Pantry Project the (not quite) Final Chapter

Following the installation of the insulation and vapour barrier, the pantry required some sort of actual wall covering.  This first required that I do a little bit of investigation into actual wall coverings possible for the space.

Drywall was totally out.  It would be heavy and cumbersome and require more professional installation than I am capable of.  Plus there's that whole mud and sanding thing and no WAY am I going through that in such a small space.

I spoke with my Dad and then I also spoke with the guys at Slegg Lumber over in Cumberland and what I ended up landing on was a very thin wall board material that would be somewhat durable and easily painted over, should the need arise.  

FYI - once the room is totally finished, including corner bead and seams, it WILL be painted before I put in the flooring.  That will be a stay-cation project for some time in 2016.  Colour not yet determined, but will need to be very light to ensure the space stays bright.

Anyhow, the hardest part of this stage was the measurements and cutting - and God bless my Daddy for his patience here because the room has some weird angles and no actual square walls!

I didn't take any during pictured because the stuff went up really fast (once the cutting was done) but I got a couple of after pictures for reference.

Look at all that shelf space available!

And here too - so much SPACE!!!

Once this was done and installed I needed to look into actual shelving options. I again sought advice from my Dad and we spent some time looking on Lee Valley' website for ideas and information,  I settled on a couple of options.  For the wall behind the freezer I elected to go with a single shelving unit (and in retrospect, I can get another set of brackets and put another set above the freezer) and for the regular walls - those seen in the second picture, I elected to install some heavy duty lumber shelving straps and brackets.

Yesterday I bought lag screws and washers and went to work. Hm.  I also needed a drill bit large enough to drill pilot holes... so the wall straps and full shelving didn't go up until today, but I was able to install the shelf over the freezer.

Definitely more space for another shelf here

Today I went and bought the needed drill bit. After a nice (but cold) walk with Jasmine, I got to work on putting up the straps, brackets and shelves. I could really put in a couple more shelves (I bought a third strap and 4 more shelf brackets, thinking I would need more bracing, but the wall space really didn't need the extra support. No matter - I will just need to purchase 2 final straps and more shelf brackets for the wall directly opposite the entry door.

I then went to work, moving all of my canning out onto the shelves and voilà - a pantry is born!

Old Mother Hubbard indeed!

As I said, no more major projects until 2016.  I will finish out the shelving for the pantry, maybe even before the end of this year, but for now, I am VERY pleased with the (not quite) completion of the project!

With love across the waters...

Hot Hot Hot!

I wrote this on July 19th but forgot to hit post...

Summer here on Vancouver Island is usually warm.  We normally have a week or two of (what I feel to be) super-duper hot temperatures followed by a few days of cool and rain.  2015 has given us another summer with a long dry hot spell… Last summer we had an entire month with no rain – this year we were almost up to two months by the time the high pressure system finally broke and we got a little bit of rain… and though we have now, finally, had some rain, things still are pretty dicey – people have actually prepared “go bags” so that if they have to evacuate their homes due to imminent risk of forest fire, they can grab their bag and, well, go.  We have had two major forest fires as well as a number of smaller ones on the island this year – all of which can be attributed to humans.

Today I took advantage of a cooler morning and mowed my back yard.  First time in two weeks, and though it hasn’t been watered at all this summer, it is still pretty lush and green. I seeded most of it with drought resistant seed and that has paid off in some nice green grass, even without the watering! I have been watering my veggies, though, and also some flower pots out front.

Today has been spent in some industry. Once the lawn was mowed, I hung out some laundry on the line and then proceeded to dig out my garlic bed.  I stopped watering it about three weeks ago with the intention of digging it out last weekend – last weekend we got rain – lots and lots of rain – and so the garlic stayed in until this morning.  All dug out, it is now hanging in my shed and starting its curing process. Once cured, I’ll cut off the tops and then store the bulbs until time to use them. Once the sun is down a little (and there is some shade in my back yard) I will get back out there and pull out the snow peas and then turn the soil in both of those beds.  The bed that has the snow peas in it will be the home for next year’s garlic planting and the bed that had this year’s garlic will be the home for next year’s tomato plants… that bed, therefore, will be planted with fall rye so that I can give the soil a really good head start on adding nutrients.

My tomato plants are looking like they will  be producing another bumper crop this year – I finally picked my first three cherry tomatoes this morning (I’ll toss them in with some pasta sauce) and the Health Kick are going to be starting to ripen soon as well.  Having now pulled the last of the lettuce, I now have the space to get into the tomato bed and I can do some more reinforcement stake work.  They will need it!

I also dug out all of my onions (that was a disappointing crop!) and they are also curing in the sun right now.  The Multiplier Onions did well (and I will do them again) but the Walla Walla that I seeded gave a pretty poor crop – I will try again next year, but think I may need to do more research into soil amendments and growing conditions!

I am in the process of completing my fist canning of the year right now. The water bath canner is on the stove heating up and what I will be doing is some fresh rhubarb mixed with the last of last year’s frozen apple pieces and a small bag of last year’s left-over blueberries that I also located in the freezer.  A little bit of sugar to round out the bite of the rhubarb and the fruit compote is in a pot waiting for the jars to sterilize. It is a little warm to be canning, but the fruit is there and ready, and I need to use it or lose it!  I am shocked by this, but my rhubarb plant is still glorious and live – hasn’t gone to seed – and therefore the fruit on it is still viable for saving.  The rest will go onto cookie sheet batches and into the freezer for fall pies and crisps.  I LOVE rhubarb crisp, but more so in fall than spring!

I am thinking that, if my bean plants cooperate, I may try my hand at making dill pickled green beans – once my bean plants start to produce for me. The Scarlet Runner has blossoms now – and even a few little tiny beans have started to grow.  The Italian heritage is still not flowering, but I understand that it may still be some time before I see any produce on that one.

With love across the waters…

Red Wall Shelves - ALMOST There

This weekend – another glorious weekend weather-wise - I managed to get a few more things done around the house. 

Without my attention, the grapes were ripe and ready to harvest– so I picked them all.  Some of them I tried to make easy grape juice with (basically fill a canning jar with grapes, add hot water and water bath can process as normal. Over time the grapes will “disintegrate” into sediment, leaving the juice.) and I attempted to make grape jelly.  I don’t think the jelly will set – I will give it a week to settle and if it hasn’t set by next weekend, I will open the jars and re-process.

Half a Haul!

Draining the grape mash overnight

Grape Jelly - if it sets...

Isn't that pretty?

Next up was the kitchen shelving project. This is the project I picked up 2x6 cedar planks for a couple of weeks ago and then spent a week putting urethane coat on.  The urethane (Varathane brand) required 3 coats – two coats, a sanding and then a third top coat to make it pop.

Three Planks at a Time 

Freshly opened can

Oops... I need a smaller brush!

Pretty!

 Those planks, once the urethane was done, sat inside my house for a couple of weeks while I did other stuff – letting the coating really cure well before I started the next part of the project.

This project took place on the red wall.

Before starting I had to scrape this crud off the ceiling.
Thankfully it wasn't too hard!

 

Crud on the floor!

Top and bottom pieces in

Side pieces also now in

Not having supports of the right length required
improvisation

Counter-height shelf in 

Almost there

Next steps, add doors!

There is still some work to do – the kitchen MUST be cleaned up before anything else today – but the doors I will build onto the shelves can wait a little until I have more material.  Thin plywood, hinges, pulls, and chain to be exact.  But all in all, this was a fun project and I’m looking forward to the next projects…

With love across the waters…

…And Now I Have a First World Problem…..

I am filled with gratitude.  My cupboards are filled to overflowing with sauces and fruits – most of which have been grown by me, all of which was canned by me. I now, though, have a first world problem – I am running out of space to store my canning. 

Kitchen cupboard full to the brim

Peaches are in a storage cupboard

Some dear friends of the family had a kitchen that was remodelled (I'm not certain if it was done by them or by their home’s previous owners) to build shelving in between the studs of their walls… and I have the perfect wall in mind… The wall has no electrical or plumbing connected, but appears to have some wiring running through it (I am thinking it was wired like that in order to provide light and an electrical socket to my “mud porch” with is really more of a catch-all junk area – that will also need renovation… just not now.

The idea is to pull off the drywall, build “insert” shelving units and install them right into the space between the studs - here is a blog link to where someone has done exactly what I am thinking about doing... complete with pictures!!

I have this coming week off work – vacation time.  My plans for this week include potentially getting a jump on making and canning apple sauce (this is no rush – the apples could still use ripening time,) making and canning more roasted tomato sauce, building some shelving in my bathroom, and generally working on some of the finishing projects for the bathroom. 

What I may do, time and energy permitting, is pull some drywall off and see what I have to work with.

Oh – and I am already “getting ideas” about other spaces where this kind of shelving would be great – including behind bedroom doors and in the living room by the front door…

With love across the waters…

…And Pear Butter…..

When I finished canning my “first choice” pears I had a basket full of smaller ones left over – not perfectly shaped, not really eating quality, and too small for me to be bothered with peeling, coring, slicing and canning, I looked for other options about what I could do with them.

 

last batch of pears canned - left-over pears to the right

My newly former boss, I found out, has horses – and would LOVE to have small ones for feeding the horses as treats – I will most definitely bear that in mind for next year’s harvest, but for this year, I wanted to see if there was something I could to with them that wouldn't be overly labour-intensive, but would provide some yummy winter-consumption results.

One of the websites I use when canning, Simply Canning, had a recipe for something called Crock Pot Pear Butter and I thought I might give that a try. I didn't like the ingredient list they had, so I went looking for other pear butter recipes and found one that I did like the look of on the Gimme Some Oven website.  I like all of the spices added and decided to try this one.

On night three of canning my peaches, when the peaches were in the canner and cooking, I chopped up my pears and popped them into the crock pot with some lemon juice and honey – the lemon juice to keep the colour lighter (turns out that was a bust) and the honey as part of the recipe.

 

Pears cooking down in the crock pot

Pears cooked overnight in the crock pot, I woke up to a spicy fruity smell – yum!  Since Jasmine was going to Doggie Daycare that day, I had a little extra time that morning and processed the pear butter (meaning I took it out of the crock pot and ran it through the food mill to extract the fruit flesh and discard the skins and seeds.  I put the milled pears into a pot and let it sit in the fridge that day.  When I got home, I got my canning supplies started again – water bath canner etc etc etc… and started cooking down the pears to a really thick consistency – and added the spices.

Cooking down the Pear Butter

So what is the verdict? Well, I think it tastes like really fancy applesauce – just made with pears instead… so I will probably not make that again.  I guess next year some horses will get a treat!

With love across the waters…

…And Peaches…..

This past Monday I arrived to work to see an email telling me that the peaches were in… later that same day, they arrived at my office – and OH. MY. GOD. They smelled AMAZING.  I had forgotten just how glorious peaches smell – and I think it probably a Really Good Thing that I don’t live near a peach orchard – I would be arrested for trespass and theft!

Anyhow, home Monday night and I scrambled to start canning peaches… it took me a little bit to get into the swing of things, but once into the swing, I got one canning’s worth completed.

 

The box was FULL of peaches

Can't you smell them?

In a Lemon Juice Bath

 Like the pears, I opted for honey syrup instead of sugar – but unlike the pears, I didn’t add any vanilla to the syrup.

 

Honey Syrup

Moving the skinned and sliced peaches from the
lemon juice bath to the syrup

Kitchen... canning in progress

Lost one out of the first batch canned

First batch success

  

Reward for the first day... YUM!

Once the kitchen was cleaned up from Monday’s canning adventures, I decided to get the jump on the canning I would need to do on Tuesday night and I got the kitchen ready for the next night.

 

Tidy kitchen - organized and ready to go on Tuesday morning

even the pots and jars are ready to get moving as
soon as I get home from work!

Batch 2 complete... the ninth jar
makes up for the lost one the night before

By Wednesday I was a pro… While the peaches were in the water bath I picked the next bunch of nearly ripe tomatoes for making more tomato sauce, and once the peaches were done and the kitchen cleaned up again... I got the last of the pears cut up and into the crock pot to make pear butter…

 

Third batch cooling.  Peaches done.

Semi-ripe tomatoes picked to finish ripening on the counter

Pear butter in progress

With love across the waters…

Pears!

You may recall that one of the things I did last weekend was pick the pears from my pear tree...

Before the Harvest

Harvested Pears

... and even though I hadn’t planned on it, today I canned (some of) my pears.  Yesterday afternoon I decided to try one out and surprise, surprise – it was ripe enough to eat – which means that it was almost too ripe to can!

ACK!

That meant I had to jump into action this morning and get moving on processing my pears – if, unlike last year, I wanted to can any for winter consumption.  Last year I left things too late and ended up eating maybe three of them and then composting the rest of them. 

So this year I was determined to catch them in time!

With the help of the Simply Canning website, I pulled my act together last night and got a plan in motion.  This morning I leapt (well, more like trudged) into action.  First up was to get the kitchen ready for my efforts.

Everything Out of the Cupboards and Onto the Counters...

Next up was to make up a citric acid bath for the pears to keep them bright - my version was lemon juice and water since I am trying to be as sugar and chemical free as possible.

4 Cups Water to 1 Cup Lemon Juice 

Then to make light syrup.  While I am trying to keep things as sugar free as possible, I recognise that the syrup is something that helps to keep the fruit tasty and preserved… so I opted to try the honey and vanilla option that the Simply Canning site listed… so mine was a dark honey with water and about a teaspoon of vanilla.

Light Syrup

Bringing the Syrup to the Boil

Peel, core and cut up the pears… this happens to be the most time consuming part of the process, and the one that leaves my hands sore and sometimes blistered when done…

First Batch

The pears then go into the syrup to be partially cooked… from there, into the canning jars with just enough of the syrup to cover the fruit, and then into the water-bath canner.

5 Minutes in the Syrup

When all is said and done, I have 16 jars of pears and a now nice and tidy kitchen.

Half Way Done

16 Jars Cooling

Dishes Done!

I find that as I continue my food processing journey I am learning important things – including that I much prefer to work with wide mouth mason jars as opposed to small mouth ones. Not only is it easier to get the larger fruits in and out of without making as much of a mess, when doing sauces, it is easier to get ALL of the sauce out of them.  I do have a couple of flats of small mouth jars that I will continue to use for my applesauce efforts, but solid fruits – pears and peaches especially – are MUCH easier for me to manage in the wide mouth jars… which means that, before I process the peaches that are coming in this week, I need to get my hands on more canning jars!

I do still have some pears left to work with, but with these I will be attempting pear butter… which to me looks like a sort of a preserve that would be good on crumpets (which I plan to learn how to make this winter) and ice cream.

The pear butter exploits will be documented later…

With love across the waters…