September 4, 2012 - Erin's Challenge



Erin, from Garden Now, Think Later, threw out the challenge...."I know I'm the last person to be issuing demands and challenges since I've been such a bad blogger lately, but since I put up the kitchen photo and it is that time of year, how 'bout you share a photo of where you do your canning and a photo of what you have stashed away so far?  I'll call this the "Medicine Cabinet" challenge, because you have to admit that for us like minded folks looking at photos of other's canning spaces and under-bed storage pantries is like other peoples' fascination with medicine cabinets!"

To which I commented "I'm waiting for Mr. Granny to cover my wire shelves with some paneling, because the jars tip on the wires. I've moved the (former) grow shelves into a large spare closet, and someday, when Mr. G gets his act together, I'll be moving all of my canned goods in there and out of the laundry room. I promise there will be a picture if it ever happens!"

I admit that put me at a slight advantage, because I immediately informed Mr. Granny that he'd been promising to cover those shelves for me for over a month now, so I was just going to have to use layers of old newspaper and then blog bad things about  him again  ;-)

Of course, Mr. Granny, not wanting bad things being blogged about him, jumped right up from his recliner and headed for the garage to find some sheets of paneling he had in there somewhere.  Within the hour, I had the wire shelves covered with paneling, and I even got some shelf paper covering a couple of them.  I spent the afternoon moving all of the home canned foods and canning equipment and a few of my jars into the new area.  That done, I tackled the laundry room to take advantage of all the new found space.  Funny thing is, after I rearranged everything, the shelves and cupboards that had previously held the jars of canned goods were once more full.

To meet Erin's challenge, here are the pictures.  Ha-ha, Erin and Robin, I got it all cleaned up before I took the photos!


This is my canning area.  I debated over getting a ceramic cooktop, but other than being a beotch to clean, it's worked out quite well with my flat bottomed canner.  It does have one double cooking ring just for large pots and canners, and after a couple of uses, I had it figured out.  I like my kitchen cooking area, because I'm a bit of a TV fanatic, as well as a computer fanatic, and both are handy.


Here are the shelves, in an unused closet, with all of this year's canned goods and pickles from 2010.  We'll never get all those pickles eaten!  It sure doesn't look like much, but the tomatoes haven't been very forthcoming this summer, and most of the garden harvest has been put into the freezer.  I'll probably bring the remaining empty jars in from the garage, just to keep all the canning supplies in one place.  Yes, I only have five pint jars left.  My children need to return their empties!!!!  Anyway, the shelves hold pints five deep, so there are really quite a few jars of food there.


My laundry room still serves as a pantry and storage area.  Even with the jars of food and canning supplies removed it's quite full.  


I do have a much neater shelf above the washer and dryer, as many of the things (light bulbs, boxes of ZipLoc bags, etc) got moved to a cupboard.  Now only cleaning supplies and a couple of toxic chemicals occupy the high shelf.  Toxic like Goo Gone and Silicone remover.


The shelves and cupboards on the right are where the home canned foods used to be stored.  Now I have room for some of the larger things that have been taking up space in my kitchen cupboards. Things like bags of flour and sugar, crackers, cake mixes and just lots of miscellaneous stuff.  The cupboards hold my laundry supplies, rags, and the aforementioned light bulbs and ZipLocs.


To the left of the entry door, this shelf unit now holds canned goods, large jugs of vinegar, garbage bags and dog food.


To the right of the door is a spot to hang my broom, mop and dustpan.  It seems so well organized now!  I give it a week at most.

Just look at the extra space I gained in this cupboard under the kitchen counter!  This is where I had the canning jars stored, but now that they've been moved I can probably utilize this space for storing seldom used small appliances or maybe my big cookie sheets and baking pans.   That means I get to clean kitchen cupboards now.  Why does one job always lead to another?  LOL!!!!


27 comments:

  1. Hi granny .wow very nice..i like your kitchen so much...i admire they way yr arranged it too....

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  2. I could so use an extra empty cabinet in the kitchen. Oh the things I could bring up. I have a big storage area in the basement that holds all my excess kitchen crap. This includes my canner and dehydrator. During the busy season I just leave them on the counter. My "pantry" is a set of shelves that cover one wall going down the basement stairs. I can grab things without taking one step down for most things. I kind of like that set up. The basement stays a little cooler than the rest of the house and in summer that means my pantry area is a bit cooler too.

    And how did you get an empty closet? My closets are overflowing and I've only been in this house for two years. Closets are never empty.

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    1. Daphne, I so miss the basement I had in my former house! It actually had a small room that was wall to wall shelves for canned goods. Of course, it was also a tri-level house plus the basement, and I doubt I could manage all those stairs in my old age.

      The empty closet is in a third bedroom, the one we turned into Mr. G's TV/man room. It's 8' long, with sliding doors, and can hold an enormous amount of "junk". Extra chairs are stacked on the other side, for when everyone is here for meals. The entire shelf over the clothes rod holds my genealogy books.....you know, the ones I'm trying to get on computer and then get rid of. That's probably not going to happen anytime soon ;-)

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  3. Looks beautiful and organized! Good for Mr. Granny getting that job done for you! You couldn't pay me enough to post pictures of the clutter that is my kitchen and storage area!

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    1. Awww, Nutmeg, it can't be that bad! I try to keep mine fairly well organized, but you can only cram so much stuff into a small room. That little bit of extra shelf space made a big difference. I almost want to keep the laundry room door open now, it looks so much better!

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  4. You are a WORKER!!! Everything looks so organized and neat. My cousin's wife has some of those same genes, and I wish I could find a way to sneak in and show off her canned goods. At least that way I'd have some kind of personal connection to productivity and neatness :-)

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    1. Dianefaith, it really didn't take a lot of work, just a lot of rearranging! I had just given the laundry room a good cleaning last week, so it was all a matter of organizing and tossing out some old cleaning supplies that were no longer being used. Today is when the work begins. We'll be back to painting the house again this morning. I'm really having to force myself to pick up that paintbrush :-(

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  5. Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater!

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    1. I'm with langela!!! You are supposed to show us the before and messy pics. Maybe I'll have the time to post my pics tomorrow and show you what a mess I have right now!!

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    2. Robin, I've shown the messy pictures before. This time I wanted to feel superior ;-)

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    3. Stop by later today and I'll have my pictures up. And they aren't pretty!

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  6. Lol, nice job on the cleanup! Everything looks so spotless and tidy. I gave up trying to get any part of my house that clean... at least until the kids head off to college! Thanks for sharing Granny.

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    1. Anywhere, thanks. Now I need to do something with my messy garden shed. And the garage.

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  7. wow I had to stop and say...You have my dream kitchen :)...congrats.

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  8. I love getting organized like this, it gives you such a feeling of accomplishment. I don't can, but I can appreciate you needing the space for all of it. Good job to Mr. Granny on getting those shelves covered, they look great!

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    1. Alison, it's always a good feeling to get something all clean and organized. It's too bad it only stays that way for such a short time!

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  9. Kudos to Mr. Granny for accepting the challenge! Haha! Your space is so organized, and I love that you have the computer and tv so close by, I think I would spend more time cooking if I could multi-task in the same space like that. I think we will all be lower on canned goods this year due to the strange weather, win some and lose some :) Your "toxic" item reminded me that I've been meaning to make soap for about 2 years now LOL, I was so worried about storing lye with kids in the house I had hubby put it in the ATTIC, right where I would forget about it too!

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    1. Erin, I've been trying to get rid of a lot of the (also toxic) cleaning supplies, too. Unfortunately, much of it was bought in humongous containers from Costco and, well....I'm cheap. I hate to toss them out, so I'll continue to cause climate warming and plagues by using them up. I've loaded up on white vinegar to eventually take their place, although I'm not sure I like the house smelling like a pickle!

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  10. I don't know what was better, checking out your storage pics in this post or the fact that you used the word beotch. I almost spit my cereal out from laughing when I read it. Granny, you are one hip gardening lady! Fo shizzle.

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    1. Hey, Kris...fo shizzle my nizzle
      extra salt on the frizzle
      dr pepper my brotha
      anotha for your motha
      double double supersize and don't forget the fries
      CRISPY!

      Yo, man!

      :-D

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  11. Kris stole my thunder, when you said 'beotch' I about spit water all over the monitor. You are too cool!

    Nicely organized. Mr. Granny should be impressed that you don't leave your stuff all over. Can HE say the same about his hobbies and crafts and projects? LOL!

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    1. LOL, 1st. Man. It doesn't take any organization to keep Mr. Granny's TV set in place! Although I must say, the end table next to the recliner can get quite messy at times ;-)

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  12. dear granny,

    please come stay with me for a bit. i will tell you to just relax but i know you cannot so my hope is you will clean & organize my home, then can up some produce for winter. you can stay as long as you like, and have the family visit. we can visit daphe's incredible garden.

    i will cook.

    love, donna :D

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    1. Oh, Donna, you just made my day!!!! I'm packing my bags.

      Yes I am.

      I wish.

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