Hello friends! Thanks so much for your lovely comments on my garden post and video last week! Y’all truly are the best:-)
I never shared my kitchen this summer, and thought I’d just share a few photos before I transition everything for fall tours. I basically used the same fabrics, dinnerware, etc., from last summer but this year it’s really turned into more of a homestead kitchen with the canning and preserving.
Having the kitchen table here has been wonderful to use as a work table, and it is still functioning as storage for everything that mother doesn’t have room for until I can get some shelving built in the pantry for all the canned goods. Insane $$lumber$$ prices have stalled any projects that have to be built with bought wood.
While one end of the large table is being used for canning. I’ve managed to keep the other end clear so we have a place to eat. And, of course I still want to make that pretty☺️ Franciscan “Desert Rose” has been my go-to for summer along with Mother’s pink wedding china, Russell Wright “Iroquois” from 1961 and her beautiful glassware, Morgantown “Pink Swirl.”
I made the placemats several year ago, and the napkins are vintage.
Simple bouquets of flowers from the garden have graced our table all summer.
A couple weeks ago, I made some more changes and decided to put our little microwave here for better flow, and it’s worked out great to have the boys here warming things up so I can have the workspace near the stove dedicated to cooking and canning. (The microwave would go into the pantry space whenever we can build the shelving.)
This is that beautiful vintage fabric my friend Alicia gave me a few years back, and I enjoy bringing out the sink skirt and valance I made every summer☺️
I found the fish mold at my parents’ house, so daddy added a wire hanger so I could hang it up. I love to use vintage aluminum with the pinks in the summer, so this was a perfect addition.
You can check out last year’s very similar kitchen in this video☺️
Mostly, though, this has been a hard-working kitchen, and I’ve been busy putting up all the things from the garden. Of course, that work will continue on for a while, and mother is still running circles around me preserving, freezing and canning even more across the creek at her house.
There’s nothing prettier than home-canned food on the table and on the shelves…
And I could not be more thankful for the harvest that just keeps on coming🙏
It sure is a lot of work, especially now as things are coming in, and the garden still has to be tended to, but it’s certainly rewarding work that will pay off. I’m thankful for this little piece of land and the opportunity to sow and harvest the bounty we are blessed with. There’s something very grounding and therapeutic about it☺️
I feel like summer really got away from me, though, and in less than a month our Fall Home Tours will start, so I will start sharing some “no-haul” fall decor ideas you can use to bring in the next season without spending money☺️ Can’t we all use that kind of decor inspiration?☺️
In the meantime there’s lots of fall decor inspiration already on the channel for you to check out!
Be sure to subscribe to the blog, and also subscribe to my youtube channel so you don’t miss any fall and Christmas content:-)
It is so beautiful. I just don’t know how you’ve done it… all the work with the garden, the canning, and keeping the house beautiful too. Amazing. I’m so proud of you
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Thanks mom, and thanks so much for all showing me how to do everything☺️☺️ Love you❤️
You are so fortunate to have your mother with you to talk to and do things with! I know you both have fun! When my mother grew up she had to help can with her mother as a child. She said she hated it. My mother was not one who liked to cook. But she loved to read and always had a pile of books. She did learn to quilt after she retired from being a nurse. Your kitchen is lovely! I love all the wood. When I see your kitchen my thought is, “Here’s a place where a lot of good things happen!”, compared to some designer kitchens that just say to me, “Here’s a place where you fix a cup of designer coffee and don’t do anything to make a mess.” I like a place where adventures happen.
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Thank you so much for those kind words Karen☺️ I’m definitely blessed to have my mom and dad here, and funny enough, I’ve never really liked cooking, like my grandmother, but have really come to love it as well as gardening, which I’d never have thought I would🤷🏻♀️☺️☺️
Your home never fails to wrap me in its warm, welcoming embrace. I would feel entirely at ease to walk into your kitchen, throw on an apron, and start helping with canning preparations. Heck, I have jar washing down to a science, thanks to a mother like yours who taught me life skills that have proven to be invaluable. I can imagine all of the talking and laughter that would accompany the work. For now, though, I’ll simply have to enjoy it through the memories that your beautiful posts never fail to bring to mind.
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Oh Sara nothing would please both of us more than to have you right here friend! I certainly hope someday soon that becomes a reality❤️❤️ And thank you, as always for your kind and encouraging words☺️☺️
Just beautiful and so cozy as always. Your canning looks amazing!! I have tried my hand at it and boy is it hard work!! Haven’t done it in awhile but thinking about canning some applesauce, spaghetti sauce, pickles and making bread!! Something so noble about keeping a clean and beautiful home stocked with delicious food too!! Carry on friend!
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Thank you so much Linda☺️☺️ Yes it’s sure hard work, and there are so many new people out there doing and giving bad advice, it’s hard to know what to do. Thankfully I have my mother to guide me and answer questions, so that has definitely made it better for me☺️☺️
Thank you for the beauty that you share. It’s something lacking in us and should not be. Your home is a window to the past and a hope for the future. Thank you. May God continue to bless you.
So lovingly stunning, both inside and out❣ I never learned how to preserve or can, but am in awe of those who have these skills and I especially like the colorful jars full of delights…your lamps make them sparkle! So much work, and do very special 💚
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Thank you so much Sue☺️☺️☺️
Dear Anita, oh how I love your blog and you tube videos. They wrap me in cozy warmth of hearth and home. No sterile minimal rooms for me just cozy drop your shoes and chat awhile. I have an oil lamp on my kitchen table too and find the soft glow warms my heart year round. Lacy curtains, comfy chairs and heirloom memories draw my family close. All these and more spell ANITA ! Please keep sharing all these with us. We love you and wish many Blessings on your family. Love to your mom, she is so like my mom who I miss SO much.
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Thank you so very much Linda for those very kind and encouraging words❤️❤️🙏🙏