Today is the day we've been waiting for. The window has arrived, so the work can begin on our kitchen. In preparation, I've removed everything from our kitchen, dining space + living room...and moved it elsewhere in the house. A makeshift kitchen has been set up in a corner of a bedroom.

I have been eagerly anticipating getting to see all of our kitchen items in one place. It is not often that we get to see everything housed in the cabinets + drawers out in the open. 

I've moved enough times to have seen the spectacle of boxes piled high + marked "kitchen" waiting to find new places to belong in a new space. I've also seen tiny kitchens with (apparently) adequate space to house a family's kitchen items.

Less feels like freedom to me, so I love to experience + know that not much is needed to eat beautiful, nourishing meals. We experience this on some level when we camp, but living out of the trunk of our car offers less than ideal circumstances. I would love for the kitchen we end up with to prove a bit more ideal.  :)

This little corner is pretty reassuring. It holds everything that will need a place in our kitchen (not including the fridge, stove + seating). 

Alright, commence new adventure!

Love,
Jane

The opportunities to organize a couple of work spaces presented themselves over the past few months. The transformations have blown me away both times. It is quite simple to lay eyes on every single thing in a space one by one...to make quick decisions about usefulness + belonging...and to move things item by item into place or out of the space. It takes time, but it is not difficult. We come across empty boxes, broken pieces, and trash just taking up space. Things get moved to where they are used. Things get donated + discarded. Boxes get broken down + moved to the recycling. Dust + dirt get swept + wiped away. Boxes get labeled + moved to logical places. 

When we step back + take it in, it can be shocking to see how little is left. I think the feeling some get from such a reveal is fear that everything they need...their security blanket of enveloping stuff...has been stripped away. I feel like the stifling brain drain has been cleared away...opening space for creativity, collaboration + possibility to flourish. I exclaim that it is liberating to see how little is needed to do what we do well!

I am currently moving everything out of our kitchen so that some work can be done. We will be living + eating in a different space in our home as this work is done, so I'm thinking through how we can do those things as comfortably as possible. At the same time, I'm thinking through what we truly need in our kitchen when we put it back together + trying to get things moving in that direction now.

Like those work spaces, our kitchen needs to function. It functions as a place to create simple, nourishing meals made from whole foods. It is a space where we can gather + laugh + love + grow. If there is space for these, then we have everything we need.

Love,
Jane

Our washing machine is out of commission again. I'm washing things by hand + taking advantage of the dry heat to dry our dripping clothing outside. I'm only two days in, but I'm choosing to enjoy the laundry in its altered state for the time being. This task comes with a little space to think + here are a few of the thoughts that have surfaced:

• keeping up with this task is more important than ever + having less clothing to begin with prompts washing more regularly which keeps the pile (+ the task) from getting to large + overwhelming
• choose to wear clothing that will serve me through all the tasks of the day + night, since I'd like to wash as little as possible
• what can I wear more than once even on these hot days?
• the merits of certain fabrics: linen can be shaken out + worn again..it dries faster too
• seeing how much water it takes...how many times can I reuse this water? 
• the electricity used as opposed to time spent with my thoughts
• each person can do their own laundry (+ connect with all of the above too)  :) (I usually combine everyone's clothing, because it helps me have full loads often enough.)

We considered just purchasing a new washing machine (since we've already had to have this one fixed three times in ten years), but we're going to try to have it fixed again before giving up the ghost. Our space is not big enough for any conventional washer now available(!), so concessions will have to be made when we do purchase a new machine. We will have to go with one of three options:

• a more expensive, European machine
• a smaller capacity stackable set
• doing away the dryer 

We only use the dryer for towels + sheets, and we now have towels that might hang dry well enough. We only have one set of sheets for each bed, so they do need to dry in between sleeps. If it's only sheets that require a dryer, maybe going without a dryer is more of an option now than ever. The house I grew up in had clotheslines strung back and forth across an entire room in the basement...hmm...

I appreciate having a mindset that allows me to feel that there are options, when confronted with decisions like these. I appreciate feeling that there is space to learn from not having things I have come to see as "necessary". It's nice to be reminded that I don't need to wait to experiment either. I can experiment without waiting until something breaks. I could experiment with not using the car for a weekend...not using instagram for a month...or not complaining for a day. These limitations can actually expand possibility... weird isn't it?  :)

Love,
Jane

We're inching toward a little kitchen shake up around here, and I'm thinking through ways to reorganize what we have into the space we will have. We're letting some cupboards go in favor of wide open spaces + light. I'm not worried about having too little space, but I am having to rethink some things.

A few things I'm shaking up ::

• kitchen items only :: paperwork + art supplies + tools are moving to other parts of the house...at least for now. I have kept a small drawer each of paperwork + art supplies and a small bin of tools that I use often closer at hand in the kitchen. At the moment, I'm thinking of keeping exclusively food related things in the kitchen which opens up some space taken up by other things.
• a whole drawer for empty jars :: I've always dreamed of it.  :) We cycle through jars that hold all sorts of things like produce, pantry items, leftovers, cold brew, sun tea, home made pickles + salsa. This drawer can keep plenty of jars at the ready.
• utilizing the drawer under the oven :: For some reason, this drawer always freaked me out a little. I know that it is a broiler on some ovens, and I just never knew if it was going to wreck things stored there. I finally did a little research on the exact oven I have + gained some shelf space by storing my skillet + baking sheets there.
• getting clear on a few systems :: this will help me know that I have enough storage, enough food + help with grocery shopping too (more to come on this one)

A few things I'm shaking out ::

• a big bag full of jars + lids :: My new method of putting up tomatoes freed up a bunch of jars. I'm going to take this to our CSA farm to see if the farmers, shareholders or some of the market vendors would like them. I'm resting in faith that I kept "enough".   :)
• paperwork :: We took this opportunity to sort through our paperwork once again + to recycle what is no longer needed (shredding what's necessary along the way).

​
Love,
Jane

My thoughts have turned toward things I'd like to change about my kitchen periodically over the course of years we've inhabited it. In all the homes in which we've lived, I've focused on ways to change things that cost little + are often subtractive rather than additive.

Here, I've removed most of the doors on our upper cabinets + painted all of the insides + outsides clean, light reflective white. This provides open shelving for functional ceramics + jars full of bulk ingredients. The bottom cupboards were painted a warm, latte tone that doesn't fight with the red tones in the flooring which came with the house. Drawer + cabinet pulls were swapped out, cracks were caulked, the ceiling was painted, and we got down to living.

These days, we're thinking we might be able to embark on a bigger shift, and it's both thrilling + terrifying. Money is a big barrier...and so are my thoughts regarding waste. It's difficult to reconcile thoughts of ripping out a finished kitchen just because I have a desire for a different one. No matter how "eco-friendly" the new choices are, doing nothing at all is usually the most environmentally-conscious choice.

Minimalism is often useful both monetarily + environmentally. Most of the changes I'd like to make, at this stage, are again subtractive rather than additive: removing a wall, upper cabinets, soffit, and the dishwasher (which we haven't used in eleven years). I've thought through the value of each item I'd like to keep in the pared down space. My hope is that everything would be useful + nothing would be superfluous.  

People like to caution that removing storage space in the kitchen always leads to regret. I'm not worried. There is a wall that could be great lined with tall cabinets, if we (or the next home owners) decide to add them. I'm so grateful for the mind shifts that I've lived into over the years. It feels like freedom + confidence + lightness. 

As far as additions go, I'd like to add a larger window which means the addition of lots of light. One long, wall-spanning shelf would provide space for those functional ceramics + jars. For now, that's it. Space, light + clean lines are what I'm after...because it's all just the frame for all the rest...laughter, stories, good food, hugs, rest, celebration, life.

Love,
Jane

The other day, I mentioned my simple grocery list + was asked for a little more detail. I didn't originally share the specifics, because we all like to eat differently...and also because I'm not sure I have this whole nutrition thing dialed in perfectly. I try to focus on appropriate portions of mostly plant-based, whole foods that are in-season, package-free + as local as possible. I'm also aware that simplicity is key for me right now. So...please take this only as an example of how I'm approaching my grocery list + not a recommendation of how to eat, k?  :)

As a starting point, I thought through what each of the people I feed eat throughout the day. I am happy to eat the same thing for breakfast + lunch every day. My partner has a choice of two things for breakfast + two or three things for lunch (*). Our daughter eats what she likes.

​Our current list looks like this:

B: coffee + breakfast bite 
     cereal or oatmeal*
L: fruit + granola + yogurt
    leftovers or pb sandwich or rice noodles + veg*
    fruit
D: veg + grain + protein
    (bowl, pasta, salad, soup)
    tea + fruit or smoothie

The above list is written on one side of a notecard. On the flip side of the notecard, I wrote a loose list of things that supply these meals. There are specifics like oatmeal + peanut butter...and more general things like in-season fruit + in-season veg which can be chosen according to what looks good on a particular trip to the store (which provides variety in our meals).

This is my current list of items:

in-season fruit
in-season veg
greens 
lemons

milk
eggs
butter
cheese
bread

oatmeal
granola
cereal
honey
PB
rice/quinoa/pasta
olive oil
coconut milk
beans

TP
soap
dish soap
laundry soap

This list covers the staple things that ensure we can make + eat real meals at home. Things like tea + spices that run out less often can be written down for a specific trip. 

I've made my grocery lists in various ways over the years, but this is probably the simplest system I've used. It involves decreasing some expectations for more complicated meals + variety, but this is exactly how I want to eat...so it's working for me. (Of course, I can always accommodate a craving too.)

All of which leaves a little time for sipping chai on the porch of a favorite coffee shop on my day off instead of doing chores all day.   :)

Love,
Jane

I try to keep the amount of furniture in our home minimal. I like simplicity + we've moved enough to know the benefits of "less" intimately.  :) A lot of consideration goes into adding anything to our collection of things. Is it necessary? Will it be useful? Is it lovely? Is it multi-functional?

My partner + I felt that it would be useful + lovely for each of us to have a spot to set a drink in the morning or evening next to our bed. We had an idea of what I might like our bedside tables to look like, but was having a hard time finding something similar. 

Last weekend we decided to try making our own bedside tables. Tackling a project together sounded like a really nice way to spend part of our day off...and it was. These dark, winter, pandemic days can seem monotonous + uneventful. The motivation for this project was not only to create useful furniture, but also to create a memory together.

We had the home improvement store cut the boards for us and then sanded, glued + nailed the pieces together in the living room. It was a simple project that was so much less expensive than any other option we considered...and...we actually really like the way our tables turned out! It feels pretty luxurious to have our drinks within reach.  :)

These bedside tables are lovely + functional + have a story built in too. 

Love,
Jane