I harvested the winter squash early in the day, and as was the case when I harvested onions last week, I’m a little nervous assessing our yield. It’s the least amount of squash we’ve grown in many years, and I’m not feeling confident it will carry us through. Actually, I know it won’t. Overall it was a healthy year for squash, we just didn’t plant as much as we normally do, and growing conditions were especially tough. Trying to find that harvest sweet spot for a household of two, with room to spare and share. Moving forward, I’d say somewhere between this year’s harvest and what we normally grow will be just right.
While I was in the garden, our plumber stopped by to hook up the new faucet. My husband doesn’t mind doing just about anything around here, including electrical work, but there is something about plumbing (and potential for leaks) that he will happily pass off to the pros anytime we can work it into the budget. As people often do when they come here and see this new kitchen, the plumber asked where our dishwasher was hiding. I told him we didn’t have one, but we plumbed and wired behind a particular cabinet that is custom sized to be taken out, and the empty space ready to house a standard dishwasher, should we or future owners change our mind. He told me he’s not convinced dishwashers save time or energy, and that he and his wife recently replaced their old unit with a fancy new energy saving model. The first few weeks in use, it did an abysmal job of cleaning (pre-rinsed!) dishes, until they realized it came pre-programmed on all the energy saving settings, in order to achieve the energy star rating. In his plumber opinion, those settings are not capable enough. So he upped the wash settings as far as they’d go in order to achieve clean dishes. Now he has clean dishes but the machine is no longer energy star compliant. Go figure. We had a good laugh about that one.
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After the plumber left I began putting the kitchen back together. I washed the sanding dust from every surface after the stone install, and did dishes now that we had water again. It felt so nice to use the sink I’ve given more thought to than just about any other element of this kitchen. Everyone always asks what stove we have; it’s just some middle of the road unit we picked up on sale. I gave very little thought to it (other than wanting the top to be stainless, not black, and to have decent enough reviews). At some point too soon the stove will break as most modern appliances do, and we will be forced to replace it. Which is unbelievably frustrating. Fortunately my faith is in our wood cookstove and now in our soapstone sink. Good, reliable friends that I bet will take me to my grave.
10 Responses
love the soapstone 👏🏻
It’s always interesting talking with tradesmen, particularly of our generation, about the newest equipment or latest trend. Most will concur that the older models or time-tested methods are more reliable and we’ve found that to be true.
Enjoy that beautiful space!! It’s stunning!
I’d love to hear about your wood cookstove. We recently got one but it is definitely going to take me some getting used to. So excited to learn though.
So many rich bits of wisdom walk through the door with a service call! The oiled/water on the soapstone with hints of green looks like the deep waters of the Rogue River in October. It is such a beautiful space.
Love the wall color in your kitchen! What brand/color is it?
Thanks! It is by Valspar. I think the name is Grasslands.
No dishwasher here either. I love the habit of immediately washing what one uses. And the time spent doing that as a family after dinner is precious.
Your kitchen is stunning!
We have a Swedish model of dishwasher “Asko” which was recommended by our wonderful electrician. ( we live in Norway) It does a good enough job but takes three hours!! Our electrician says that the newer versions of dishwashers are designed to run four times a week for four years…Between him and my husband we manage to make ours last years longer and I will often run it twice a day, daily. So it’s no wonder he and I are such good friends😉
Hi Heather, you might want to look into Renaissance Wax. It was developed in the British Museum in the late 1950s and is often used in museum and on antiques, as it protects without discolouration. It can be used on everything from paper to stone. Just thought I’d mention it as it’s not a product many know about. Whatever you choose you kitchen will be beautiful. So lovely to see you back at your blog.
Thank you! I will look into that.