In addition to Chris's fancy mason-jar humidifier, we've built a couple of other projects using mason jars to save space in our kitchen and bathroom.
When we lived back in Brentwood, we lived near the fantastic
Glut Food Co-op which sold spices in bulk. Bea got in the habit of filling up whatever random jar she had lying around and crossing through old labels, and Chris got in the habit of never cooking in order to avoid dealing with deciphering labels like this:
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| Our old spice rack |
Bea built a functional (though not especially beautiful) spice rack out of some heavy-weight brackets and scrap pieces of granite. However, once this old stove finally gave out, we replaced it with one that had a higher back and had to come up with a different solution to keep spices handy without taking up any of our practically non-existent counter space in our then-small kitchen.
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| Our new spice rack! |
Bea spent hours poring over Pinterest and Google-image-searches trying to come up with the best way to store spices. She tried getting Chris to weigh in by showing him millions of these photos, but his eyes just glazed over with that “yes, dear" expression that was probably Bea's initial intention anyway. Chris did think the point some people made about light spoiling spices was important, but he also liked the idea of a window where you can see the color of the spice. We decided to build a backwards spice jar from what most people make, with an opaque lid facing out but a clear window on the sides. Chris was really helpful in identifying the best source of mega-strength magnets -- Bea has a blind spot where she refuses to learn the difference between Chris's tiny magnet collection and his tiny battery collection [B: they look totally identical!]. Anyway, here was how we built our final result:
Mason Jar Spice Rack
1. Figure out how many spices you own and actually use.
2. Acquire that many 4 oz jelly jars -- we bought them special for this project so they'd look matching and classy. The most affordable source we found at the time was
Fillmore Containers. We chose the flat black lids to keep out light and to make the labels extra easy to read. You'll also need the same number of magnets -- we actually used double that many because some of the denser spices are pretty heavy when they're full and a few jars kept sliding down the smooth surface of our fridge. In 2013 the best deal Chris could find on magnets was
here. Other supplies you'll need will be epoxy suitable for use bonding metal to glass, and a fine-tip chalk marker.
3. Mix up your epoxy, and glue one magnet to the bottom of each jar. Leave these to dry for a long time, however long it says on the label. Do this outdoors on a nice day, or in a well-ventilated garage or shed where you don't have to breathe the fumes!
4. This step is easiest with two people -- fill up your new jars, and label simultaneously so you don't lose track of what's what!
5. Hang them up on a magnetic surface -- we opted to alphabetize them to make finding each spice easier.
In our old house, the fridge was directly across from the stove so we hung our spices on the fridge. But when we moved to our farmhouse, our fridge is now hiding in our pantry, around the corner from the stove. Sad that we might not be able to use our new spice rack, Bea considered using magnetic spray paint on some of our kitchen cabinets. She also started asking around at work (
Community Forklift, a reused building materials warehouse) and her awesome coworker Daniel turned up a perfectly-sized piece of steel duct-work! It even had a couple of pre-drilled holes in the top that we just screwed into our wood paneling next to our stove. There's only a tiny counter next to our amazing new stove so having the spices up and off the countertop is a huge space-saver!
Mason Jar Toiletries Shelf
Another space that seems to accumulate a lot of clutter is the bathroom. One of Chris's most favorite features about this farmhouse was that the master bathroom has DOUBLE SINKS!!! No more waiting turns to brush our teeth or put in our contact lenses! Of course, the drawback to having double sinks is there's less flat surface area to store your toiletries. We first built this space-saving device back in Brentwood, but our new bathroom has a different configuration and the old rack wouldn't fit, so we started over.
1. Acquire a nice-looking piece of wood -- we used a cabinet door we got at Community Forklift that reasonably matched our sink base.
2. Get some big hose clamps and mason jars. Try out your selected jars with your toiletries to make sure they fit the way you want (and check that there's enough vertical space between jars to lift your stuff out -- try putting the taller stuff on top). You can use whatever size of mason jar works for your toiletries (we used pints) -- measure across the mouth of the jar to get the right size of hose clamps. The hose clamps will ultimately grip right below the lips of the jars so gravity will keep the jars from slipping out.
3. Mark everything out and pre-drill holes in the center of where you want the hose clamps to sit. Measure the thickness of your board, and use short enough screws that they won't poke through the back and scratch up your wall. Have one person hold the hose clamp steady (so it doesn't spin in circles) and the other person drive a screw in through the slits in the hose clamp. The metal will expand to accept the screw as you drive it in. It helps to think about which direction the tightening screw of the clamp will point before you attach them -- you might want them on the front or side, placed symmetrically or randomly. Remember that the placement of the screws will rotate around the hose clamp as you tighten it, so it helps to get them approximately the right tightness before installing.
4. Drop your jars in and tighten the clamps. We use our top two jars for permanently storing toiletries so they're pretty tight, but the bottom two jars we use as drinking glasses so those are only tight enough to hold them in place, but loose enough we can easily remove the jars when we're brushing our teeth & need some water.
Mason Jar Soap Dispenser
This last one is super easy:
1. Get a soap pump.
2. Drill a hole in the lid of a mason jar & insert pump.
3. Attach to a jar filled with soap.
Last November, we dug up and divided a bunch of herbs we'd planted at our old house and community garden plot back in DC. In 5-gallon buckets, we drove it all down here and popped it into a front garden bed that looked totally overgrown (besides an enormous butterfly bush). We hoped that moving the herbs as they were going dormant would allow them the winter to recover and hopefully survive.
The first signs of life we saw this spring were some of our transplanted sorrel leaves in early March. Daffodils started peeking their stems up around the same time, and then some chives. At first I was out there encouraging the plants to grow, then I saw on the weather forecast that a mega snowstorm was predicted just after St Patrick's Day, so I switched my tune to telling the plants to stop growing & wait. Not that the plants paid any attention, but somehow they were able to survive all the wintry weather, even a late mid-April freeze! When the snows and frost receded and we saw leaves that were still green, we were very happy!
At the end of March, the raspberries that we planted just before Christmas also finally started budding. From walking among the three rows of trellises, it looks like we had a pretty great survival rate despite giving those plants a rough start (storing them in a trash bag for 3 months!) What a relief after all the effort building those trellises took!
Over on the other side of the house, the asparagus bed is slowly coming alive and yielding its delicious spring treats. So far, unfortunately, none of the purple asparagus that we dug up and transplanted has sprouted, but the green variety that the previous farmhouse owners grew is pretty darn tasty.
In the hoophouse, the seeds we started in trays began germinating by the end of March. At least every other day, I go out there and inspect the trays for new sprouts. Depending on the size of the seed, the signs of life can be extremely tiny, but always very exciting!
As more and more plants bud out in the yard, we realize we planted our herb garden in the middle of what was once a butterfly garden -- hopefully the butterflies like the smell of our herbs! A tree over by the main garden turns out to be a plum tree -- super exciting! We think another tree in the back yard is some kind of pear tree, and the tree under our streetlights looks to be a cherry of some kind. We're hoping of course that these are productive and delicious, but for now we are just enjoying the ornamental quality of the beautiful spring blooms throughout our yard!
