Hold It Right There! Creative Coat Racks & Hooks

Whether you use them to hang your coat, scarf, handbag, belts, jewelry or keys, racks and hooks are essential organizational must-haves for your home. Not only do they help keep us organized and tidy, they also add interest, shape, and color to our walls. Hung in an entry way, mudroom, hallway, bath or bedroom, these racks can serve a multitude of purposes throughout your entire home. 

But

organizing and entertaining with jars

Who doesn't love these jars? They look great on a counter and are inexpensive to find at Target, Walmart and Crate and Barrel.

Look how many are used in this amazing pantry!

Emersonmade's home

We eat lots of beans and lentils. Displaying them on the counters saves space in the pantry  and adds interest to the kitchen.

stylish serendipity photo 

Part 2: Cottage Pantry Potentials

How any one person can say they do not like squash is beyond me. With hundreds of different varieties, there is bound to be at least one or two fitting to such picky taste buds. In this house, we prefer the more sweet potato varieties. Well... The captain does enjoy Spaghetti squash but I have yet to find one that is more "unique" from the grocery aisle variety. 

Today, we focus on an unfamiliar acorn squash I came across whilst dreaming of spring soil. I decided to go grow acorn squash this year being my Mother In Law is rather fond of them. I thought a new variety would be nice to share with her while also adding to the pantry storable choices.

This year, we've decided on Thelma Sanders Sweet potato squash.

Excerpt from SSE: "Family heirloom from Thelma Sanders in Adair County, Missouri. The seed was passed from neighbor Everett Pettit to Sue and Tom Knoche, Ohio squash collectors and two of SSE’s earliest members. Wonderful cream-colored acorn squash. Sweet chestnut flavor, enormously productive. Our favorite two-serving baking squash. 85-90 days."

Don't ya' just love edibles with a story? Hopefully seed companies will catch on & begin to give a bit of history lesson as well as basic description with each of their offerings. That would be nice.

 

photo by Seasonal Ontario Food

 This variety is said to be a VERY good pantry storing squash, according to abundant life seeds*." One of the longest storing winter squash we have grown." Impressive. Especially being Acorn Squash are said to not be more then an avg of 2 months in storage.

  Over at the SSE forum*, I found this very helpful advice on storing the Thelma Sanders by a member named  bcday:

"The hardness of the shell is the indicator. This is a winter squash and should have a hard shell like a pumpkin. It won't have its full flavor and it won't store well if it's harvested before it has matured with a very hard shell. I wouldn't use either the color or the stem as an indicator. In my NY climate we don't harvest winter squash until a few days before the first expected frost."

I am sure you can manage to grow winter squash without my input. Not that I do anything special for each kind of plant. Leaves, grass & compost on the whole thing. I know there is a section more sandy where root crops grow best. There is a section with more clay that is slowly working its way to more versatility by adding the compost and of course there is a spot rich & dark. No science class needed or top soil trucked in}. Just some Common sense.

So lets get to the Harvesting.

Do not cure acorn squash. The high temperature and relative humidity during the curing process actually reduce the quality and storage life.

As for WHERE to store them? I have heard of people placing a sheet under their bed, where the squash hang out until cooking time. Great idea for those with limited space. Others can make room in a garage or basement, using shelves from floor to ceiling. How about a shelf  2 feet below the ceiling all the way around the room? Up & out of the way, without taking up floor space.

My basement has a wall of closet like pantry shelves, built from the original owners sometime in the 1940's. Plenty of room for squash & jars. And one of the reasons I am in love with our little cottage.

Simple shelves like these from Farming for life* are all you would need:

 Rather soothing of a site. I am rather fond of such a basic set up, adorned with the winter edibles. Must be rather uplifting to venture down while the wind is howling & icicles hang from the gutters, to hold the many colors from your summer garden, untouched from their original form.

I did take note many people eat winter squash rather simply. Baking with a pat of butter. Some with the addition of simple seasonings  like pepper or cinnamon. They are far more versatile then such primitive forms. Majority of winter squash can be substituted for each other in any recipe you choose.

There is Gratin*, Savory Squash rolls*, Puree & mashed*. Heck, there's even a Squash cookie recipe* with addition of oatmeal!

Expand your Squash savoring with a new variety along with plenty of new recipes for your discernment this upcoming season. Go beyond the tomatoes and other canned goods. Think simple preserving. After all, taking a quote from my Son whom was talking to his father about why he didn't eat breakfast with 5 box's of cereal in the pantry :
" A man can only eat so many cheerios dad! That's all there is. Cheerios. Cheerios. Cheerios."

I gotta agree. The same old thing gets tiring real quick.

Sweet Garden Dreams,

~Tammie

Great Ideas -- Organization/Storage {1}

Transform a bathroom closet into a beautiful vanity area @ Liz Marie Blog

There are so many amazing organizing ideas in this amazing craft room @ Sew Many Ways

Make a pretty Laundry Drying Rack @ Little Lucy Lu

Turn an old window frame into a fun accessory holder @ Life. Love. Larson

Love this -- Make a Framed Jewelry Wall @ Blue. Lace. House

Make a Diaper Clutch your husband will want to carry around @ See Kate Sew

Create more storage out of cement forms and a pair of old shutters @ Girl in Air

Stack wooden crates to create storage in a playroom @ Fingerprints on the Fridge

Use baseball card pages as seed starters @ Thrifty Decorating

Upcycle old formula cans into stylish kitchen storage @ 1st Lady of the House

Use a vintage crate to corral art supplies in a play room @ Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss

Turn an old mailbox into a unique storage system @ Morning by Morning Productions

Create faux built ins out of old bookcases with paint and a pretty stencil @ Windgate Lane

Make a PB tile system knock off for under $30 @ Goddess of Gifts

Make a pretty fabric-covered magnet board @ Nuestra Adventuras en Texas

Create a spring herb box on wheels @ Blissful Craziness

Cool makeup storage solution @ Liz Marie Blog

Great closet tips @ Lamb Around

WOW -- 800 awesome projects linked up so far!  

There are tons of great Easter ideas, DIY projects, refashions and sewing projects and even Chevron projects! 

Come check them out and enter to win $50 to

Livy Lou Designs!

Another Great Ideas feature post coming up soon!!! 

xoxo

Have a Happy Day!!

Interiors: Boxing Shelves

A new year often brings plans to get organized and I have the same good intentions as everyone else. My father loves to tell me that, as a girl, my room would gradually turn into a tornado disaster scene until I couldn't stand it anymore. I would then completely clean and re-organize, keeping my space perfect for a month or so until everything would deteriorate again. Unfortunately, a bit of that girl remains. These single drawers and clusters of boxes stacked on the floor or hung on walls don't do much to eliminate clutter, but they create gathering spots for pieces that shouldn't be tucked away. That leaves a little room in drawers and cupboards to hide the things no one wants to see.

Images: Living etc magazine, January 2011 issue. Easy Elegance: creating a relaxed, comfortable and stylish home by Atlanta Bartlett, published by Ryland, Peters & Small, 2009. Living etc magazine, July 2010 issue. Honey's Treasures. Captain Cat.

Interiors: Boxing Shelves

A new year often brings plans to get organized and I have the same good intentions as everyone else. My father loves to tell me that, as a girl, my room would gradually turn into a tornado disaster scene until I couldn't stand it anymore. I would then completely clean and re-organize, keeping my space perfect for a month or so until everything would deteriorate again. Unfortunately, a bit of that girl remains. These single drawers and clusters of boxes stacked on the floor or hung on walls don't do much to eliminate clutter, but they create gathering spots for pieces that shouldn't be tucked away. That leaves a little room in drawers and cupboards to hide the things no one wants to see.

Images: Living etc magazine, January 2011 issue. Easy Elegance: creating a relaxed, comfortable and stylish home by Atlanta Bartlett, published by Ryland, Peters & Small, 2009. Living etc magazine, July 2010 issue. Honey's Treasures. Captain Cat.