Earth Mother

What began as a blog project to force me to clean my house has turned into a process of self-discovery. Whether it is triggered by my children’s toys, my mother’s recipes, or my grandmother’s dishes I am learning things about myself. Today it was 2-quart canning jars. 2-quart canning jars that came inside of a 4-drawer metal file cabinet I bought at a garage sale years ago. The seller insisted I take the contents if I wanted the filing cabinet. Perhaps that was her way of getting rid of her stuff? I didn’t want, or need the 2-quart canning jars. I should have just taken them straight to the trash, but as you know, that isn’t my style. Instead I scrubbed them all (there were probably about 50), ran them through the dishwasher and stored them in the cabinet. The very same cabinet I cleaned out today.


Over the years I have used some of them for various projects. Once I filled about 10 of them halfway with sand, put candles in them, wrapped copper wire around the necks of the jars and hung them from tree branches in my backyard for a beautiful lighting effect at an evening cookout. I think I learned this from Martha Stewart. I also used some of the jars as candle holders at my daughter’s wedding reception. They were a nice addition to the rustic theme of New York City Girl comes home to Texas to wed party.


There are still twenty 2-quart jars in the cabinet taking up space. Twenty 2-quart jars that must be moved or reached over or around every time I need something from this cabinet. Why, I asked myself, have I held on to these jars for all of these years? The answer is part of my self-discovery. The answer is because I am a descendant of pioneer women who canned and I think I might actually one day “put up” food. I have never canned; I have no idea how to do it (in spite of owning numerous books on the subject), but I see myself as the kind of person who “cans”. A woman who grows her own green beans and tomatoes and “puts them up” for the winter. A real Earth Mother.


So, I’m hanging on to the jars and I’m hanging on to the idea that I might one day use them for something other than candle holders. The idea of having fresh tomatoes in mid-winter is too dear to give up.

This is what was in today’s kitchen cabinet project:

• The enormous stainless steel pot I took off of the top of the refrigerator for blog dated 1-26-09 - KEEP


• Yellow plates, bowls, cups and glasses that came in sacks of Mainstay dog food in the 1980s – 6 plates, 10 bowls, 13 cups, 14 glasses (that’s a lot of dog food!) – DONATE


• A Pampered Chef Apple-Corer-Peeler-Slicer with wooden stand – KEEP


• A Salton Air Popper popcorn popper – KEEP


• A set of four divided plastic plates and cups that came with a picnic basket – DONATE


• 6 plastic trays – DONATE


• A partial set of dishes I rescued from my Grandmother’s house. They are plastic or Melmac and marked “Ever Ware Arrowhead Brookpark Pattern” – There are 5 square gray dinner plates, 11 square maroon salad plates, and 10 square gray saucers – sadly, I am going to DONATE as I can think of no sane reason to keep them.


• 2 plastic cutting boards – TRASH – I think the health department would want me to


• A partial package of Dixie brand paper plates, 500 count – KEEP


• A partial box of clear plastic forks, 300 count – KEEP


• A partial box of plastic forks, 24 count – KEEP


• A partial package of clear 6 ¼ -inch plates, 70 count – KEEP


• A 8-inch high stack of square white plastic dessert plates – KEEP


• A partial package of Hefty bowls, 50 count – KEEP


• A partial package of Solo blue plastic bowls, 22 count – KEEP


• 4 random red plastic Solo bowls – KEEP


• A partial package of brown paper lunch bags, 50 count – KEEP


• A partial package of white paper napkins, 200 count – KEEP


• A black wicker napkin holder containing assorted holiday napkins – KEEP


• 8 rattan paper plate holders – KEEP


• Box containing 1 rabbit wine bottle opener (placed here when I cleaned off top of refrigerator for blog dated 1-26-09 – KEEP


• 2 square red plastic dinner plates – KEEP


• An electric tea kettle – KEEP


• 3 blades to food processor – KEEP – move to cabinet with food processor


• Package of 16-ounce, 140 count Party Cups – KEEP – maybe I should have a big party?


• 4 empty coffee cans – KEEP – one never knows when one will need an empty coffee can and coffee rarely comes in cans anymore


• 4 rolls of Rubbermaid shelf liner – KEEP


• A George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine - KEEP


• A Mr. Coffee Espresso Maker – KEEP – this actually belongs to daughter #1


• 6 paper dessert plates – Thanksgiving theme – KEEP – put with other paper plates


• A brand new, still in the package flexible cutting mat – KEEP


• A yellow plastic Solo cup – TRASH


• A 5-piece metal canister set with lids circa 1950 – I think belonged to my husband’s mother – SEE IF DAUGHTER #2 WANTS


• Something called a Squeeze Breeze – a spray water bottle with a fan attach to it – TRASH


• A metal Candy Land lunch box – DONATE


• An insulated pink plastic lunch sack with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers logo – DONATE


• A plastic Care Bear thermos – KEEP – I have a collection of Care Bear “stuff”


• A Pampered Chef vegetable chopper – KEEP


• A two-slice toaster – KEEP


• An empty Grolsch beer bottle – KEEP (great for storing homemade pepper sauce)


• A plastic bag containing 38 canning jar rings and lids – KEEP


• 20 2-quart canning jars – KEEP – I AM going to can - I'm that kind of a girl!