reused and now I will pass it on. We are down to two adults that live rather simply and our gradulally changing lifestyles call for serious purging of unused items. It is truly cleansing to be rid of things that get in the way of daily peace. I am cautious tho because I always hope that I will not regret unloading something that has a special meaning or story behind it. But yes… it is amazing how much we amass over the years! Purging is an ongoing exercise these days :)
I always wondered what you did with all the food you can. I try to can just enough for the winter and spring. We don’t eat a lot of food now like when we were young. My husband and I are getting old as dirt and it is hard on us having a large garden.
I have one of the jar sealers and love it.
Enjoying reading your two articles you wrote in the latest Backwoods Home magazine.
Oh I envy your ambition!! But Here I go too in cleaning the pantry and other food supplies!! I am also working on every room of the house. It’s amazing all the stuff we don’t use! Keep up the good work!!
I too enjoy your pictures!
You’ve been busy Jackie making space and organizing.
It’s a good time of year to do so after Christmas and as we go
into the New Year. It frees one up for the beautiful arrival
of Spring, planting and when canning season starts again.
I’ve been doing so myself as many seem to be doing here.
It’s nice to be able to find things a lot easier when I need them
and some things I give to my daughter to take to a food pantry
and the chickens have got a few goodies I won’t be needing too.
It’s fantastic to see the deer and glad more or coming now and
great the older ones know the routine when their called for something
to eat.
With the snow and cold I’m sure they are appreciative of something to
eat.
I usually go out in the morning and put food out for all the animals around
here. It’s a joy to feed them.
May your night go well. Stay safe and stay warm there.
I am so glad that I’m not the only one with multiple pantries. I have three; daily, main, and ready-to-eat and overflow. I go through periodically and check seals and count jars. I also have a couple things that I’ve canned that just don’t suit us, so I’ve been feeding that stuff to the chickens little by little. We went to our cabin by the river and put out some corn and apples for the deer there. (Potomac River, WV.) I just re-did my kitchen a couple years ago and I swear it needs “red up” again already. You’all take care and enjoy the down season, which I know really isn’t but “no bugs!{
I was happy when xmas arrived so I could dole out the baked goods I make for gifts. I do the baking over time and put it in the freezer – took up most of 2 shelves in my standup freezer. Now I can get in there and inventory how much meat I have, and I can work on getting some of my specialty flours and ingredients out of there and dry canned (I toss that stuff in the freezer when I buy it to kill off any bugs.
When using the vacuum sealer I like to heat up the jars and the flour/nuts/etc first because it pulls an even tighter vacuum. Oh, that reminds me, I have several bags of nuts and seeds that I got with coupons that need to be dry canned – they last so long that way!
Dear Jackie,
I got 50 lbs. of Safflower seed for my birds yesterday at the Farmers Co Op. Then the snow hit us today and I counted 7 Cardinals at one time on the feeder. I also had Sparrows, Titmice, Purple House Finches, and even a Nut Thatch! I love watching the wildlife in the snow. I love your pictures!
I decided to use my snow time to do some winter canning. Going to do white beans and some dried lamas. Staying busy in the cold weather leaves more time to be busy in the spring! Take care
It’s amazing how much one accumulates. Cleaning and tossing is therapeutic. We find we use so fewer clothes -so the excess threads go to goodwill and food to the food pantry. I’m a poor one for reducing clutter. Ya never know when you might need something-HAH. My parents were children of the depression and nothing got tossed. They encouraged thrift and using things up. So different from today.
Hi, Jackie:;;
What a coincidence, I was telling my husband yesterday I need to inventory basement larder, same size as yours, and I also have an understairs full of buckets of staples, dried beans, etc. just as you do! Spring has sprung here in conservative, far north, rural California. No rain in sight, whatsoever. I’m not finished pulling my cover crop, and readying my rows with organic material in the row garden. A lot of work to finish!
I consistently have six deer feed/drink. Two moms, three fawns (a set of twins, one is a buck), and another doe. I’m pretty sure the other does is the “grandma” of the fawns. A six and eight point buck graced us with their presence (uh, guess when?) and there is a cull buck. Not a unicorn and the one “antler” does not look right. I keep any and all buck info private – there are those who have no qualms about hunting on property that they do not own/have permission. AND cull bucks tend to be hunted for the “look what I have” mount. I don’t have an issue with ethical hunting for food but just for trophy, not happening on my property.
Rotation and management of any supplies is a necessary evil. Management of “stuff” is too. We’re going to be re-homing a few items from our basement. Storage shelves can be put to better use.