Finally Get to Use My Christmas Present

We live in a split foyer house. 

I like to can garden produce until the cows come home.

So every summer it meant schlepping five gallon buckets of produce up the stairs.  Then taking those 5 gallon buckets full of canning refuse back down the stairs to be disposed.  Dribbling gunk all about the house.

The antiquated electric stove would only allow me to have two large pots cooking at one time.  This meant 50% capacity. 

The hot kitchen heated up the entire upstairs.  The grout on the ceramic floor tiles would be crusted with brine, tomato skins, and things unidentifiable.

Lines of filled Mason jars filled the limited kitchen counter space as they cooled. 

Once cooled, the filled jars were schlepped back downstairs to the pantry.

Sound efficient? Not.

I dreamed of having Summer Kitchen of yester year. 

Detached from the house.  Solely designated to the canning process and assisting with my insatiable need to put up enough food for a small army. 

Enter Mr. O.  Believe me when I tell you he is knows the definition of Process Improvement and running at Full Capacity.

I swear it is a guy thing or maybe it is genetic.

No matter.

Mr. O brought me back to reality.  And common sense.  And efficiency.  And a very practical solution.

A canning kitchen in the basement.

So for this past Christmas, Mr. O got busy and rigged me up a kitchen downstairs.  Nothing fancy, but oh so efficient!

Four burns which can hold 4 large pots at the same time.

No buckets up and down the stairs.  No cluttered kitchen counter tops.  No sticking to the kitchen floor while whooping up supper.

And did I mention the handy dandy sink too?

Just the right of the stove: Whala, a sink!

 

Mr. O did not miss a thing in the canning kitchen planning process.

 

I have wanted for this day since Christmas. 

 

I had a mess of cucumbers calling my name to stuff them into Mason jars, brine them and give a hot water bath.

 

But Mr. O wanted to go fishing tonight. 

 

Can?  Fish? Hang out on a pond bank and watch the sun go down,.......

 

hmmmmm. Dilemma.

 

I stayed home to use my Christmas present.  I think I hurt Mr. O's feelings.

 

Think I can pay him back with pickles?

First canning project from the new kitchen.

 

Oh the process improvement! 

 

Thank you Mr. O.  Can you now help me with my two left thumbs?





  Broken Mason jar of the evening.