Rearranging, restocking, and garden dreams

You know how those little jobs you start to do turn into bigger and bigger and bigger jobs? That’s what happened to me on Wednesday and Thursday. It all started with the discovery I made a couple of weeks ago. The upper most shelf in my least used kitchen cabinet was filled with stuff that was several years old and the whole thing needed to be cleaned out. And that led to the next great idea and so on.

How is it that I managed to collect 7 bags of brown sugar? And what’s worse, each bag had been opened and partially used and then stuffed back into the recesses of the upper shelf in my kitchen cabinet with a pile of other stuff stacked in front of them. Then, the next time I needed brown sugar, off I went to buy another bag because I forgot I already had plenty...and couldn’t see them. (I need a kitchen stool so I can forage in my upper cabinets.) All of the bags of brown sugar were as hard as rocks. Maybe even harder. And ancient. I decided to clean the cabinet out completely. I also found a 10 year old jar of baking powder along with a reasonably new partially used one and a brand new unopened one. The same with cans of shortening. It occurred to me that it would be a better idea to keep my baking supplies on a shelf where I see what’s on it without having to resort to climbing up on chairs and the kitchen counter—which, apparently, I don’t do often enough. But where? That would mean rearranging all my kitchen cupboards.

And that wasn’t such a bad idea, either.

Over the course of two days I discovered a lot of objects I had forgotten I had, got rid of a lot of very dated food items, and opened up a lot of new space.

And being as how I live in a location where recycling is mandatory, I spent some considerable time opening cans and dumping contents into a huge bowl to be tossed on the compost pile later. And decided that tossing the sugar in the trash was silly (and heavy), so I dissolved it in a bucket of water and poured it outside. The ants out there will probably be deliriously happy in a couple of weeks and I won’t be at all.

And while I was in the pitching and hoeing mood, I also took stock of my pantry (a free-standing jelly cupboard) and cleaned that out and made a list of what needed to be restocked.

And then decided that the glassware stored in the jelly cupboard would be better off on the upper shelf of the newly cleaned out kitchen cabinet, which opened up more room in the jelly cupboard.

My pantry supplies, as I said, were low, so that meant a trip to the natural foods store to buy some of my replacement grains/beans in bulk.

I bought:

15 lbs of rice
5 pounds of barley
4 pounds of black beans
3 lbs of split peas
3 lbs of assorted other dried beans
1 lb of lentils
1 lb of dehydrated potatoes

While I was out, I also stopped by the grocery store to snag 10 cans of beef stock that were on sale for $.50 per can. While I was at the grocery store, I also noticed they had their new supply of canning jars and lids. My last year’s experience suggested that I’d better grab them while the grabbing is good because when canning season starts in earnest, the supply of jars disappears fast and the store doesn’t replace them.

And then I came home to repackage all my grains and beans. I checked all of the glass jars containing left over grains for any signs of Indian Meal Moth activity. None, I’m glad to say. Glass jars with secure lids are worth their weight in gold. So I refilled all my jars and used a couple of my new canning jars for the overflow.

Now I have all my new supply stored in pretty jars, all neatly lined up in the jelly cupboard and it’s a lovely sight.

I’m still searching for taller jars for pasta storage. Haven’t found any yet, though.

After that was was all finished, it was time to plant my garden seeds in little peat pots so that they’ll be ready to stick in the ground somewhere around the first week of June. I now have 72 little peat pots in a covered flat sitting on the floor next to the kitchen baseboard heater, hoping that everything will sprout in the next week. And that all will go according to plan and I don’t end up with a dampened off disaster as has happened a couple of times in the past. Fingers tightly crossed.

If all goes according to plan, I will end up absolutely drowning in canning tomatoes (12 peat pots), 26 pots of red onions, 12 pots of cabbage, 12 pots of brussels sprouts, 10 pots of green and red peppers.

I’ve never tried growing onions from seed before, so this should be a fun experiment.

The rest of my seeds will be sown directly in the soil outside: pole beans (green beans), black beans for canning and drying, peas, swiss chard, and a mesclun mix. I’d like to plant more, but I don’t have the prepared space for it yet. Maybe next year.

Now the funny thing (or not) is that after I planted the peat pots yesterday and cleaned up, I put away the seeds, to be sown directly outdoors, somewhere in my newly rearranged kitchen and I CAN’T FIND THEM. My mind was on a dozen different things (mostly listening to a riveting Terry Gross interview on radio) when I put them away and now I have absolutely no recollection where I stuck them and I’ve looked. And looked. That’s such a Kate thing to do. I tell ya.