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DESERT DAIRY
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The Last Cabinet

3/15/2020

3 Comments

 
Picture
I am nothing if not my mother's daughter when it comes to having a well-stocked pantry. Since I've worried for several weeks about the health crisis, I stocked up even more than normal, and that meant getting the desert ready for us to stay more longterm.
But where to put all the water, dried stuff, cans, and yes, tp? This is an old-fashioned farm house, with canning shelves in the basement, but at the moment there are also big black widows down there, so food needs to stay up top. I had to tackle the laundry room, and one big cabinet there that remained uncleaned, because Terry, the previous owner, had forgotten to empty it before she left. It was packed with stuff. 
So yesterday I pulled everything out. It was filled with stuff for canning, and hadn't been opened in many years. There were jars of brown liquid, with the label, "Cactus Sondra." Sondra was Terry's mother, so they are probably 50 years old. Pickled cactus? Ted wants to find Terry's grave and make an offering of them, but research came up a blank.
There were also treasures: old thermoses, cool ladles, stainers, and funnels. And an absolutely perfect cast iron casserole. I've priced these in antique stores and couldn't begin to afford one. Today we will fire up the newly coated earth oven, make some pizza, and try to cook a pork roast inside this beauty. 
​We will survive!
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3 Comments
Jeanne Dunn link
3/15/2020 06:01:55 pm

Love reading what you (you plural sometimes?) write. I know from my early-stages visit what you are describing, and how you're definitely creating the diamond that is slowly but surely coming out of the rough! I 'm excited to read the updates. From what i see in these photos things have changed a lot since last January when I was there for the weekend retreat. And the recent artist residency photos and texts are thrilling..
A note on the vintage pot: I must have been 5 years old when I saw a pot like that on my grandmother's wood-burning iron kitchen stove. I'm not talking modern-day, European-origin stove; this one was very early construction, in a big house with her eight children and no running water. I remember a similar iron pot on the hob. Amazing what a durable remnant of the past can conjure in memory and imagination. You have our rapt attention for the stories you'll unearth month by month.

Reply
Anna
3/15/2020 07:32:48 pm

Jeanne, thanks for your comment! Yes, the property is bit by bit improving. Hope you'll see it again soon.
Pot update: After firing up the oven for a few hours, we made pizza, I removed the coals, and slid the casserole in. Three hours later I opened the door and could smell it! Perfect! Better than a fancy Le Creuset.

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Sandra neundorfer link
5/13/2020 12:17:14 pm

Hi this Sandra I also lived at your house that you baught from Terri Imel email me your phone number please

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    Anna does most of the writing. Ted does most of the photos. But sometimes we switch. We are repairing a distressed property in 29 Palms, California, and eventually hope to run an artist residency there.


@Meyer Stump Properties 2019

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