Sustainable Kitchen Project

Posted on April 19th, 2008 in food by Kelby

When I decided to work at home most days, a major MAJOR factor was having more time to make good for my family. I wanted to use more fresh ingredients, and make more things from scratch. Oh, in my mind, I would be the uber foodie mom, baking and creating and freezing and canning and doing various fun things. I should totally have a sustainable kitchen.

In my kitchen, I have gadgets for making yogurt, juice, pasta, even sausage. I have a bread maker missing just one piece. Besides that, I have the knowledge (or the ability to Google and find out) to make any number of things from scratch. I have plenty of land to grow my own stuff, and I live in Asheville, NC where it is super easy to find cool locally grown produce.

Yet, my gadgets and cookbooks are gathering dust. I still hit the Super-Walmart so I can super consume. I spend $200-plus at least once a week on groceries. And I do still, sometimes (although definitely less and less often as I am at home more), give my children processed, packaged crap. OK, I said it. I may be a foodie mom, but I am a real mom. I am buying things in extra packaging for extra money and being totally non-green when I could just make and store things at home. Criticize away, if you must.

I blame life and having lots of work and having three kids and all of that. But when my twins were babies, I was working full-time and making homemade baby and pumping milk for them to have at daycare. It wasn’t easy, and I was pretty much psychotically exhausted. But it should be even easier now, much easier. So I clearly CAN do it.

So I’ve decided I will create this public as a way to motivate myself, to keep myself honest, to connect with other moms who want a more self-sustaining kitchen, and to track my progress. I’ve already started in a few ways, and I’ll post about these very soon. For example, we are starting an organic vegetable garden. Here is a lettuce seedling I’ve started:

Seedling for lettuce started as part of my personal Sustainable Kitchen Project

And I made orange juice this week:

Do-it-yourself orange juice

Here are just some of the things I want to do as part of my . Hey, are there some I am not thinking to list? Let me know…

  • Grow herbs, vegetables and fruit
  • Make juices, teas and sodas
  • Make yogurt
  • Make pasta
  • Bake breads
  • Start a compost
  • Buy more local produce and products
  • Learn to preserve items when they are local and fresh with freezing, canning, etc.
  • Make jams and other condiments
  • Make butter
  • Make beer and wine
  • Make cheese (can that be done at home? that would be coool!)

I know I’m forgetting some. I’ll also keep track of the grocery bill, and any other side effects and impacts of the project.

Wish me luck with my self-sustaining kitchen!

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7 Responses to 'Sustainable Kitchen Project'

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  1. Pamela said,

    on April 19th, 2008 at 4:01 pm

    Wow, that is quite an undertaking. I do wish you luck. I am trying to do things with much smaller steps. A compost is on my list too.

  2. Kelby said,

    on April 19th, 2008 at 4:06 pm

    I know it’s ambitious, so that is why I plan to take it a step at a time. I’m starting with the garden because it’s a key connection to some later steps (like preserving and making sauces to freeze, etc.). I’m hoping if I can do each step one at a time, and save some things, that by winter I will have a stockpile of some great locally-made or homemade stuff. We shall see. :-)

  3. Nicole said,

    on April 19th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

    I love it! I think about this every spring, but never make it past the ‘not killing the plants’ part.

    Nicoles last blog post..By: Warren Whitlock


  4. on April 19th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

    Wow! You inspire me! Go for it! And keep us updated… and I’ll take lessons along the way. :)
    Kitchen Scrapbooks last blog post..Rich and chocolatey, 7-layer bars


  5. on April 23rd, 2008 at 1:39 am

    […] Sustainable Kitchen Project […]

  6. spacemom said,

    on April 28th, 2008 at 2:27 am

    Cool! Good luck! We’re trying to grow cherry tomatoes this year. But in pots, on the deck…

    spacemoms last blog post..Dear Smithsonian Institution


  7. on April 28th, 2008 at 10:41 am

    […] is why I decided to start my own personal Sustainable Kitchen Project. Obviously, one of the first steps to having a self-supporting kitchen is to grow your own […]

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