All Old Timey houses had one 12-12-17

MORE OLD TIMEY STUFF.. - Excerpt from my book 12-12-17

All Old Timey houses had one.. a little room off the kitchen.. no it wasn't a bathroom, it was the PANTRY ! .

. Back in 'the day' when store bought things were rare and far between, a home had to have a large assortment of cookware, for cooking, baking breads and cakes and meat, and canning and pressure cookers and other just plain close to the kitchen food storage, because a wood cooking stove took up much of the kitchen. .

There were few or no kitchen cabinets in those days. There was a 'sideboard' which was a cabinet of sorts with bins above to hold flour and a built in sifter to measure out and mix things on an enamel pull out shelf. But we had a PANTRY.

. It was a long room about 14 feet long and 8 feet wide with shelves from ceiling to floor along both sides and a window with work table at the far end. here Mother would roll out biscuits every morning and make pies and cakes. The Pantry always smelled good, of sugar and cinnamon, and rising bread. .

We had no refrigeration but there was a frame outside the pantry window with shelves on which things could be set outside to keep them cold or on which pies and cakes were set to cool from out of the oven and it had a screen over the outer side of it. .

During fall canning the Pantry became an extension of the kitchen "food factory" with stages of food preparation underway to the canner on the stove top, and the cooling jars on the sideboard.. waiting for the 'ping' of the lids that signaled a sure seal.

Our pantry had a nook inside the door on the right side to 'park' the wringer washer when not in use. It was a Maytag and as we had no electricity, it was powered by a small gasoline motor that mother would step on to start it like an old motorcycle. It had a hose for exhaust and on cold winter days mother would wash in the kitchen with the hose out a hole in the bottom of the door. The noise was deafening and dishes would rattle and silverware would jangle all the time washing was going on:O In warm weather it rolled out on the back porch. .

The PANTRY was an ever present fixture in our farmhouse kitchen and now-a-days when pawing through cramped kitchen cupboards and failing to find what I need, I reminisce and long for the Pantry of my childhood days.

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