Welcome to Kathy's Vintage Kitchen!

It was love at first sight when I found my 1850s era farmhouse. Everything about it was practical and comforting, even though it was not much more than a drafty abandoned shell when we moved in.  I could stand on the front porch and know that I was not the first woman to call her family in for supper from that very spot.  The creaky wooden floor held the memory of a million footsteps from pantry to stove, spilled milk and wood-ash.  The walls contained the music and laughter of many generations.  It is a house that is alive with it's own history. 

While the original homestead had a separate building for cooking (a summer-kitchen), a more "modern" kitchen was added onto the house around 1940 , coinciding with rural electrification.  Two outlets was all they expected to need; one for the icebox and one for the stove. While I did add a power strip for a few modern appliances, I find that I have never needed more than that.

I have a passion for non-electrical, turn-of-the-century kitchen appliances which I use almost exclusively instead of food processors and blenders.  Cast iron is my cookware of choice. The table is set with 80 year old china...somehow food just tastes better on it and it seems only right in this old kitchen.

My pantry and basement is filled with last years garden harvest... in mason jars that have been used over and over for 50-100 years. An herb garden and greenhouse is just outside the kitchen door.... and the vegetable garden a few steps further on the other side of the old summer kitchen.  On any day you may find fresh milk filtering on the sideboard, cheese draining at the sink, a basket of freshly gathered eggs, or soup on the stove.  My kitchen is the heart and soul of this home.

I love finding 1920-1940s era items at local farm auctions. Researching their history, restoring them and making them useful again is a great deal of fun for me and I look forward to sharing them with you here on this blog.  Some of these items find their way to my ebay store at http://stores.ebay.com/herbal-maid-gallery and others live here with me .

Journaling my living history kitchen will be fun and perhaps someday my own grandchildren will keep it alive into the next generation.