New Photos of My Country Kitchen

My farmhouse kitchen is large huge, about the same size as most rooms in this house...20'x20' and eight people can sit comfortably before resorting to perching on the hearth or moving a dog off their bed. The kitchen is painted Martha Stewart's Bee Balm Red and curtains were never used because the window valences allow the 9'x3' windows to let the outside in. 

The cabinets, hand built on site, are birch and have piano hinges; some cupboards have glass windows. The pass through, to the living room, was made to allow both conversation and light to pass between both rooms. Hand made baskets are lined up over the sink and most were made either by my Grandmother or me. The metal dipper is for grabbing a drink of water so I don't dirty a glass (well, that's the way we've always said it). 

The table came out of the old Pembroke Bank in Giles County VA and still has the leather top and screw holes that held down an antique adding machine and two drawers are on one side. 

On either end of the table are sturdy chairs; one is a Morris type Chair and the other is a chair with heart cut-outs. I've had the heart chair for, maybe 40 years, and the Morris chair was given by a friend 10 years ago. Alongside the length of the table is an antique three seater choir pew and when additional seating is needed, I bring out the bench Daddy made two decades ago.

If you're getting the hint there's nothing much new in this house, you'd be right. I believe the wormy chestnut rocking chair is newest and it's made of re-claimed barn wood.

The stove is a refurbished 1914 Acorn cook stove; it has seven propane gas burners and three ovens with a warming oven on top left. For the story behind the stove, click here and here. 

The fireplace was re-built using slave made brick from the original farm house (which burnt during Christmas 1899) and in lieu of a mantle, now boasts a slab of wormy chestnut. The original lithograph is The Gleaners, an oil painting by Jean-Francois Millet, finished in 1857 and hanging in the Musee d'Orsay in France. The three peasant women glean a field of wheat after the harvest and remind me of Ruth in the Old Testament. The story behind the painting is here and I hope to visit the original at some point in the future.

The mantle is lined with trip treasures...a copper coffee container Dave purchased when he visited a Romanian Gypsy village (I stayed in the vehicle due to feelings of unease about our belongings being left alone...a good thing, as I was in the back of the van, a man climbed aboard and was quite startled to see me!), sugar and tea containers hand crafted by the nomad Bedouin's in the Sahara Desert. Dave bought those while we were in an antique shop in the Marrakesh souk. The kerosene lantern is from the 1800's but the hand thrown pottery flower vase is newish, purchased from an old friend who was laid off from the coal mines then taught himself to throw pottery. The vase is only 15 years old so it's almost brand new -lol.

The gas log insert broke and was replaced with a propane fireplace that brings more heat into the room and I enjoy more than the gas logs insert.

All the crocks are original and handed down through Daddy's family; the smaller crock sitting on the propane fireplace, and the larger crock to the far right, are both from my Great-Grandmother and still in use when I churn butter. The smaller crocks are used to make pickles using my Grandmother's Bread and Butter recipe.

The rocking chair on the right is made of re-claimed wormy chestnut barn wood and was Amish made to sit alongside Dave's Amish made casket at the wake. It's a nice, sturdy chair and gives me good memories amongst the painful ones.

So, that's part of my kitchen and a portion of the stories. The Welsh type cupboard can't be seen and if anyone is interested, I'll post about it of if you'd like to see something close up, let me know. The kitchen is a Working Kitchen and everything in it earns a living by doing what it was made to do. Someone asked, "Aren't you afraid you'll break _____?" and I replied, "If I do break it, it'll be broken while in service and not being dusted.

Life was meant to be used, hearts were made to be broken and, when we're most blessed and fortunate, all put to rights again. Please don't put "whatever" on a shelf or keep in wrapping paper; put it into service today! Have your memories be good ones...when you were on holiday and bought ___ or the family said, "Sandra would enjoy having that rocking chair" or salvage something from your family...or even the thrift store...give it a home and make your own memories so you can tell your own stories.

Because memories are the key 

to both our past and our futures.

Blessings ~ The Gleaners ~ 1914 Acorn stove ~ Morocco ~ holidays ~ memories ~

Our 1914 Acorn stove

~ 1914 Acorn stove, 3 electric ovens, 1 warming oven, 7 gas burners ~

UPDATE: 11/12/2015 I just found out the stove restorer's name is David ERICKSON, not Livingstone. Haha on me.

When Dave and I moved to the farm, he asked me what I thought we'd need most. I told him, "heat and eat". He looked at me quizzically. I told him because we were living in a rural area, we'd have to be self dependent; we couldn't rely on anyone other than ourselves to provide for us. More than likely, we'd lose power due to storms, wind, snow or ice and, more than likely, we'd lose phone service for the same reason. We needed to be able to keep ourselves warm as well as provide food for ourselves. Thus, heat and eat. I wanted a well, a gas cook stove and a wood burning stove for heat. 

~ enamel tea kettle found at thrift store ~

Back in December, I blogged about our Woodstock Soapstone stove we used, and I use, for heating. When Dave asked about a heating stove, I told him about cast iron stoves and pot bellied stoves which is what I knew growing up. Aunt Bonnie used a pot bellied stove and burned coal which is the warmest heat imaginable. It's also the dirtiest heat imaginable which is why I leaned toward a wood burning heat stove. Dave did some research, as he always did, and came up with the Woodstock Soapstone stove which has held its price admirably. Well done, Dave!

~ 1914 Acorn stove emblem ~

When we moved here, there was a stove...of sorts...but nothing that we wanted or could really be used. It had been well used and, hopefully, well loved for years, probably decades, and it was time for "our" stove. In the autumn of 1995, while reading This Old House magazine, I found an article featuring David Livingstone Erickson who renovated old stoves in a former train station just outside Boston Littleton, Mass. I showed Dave the article, we oohed and cooed over the antique stoves then turned to each other, both of us wearing wide grins. "Why don't we buy one of his stoves?" So I found Mr. Livingstone's Erickson's phone number, called  and asked about his stoves. He said he was working on a pretty sage green and white model that we could have if we'd send him a deposit. We agreed, sent him a check and then waited...and waited...and waited... Finally, on Monday, July 1 he called us and said, "Your stove is ready, when can you pick it up?" We looked at our schedule and said, "How about Thursday?" 

~ two lower ovens, both roasting "cold" ovens ~

I arrived late Thursday afternoon, gave him the certified check and they loaded our stove. As I was saying good-bye, he asked casually, "Have you seen my other stoves." As Dave would have said, "My ears got pointy" and I said, "No and I'd love to see your other stoves." We walked into his warehouse and I just about passed out. It was full of beautiful, restored vintage antique stoves. I'm not quite sure what's vintage or antique so you choose. Anyway, I walked around admiring his stoves and spied this Acorn. 

~ 7 propane gas burners, 3 large, 3 small, 1 simmer ~

"This is a beautiful stove; is it for sale?" 
Livingstone looked at me and said, "Well, a woman is interested in it." 
I asked, "Is this a woman who gave you a deposit six months ago and then never once bothered you?" 
He looked at me. "She didn't give me a deposit, she just said to call her when it was finished because she might be interested in buying it. Besides, it cost more than the stove you bought and I don't take personal checks because I've been burned."
I nodded. "I understand but if I can have cold, hard, Yankee dollars in your bank account by 5 p.m., will you sell me the stove?"
His eyes got big. "I don't take checks, how are you going to do that?"
I explained about bank wire transfers, called Dave and Livingstone Mr. Erickson gave him the necessary banking information, then Dave said, "It's 1:00; I'm headed to town now."
The green and white stove was unloaded while I looked through the telephone book to find a U-Haul store. The sage green and white stove was a perfect fit on the truck but this black and white beauty was about one-third larger. 
I found a hotel room and settled in for the evening and the next morning, bright and early, I was at the shop to pick up our stove. One of his men met me at the door, eyes big as saucers. "Right after you left yesterday, that woman showed up, the woman who thought she wanted the stove. She walked into the shop and said, "I love it!"
I started to laugh. (Sorry, was that wicked?)

~ oven indicator on the hot oven ~

He looked at me and continued, "I've worked here a lot of years and this is the first time something like this has ever happened." 
About that time, Mr. Livingston Erickson came out and continued the story. "Yeah, it was a little rough for a while but like I told her, you never gave me a deposit. This other woman (meaning me) gave me a deposit six months ago and never bothered me again." 
I said, "It must have worked out all right because the stove is still here." 
Livingstone Erickson said, "and so is the money in my bank account." 

~ side view ~

This old stove has been a charmer and still works as well as the day we purchased it; we've enjoyed it thoroughly. It's baked thousands of pans of Thistle Cove Farm shortbread, baked my infamous Bird Seed Bread, slow cooked roasts, hams, casseroles, soups, stews, omelets and God alone knows what else. 

~ old soup ladle ~

This old stove has blessed us with a lot of meals and held up to the "heat and eat" aspect of our living here. It's a half ton (maybe but not really sure how much it weighs) of beauty and purpose and continues to make wonderful meals. When we've lost power, the gas cook top still cooks and we'd still eat hot meals and I'm able to make hot coffee, tea and hot chocolate, perfection!  
We have been blessed, greatly blessed indeed.

A few months ago, I found David Livingstone's 
Erickson's card and called him; no answer. I did an internet search but can't find him so haven't a clue if he's still in business or even alive. Even so, he's remembered fondly and daily as I continue to cook on my 1914 Acorn stove.

P. S. When Dave and I bought the stove, Mr. Livingstone Erickson told me, as far as he knew, this 1914 Acorn was one of two in existence. The other he'd restored and it was now living in Ralph Lauren's Colorado home. (I bet mine is happier -grin!-)

Blessings ~ this old 1914 Acorn stove ~ David Livingstone Erickson ~ propane ~ as always, great memories ~