Hi Cheryl,
Yes, I do cook on the cooking porch, but also in the kitchen. I have a 4-burner gas cooktop and microwave in the kitchen, plus the sink, dishwasher, and most of my cabinets, but the refrigerator, chest freezer, 4-burner gas range with oven, and some of the small appliances such as the toaster oven are on the cooking porch. When we redid the kitchen just before we moved the woman who did the cabinet ordering and installation was really puzzled when she looked at my proposed layout, as it was so far from the "work triangle concept" used in most kitchens. I really like it, though. We also have an upright freezer and another refrigerator in the basement, which help me shop only once a month.
We use the cooking porch a lot especially in the summer, as I can bake, roast, or use the oven for other things without heating up the house or making the air conditioner work extra hard. I store some of my condiments and other foods on the cooking porch which has no heat except a portable electric heater to keep things from freezing and in winter the temperature is low enough to store some foods that would otherwise require refrigeration. We also keep the recycling bins and containers to go to the compost pile on the porch, as well as most cleaning supplies. Here's a view showing the screen doors on the inside, which get Plexiglas panels for the winter to turn them into storm doors.
Living sustainably comes with learning to see the world in a new way.
Yes we can store food in the cellar-- as long as it is "critter proof." The other end of the cooking porch (near the main entrance) is where DH keeps his workbench and cabinets with small tools and fixit supplies. When we insulated the porch in 2009 and put up the finished plywood for the interior ceiling and walls I bought the two matching vintage kitchen light fixtures both on eBay for $5. I was undecided as to what style would look good, as we just had bare bulbs before and the unfinished dark wood inside of the exterior wooden siding. The place was quite a cave and messy as we had a lot of stuff hanging from the open rafters before.
The wall in the left of the photo (behind the range and mops) is the original exterior; that's how I figured out that my new exterior paint and trim was very close to the original house colors. I chose the siding color not to match what had been there before the previous owner painted the exterior yellow with green trim, but the color name [mushroom basket] made me think of the Mountain Mushroom Festival, which is coming up in Estill County in just over a week.
Living sustainably comes with learning to see the world in a new way.
Wish we could run a water line to the cooking porch, but that just isn't feasible. The stoneware crock with water bottle on top is the next best solution. We don't buy bottled water--we have a reverse osmosis system under the kitchen sink and can refill water bottles as needed. My "splurge" Christmas gift request was a carbonator to make my own soft drinks. I don't buy commercial pop, but love to make my own carbonated limeade with frozen concentrate and also make a cherry seltzer from black cherry concentrate that I buy from the health food store. The carbonator came with concentrates for various flavors that mostly don't interest me, but my picky-eater DGS loves to choose a flavor and make his own drink when visiting me. That has become a ritual and he no longer whines about what to drink if he has made it himself. I am wondering what he will do when we run low on the pre-supplied flavors, though.
Living sustainably comes with learning to see the world in a new way.
Name: Cheryl Eastern Ky Truth should be everpresent.
I didn't know there was such a thing as a cabonator. How big is it? We don't have to buy bottled water either. The house is plumbed with city water but the 2 outside spigots are plumbed from the hand dug spring fed well in the front yard. We fill our water jugs there and put them in the fridge.
Here's a picture of the device, Cheryl. It stands about 16-1/2" tall. The bottle (filled with plain water) fits into a well in the bottom, with the white "spike" extending down below the water line. The bottle is screwed in place, then the CO2 is dispensed by pressing the button on top. You can either flavor the whole bottle with the manufacturer's flavor packets or add whatever you like glass by glass. I think the bottles hold about 16 oz. The cylinder of CO2 fits in the back (black part) and is supposed to be good for about 60 bottles, though the number would depend on how fizzy you want it.
Living sustainably comes with learning to see the world in a new way.
Even though we are so far out in the boonies that we can't get DSL, we do have city water, thanks to the previous owners of the farm who paid a hefty amount to have the water line run. We have a cistern that collects rainwater from the equipment shed roof and is clean enough for the horse watering trough, but we would probably have to purify it for drinking ourselves. The well went dry in 1998 with a severe drought, and the spring which has come back since that drought is over the hill from the house and would not be a convenient water source. We have another concrete tank for the horses near it, but have not had it tested. It is nice to have alternatives in case of emergency, though. I envy your having a spring good enough for drinking water.
Living sustainably comes with learning to see the world in a new way.
The instructions say to use plain water, then flavor it when you have it fizzy. I think the reason for flavoring it after it is carbonated is to keep from contaminating the nozzle that sticks down into the water. My favorite is limeade, but I would think Kool Aid should work fine. You might have to dissolve sugar first to keep from losing the carbonation, or use diet sweeteners. I have some stevia liquid that just takes a few drops to sweeten anything. I don't like most artificial sweeteners. I also have a few dried leaves left from when I grew stevia a few years ago, but the liquid (from a health food store) is convenient.
Living sustainably comes with learning to see the world in a new way.
It grew well for me, though I started with small transplanted seedlings rather than growing it from seed. It is not winter hardy in this climate, but if you have a greenhouse you could probably have it winter over or bring a small plant in as a house plant if you have a suitable indoor location.
Living sustainably comes with learning to see the world in a new way.
And my 40 year old rhododendron....It was smashed pretty severely by the ice storm last year, and lost a few top branches. Doesn't seem to bother it, though.
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