What is wrong with kitchen cabinets?

This is my new design for my kitchen cabinets and I must say I am immensely pleased.  Then I got to take a look .this one.  And suddenly I discovered why all kitchen cabinets are inherently flawed!  The shelves are too deep!  The reason why the above design is so great is because I was able to stagger the height of all the jars so that you can read the labels and see some of the ingredients. 

But my tea cabinet was a mess because all the containers had to be about the same size- and what do you do with the cans and boxes?

What we really need- all of us- is one large wall devoted to storage and shelves no wider than four inches.  How wide are cans?  How wide are bottles?  How wide are those cereal boxes?  Maybe even a graduated system with six inch shelves on the bottom and one inch shelves at the top for all your spice bottles.  Wouldn't it be great to place your boxes so that the front of the package was showing?  You know, the side that is decorative and informative?  And then instead of compressing them into 3 feet of space with a lot of it over your head (which I guess would be good if you need to keep children out of it)- you could have a whole wall- with no doors!

I have a wall near the kitchen and I did have shelves against that wall- but they were ugly and collected junk because they were so deep.  They also made it difficult to get things in and out of the door because one foot stolen from a hallway is a lot of space.  But four inches is the width of the door jam- so if you can get something through the door- you should be able to get it out of the hallway.  So now is brainstorming time.
If anyone knows how to build or buy a wall of shelves four inches wide, 10 feet tall, and 8 to 10 feet long, let me know!

Fairy Bouquets

What do you do with all those herb buds you cut off to keep your herbs from going to seed?  Those cuttings you make to keep the garden from spreading too much?  Those leaves and pieces that fall off the plants or are left over from flower arrangements?  The other day, I was gathering up all those little pieces to throw away and discovered that they looked like little 'fairy bouquets'! So I gathered up my cordial glasses and those pretty tiny bottles I was saving for something, and made these fairy bouquets! Love them.

These have dill, oregano, globe basil buds, thai basil buds, honey suckle blossoms and those big red things are begonia flowers!  Not only do they look cute but they smell great!  They are all gathered around my Virgin Mary statue and I hope they make Our Blessed Mother happy.

Have a great day everyone!

Mason Jar Organization

Long ago, I heard from Martha Stewart that the key to organizing your pantry was to collect tons of bottles and use those to store all your baking things, grains, and beans.  The problem is that you either end up with an endless collection of bottles (that fit nothing) or you come home from yard sales and flea markets with a ton of other stuff.   The other day, I took a look at a cabinet piled high with boxes and bags in zip-lock bags piled halfway up the cabinet, no room to put anything in- and had no idea what we had and did not have.

Praying on how to get my home under control a little bit, I had the inspiration to go to Ace Hardware and found these wonderful half-gallon mason jars.  I immediately knew that these would be great, so I grabbed a box and headed home.  The thing about new stuff is that you can't wait to try it out- so I went home and found the biggest bags, then filled those mason jars.  I had a Dyno labeler (which is such a good thing that once you get it, you wonder how you lived without it) and started labeling the jars with the pretty side out.  One of these days, I will get glass paint and decorate the front, but for today, the ordinary embossed design is pretty enough. Within a few minutes, my 6 jars were full.  The next day, I bought quart jars, the next day pints, the next day half gallons.  I recommend this practice.  I don't know about you, but if I buy too much, then it never gets put away.  And today?  Here is my cabinet!  I never thought that I would ever take pictures of my cabinets to put on the internet- but here I am today!  I'll let you know if this doesn't work but I probably won't take a picture of it!

Things I like about this are: the staggered sizes and the labels on the lids lets you see what is in each bottle,  the containers are air tight, and the glass lets you see inside without opening the jar- and- it's pretty!!  Hooray!!  I was so happy that I went ahead and reorganized the rest of the cabinets.  But they aren't pretty enough for the internet- today at least!

Have a great day!

Growing Lettuce in the Summer

One of the wild things about living in Florida, is that you grow vegetables in the winter and April is harvest time.  If you can keep the plants hydrated, you might be able to get some of them through the summer, but lettuce is gone- the heat prevents seeds from germinating and makes the plant go to seed.  I love greens fresh from the garden in my salads but this can only happen October-April.

I have discovered a way to make this happen- window sill gardening.  I don't even need seeds!  It's hydroponics at it's simplest.  You can grow romaine lettuce from the stump that you would normally throw away.  You can also grow celery and green onions the same way.  I read somewhere that it was important to change out the water everyday. 

For about a week now, I have been taking the stumps from my 3-pack of romaine lettuce hearts and planting the stump when I start a new heart.  When it looks like my green onions have spoiled, I take the tops off and stick them in the jar.  I also cut off the stalk from a bunch of celery about a week ago.  Am also starting to grow some microgreens in an old cheese container- want to start new ones every few days.

Left to right: Lettuce, green onion, celery, lettuce mid-week, lettuce started Tuesday, lettuce started last weekend, lettuce started on Thursday.

Using the  jars because soon I will start running out of room, so will start the new ones on the bottom and put the ones growing out of the jar on the top.  These are quart jars BTW- just to give you an idea of the growth possible.

Will let you know how long things will last from one of these plantings in upcoming weeks.

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