The Summer Kitchen
The summer kitchen was a one-room building located close to the kitchen of the main house. It often was built near the well or over the cistern so there would be a source of water for the activities which were carried on in this room.
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It was here the busy housewife would wash clothes, render lard, can fruits and vegetables and prepare meats for canning. It was in this room the heat and the mess of those chores were contained so the main kitchen would be kept clean and cool especially in hot summers.
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Often times one would see hanging close to the chimney, hams, sausages, and bacon curing in the heat of the wood stove. Here also, was the fuel box with dry corn cobs and cut wood ready for the days work. Hanging from the rafters one would spy dill, sage and verbena drying. Wild flowers and wheat straw would be hanging upside down, waiting for the creative hand to form them into dried bouquets for friends and family. ​​​​
​Here was the old kitchen table, scrubbed white and clean, ready for the sorting of laundry or the kneading of bread.
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Shelves on each wall were loaded with fruit jars, upside down, to keep them clean, or sad irons waiting for ironing day. Canners and pitchers, dippers and an assortment of knives were evident as tools for the housewife. Over in the corner the prickly pinned curtain stretcher awaited for the semi-annual house cleaning to begin. On the floor were the tubs and boilers, cocks and pails used to d a myriad of chores.
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Some summer kitchens boasted of a rocker where the wife could rest for a moment between jobs. Many had curtains at the window and a screen door which kept most of the flies at bay. Most had a barrel of soft soap which the housewife had made from lye and rendered lard. And always a broom or switch to clean the floor after the washing was done.
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Some kitchens were located close enough to the main house so the baking or roasting could be done there and prepared food carried quickly into the house to be served hot and tasty to the waiting family.
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The summer kitchen yore is now replaced with beautiful formica covered kitchen counters, automatic washers, microwaves and electric stoves.
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One lives in air conditioned comfort, no matter what the outside temperature registers. No longer do we dry our clothes on the line or wash with boilers and scrub boards. We buy our soap, our pickles, our hams and vegetables from the grocery store and no one starches and stretches their curtains anymore.
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Life has become a pleasant past-time for the American housewife.
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Stop for a minute, and reflect on the housewife of the 1800's and rejoice in the good fortune that is yours today.
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