Frugal Farmin' ~ Storin' The Harvest on *Depression* Shelves

One of our longtime goals is to learn to grow more of what we eat and to eat more of what we grow.  

We have much to learn, and learning takes time, but we are greatly encouraged each time we realize that something else has been crossed off our grocery list.

And while we can't do everything, we hoped to do something.

Which led to one of the *somethings* we've had on our list of late...

to add some shelves to the laundry room which is located conveniently near our kitchen.

The laundry room seemed fairly large for just a washing machine (used a lot) and a dryer (not hooked up).

And since we *shop* from our pantry shelves, having items conveniently located and within easy reach would be helpful.  Not essential - but very helpful.

So while we all worked this summer and fall on canning and preserving the harvest, my seventeen year old went to work on the building of pantry shelves in order to get all the *stuff* off the tabletops, counter tops, refrigerator top, ....you get the idea!

And I, for one, am so VERY pleased with the results.:)  The canning jars of food will be (mostly) stored here, the emptied jars will be washed and placed on the screened porch, and every time a dozen jars have filled a box, they will be moved to the barn until next seasons canning.

Once again, wood which had been acquired and collected, prior to the storm, was used for this project.  We were blessed to be able to bring it with us when we moved here this year.  The boards are rough sewn and 2 x 6 in size.  Braces were placed every so many inches apart and screwed into the studs.  The studs were found using a stud finder type gadget.  And why do we call the shelves *depression* wood shelves?  Well, several years ago, Tom found a large quantity of rough sewn wood for sale on Craigslist and for an incredibly good price.  He thought that perhaps one of our children might use it for the building of a future home or maybe a barn.  The wood was from trees which had been planted during the Great Depression as part of some work program.  They, of course, grew very large over the passing of time, and people in the state (Illinois) could get permits for cutting them down for their use.  The man we purchased them from had a brother in Illinois who would cut some every year and bring the wood to his  home in Alabama.  His intentions were to use the wood for building near the brother when he retired from his job in Illinois.  That never happened, we ended up with the *depression* wood, and now it is in yet another state.  We're now using it for various projects here on the farm, we're very thankful to have it, and we continue to think through the best way to organize in order to have a workable system.  Do you have any tried and true pantry ideas?