The kitchen, the heart of the home, part 1

The kichen is one of our most important places in our little house. Here do we cook our food, bake our daily bread, preserve food for the winter months and heat water for bathing. All through the history the kitchen has been an important place. Long ago this was the place where it was warm all day round and where you would have light from the open fire. In the 19thcentury this changed when the more economic woodstove made his entrance. The smoking open fire became past time, although in some houses it stayed in use until 1930´s.

I´m not certain when our home got it´s first woodstove but you can see that the timber above the stove has been burned and I suppose that they had an open fireplace back in the 1850´s when the house was build. When we moved into the house, a large ¨Skillingaryd¨ stove was build in but unfortunaly it was damaged and could not be repaired. Without the stove the kitchen was useless so we did buy another stove. A Näfvekvarn 19 B, I think it was build in the early 20th Century and it was renovated before we bought it. I´m very happy with this woodstove. Most of the early Swedish woodstoves have very little fireplaces, you almost need to split your firewood into safty matches formate. But this stove has fortunately a large fireplace. I cook on it, bake bread or cookies but also cake goes fine, even when I have to turn the cake  after half the time, it never collapse. I know a lot of people where that happened despite the have a modern oven.

This time I made some picture how we clean the inside of our stove, we need to do deed every other week or so, it´s important to clear out all the soot. If I don´t do that, I can´t  regulate the oven tempature that well, and the stove smokes when I lay new wood on the fire. I also blacken the stove  this time, I often forget to do that but now he is black and shiny again.

 On the picure above, you see the right cook plate, this plate is provided with extra iron on the underside, this makes that the plate stays  longer hot. A lot of soot is collected here.

 Also above the oven you´ll find a lot of soot and ashes. These scratch we beside the oven where it falls down...

 Last we clean in the sootvalve. Behind this little valve all soot and ashes are collected now and we can scratch is out and put it away.

 Brush the blacken on top and polish it out

And black and shiny after all work!

It's raining

It's raining and we've got a new coffee pot! When we just moved in here for 4 years ago, our coffee percolator broke down, we were looking everywhere to find a new, but it is hard to find a percolator you kan use on a wood stove. Most were they only on electricity. So therefor we made our coffee in a small saucepan, boil the water and add the coffee, cook for 5 min and enjoy! This worked very well but when you get visitors, it is not that nice that you also get a lot of coffee grounds in your cup.

I love the old fashioned enamel coffeepots and cups and now I have bought one. With a percolator piece in it. It looks lovely on the stove, don't you think? 

It becomes colder again, Sander (my husband) has need for some new warm winter clothing.

I bought corduroy for it.

For the pants I used a pattern that I bought some years ago.

‘Laughing Moon’, #106 California Pants

It was the fourth pair of trousers I made. Every time they got better. But this was the first time I did al the sewing on my treadle sewing machine.

 I bought this very beautiful machine for 2 years ago but there were some pieces dried out and broken down, so I could not use it. But one friend I have, find the broken piece in a old fashioned sewing shop in Germany and send it to me. Now the machine was fixed again I give it a try and I love it! I find it far more easy to sew on this one than on the modern machines I used before.

After drawing  and cutting the pattern, I did the sewing. I bought waxed cotton (quilting) tread, this worked very well on the machine. All the seams I whip stitched by hand to prevent fraying.

Next I made a jacket, also in corduroy (also on the old sewing machine J). I never made a jacket before, nor had I pattern I could use, but I had a old shirt my husband didn’t wear anymore. That I used some basic pattern and made some changing’s. I made two darts in the back panel and curved side seams.  I think, the jacket turned out very well. Of course are there thing’s I would do different next time but I’m happy how it turned out, and my husband also J.

Next I want to made a waistcoat in the same style and I need to make at least two new shirts.

Kitchen

This week we made some new things for our kitchen. The old countertop some was in here when we bought the house, was a awful one from the ’40-‘50s. Once it had belonged to another house, so it was to large to fit in. The old drain was not working so we decide to take everything out and replace it for a temporarily kitchen. But now after 4 years we know how we want the new kitchen must look like. Little by little we changes it.

On Saturday my husband start to make a countertop with a sink and today I finished it with some curtain in front of it J. It looks great!

Now there is some work left for running water above the sink. We get a stainless boiler from the neighbour. This one can we fill up with water, 10-15L. and when the water cock is working will it be much easier to wash your hands.  Now I have a cup in one hand and try to wash the other ;)  If I need cold water I will fill it up with cold but when I need hot water it’s just to fill it with hot water from the stove.

On the other side of the room we did make a cupboard with shelves above it. I love to see my old fashioned canisters on the open shelves. Most come from the Netherlands. Old coffee canisters from the Trademark ‘Douwe Egberts’ and my favourite tea canister of the ‘Pickwick’ trademark.

                                                          I know it's a mess like always 

Did you see the table on the picture’s? My husband made that a year ago for me. It is all made by recycled materials. Do you see the table legs? That was once a old weaving loom, the underside was rotten down, but the upside was still to use. After cutting away the rotten part he turned it upside down that become the legs. So I can say that my table is from 1799. the year the weaving loom was build. The table leaf is not that old but I guess it is from end 1800 early 1900. Once it was a typical Swedish ‘utdrag sofa’.   That is a bank of wood, nearly 2m long, they used it to sit on it when eating but when it become time to sleep, they pull the underside out and then it become a bed. In Sweden  most ordinary people did have it in the 1800s. Most they stood in the kitchen. But our ‘utdrag sofa’ did have the same history like the weaving loom. After long time on a old loft, most parts where eaten from woodworm and did fall apart when you touched it. But some planks  we could save and that become the leaf. This table is stable enough to knead my dough on when I baking bread. I know for sure, No one has the same table we have!