THE PANTRY is 10 years old!

I will never forget that moment when I held and opened a copy of my first book, The Pantry–Its History and Modern Uses, for the first time. It was more euphoric than when I saw my first published article, back in the January 1990 issue of Victoria Magazine (the original Hearst version) on my several years living and giving tours at the Victorian-era Gibson House Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. But it was a similar, once-in-a-lifetime experience: because there will never be a first book, or a first article, again.

The comparison to writers opening up their published books for the first time to holding their first child, or any of their babies, is very apt. The labor that goes into a book, the timeframe, the expectancy, the wondering, the fretting (the "will other people like it?"). All of it. It's very similar because, as with a child, you are birthing something from your heart and soul and mind. And unlike a child, a book has a longer shelf-life. It might exist for centuries and it is its own kind of legacy.

But yet, no, nothing is like holding your newborn for the first time. That is in its own special realm!

I am working on several other books right now and will keep this blog updated and at my more active blog on our farm life in Kentucky, Farmwife At Midlife.

The Pantry is still available via my website, only $20 postage paid (USA). The original cover price was $16.95 and is still that, if not less when you consider that postage has gone up in the past decade (even media mail, which is the most affordable way to send and actually quite quick, too).

I am happy to sign your copy, or inscribe it, and send it out as soon as possible (which is faster now that spring is here and the roads are clearer...well, or as life is less complicated as it has been).

Today, April 21st, is also the 12th anniversary of this very blog, started while researching and writing the book. A lot has happened in social media since that time and I still enjoy blogging over at "Farmwife at Midlife" which has had a recent revival of sorts.

The Pantry in The Wall Street Journal

Catherine Seiberling Pond was interviewed about the history of pantries in "The Rise of the Super Pantry," by Nancy Keates, The Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2014 [print edition: September 12, 2014]. Click here for a link to the article.

The Pantry–Its History and Modern Uses is no longer in print but still available for purchase from my website. I bought it back from my publisher, Gibbs Smith, in 2009 when it was remaindered, knowing that pantries were only just beginning to enjoy a design resurgence.

Hardbound, signed and beautifully photographed, copies of the only printing of The Pantry–Its History and Modern Uses are available for only $20.00 (including shipping) exclusively from the author. Click on the "Order THE PANTRY" link, above, for more information or to order, or contact Catherine Pond at info@CatherinePond.com [PayPal or check.] 

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas!

In the spirit of simplicity, this will be my only blog post this month. If you'd like to read more about our Christmas this year, check out my Farmwife at Midlife blog where I've posted today about "Less is Always More" at the holidays. I'm deliberately not going to blog any more this month on any of my three blogs––even if I have to sit on my hands!––to save up time and room for a simple, relaxing holiday––and to spend more time with my family: how, may I ask, do we do that if we're always on the computer? Also, there is a link back to some Christmas cookie recipes on this blog and you can always search In the Pantry (see column at right) for more holiday and food-related blogs from Christmas Past. As this blog is now over six years old, there is plenty of fodder in that department.

Father Christmas visiting Stan Hywet Hall, c. 1940. 

[That's my grandmother on the right.]

If you are in the Akron, Ohio area this season you can visit this 

historic manor during the holidays and enjoy their decorated Tudor Revival-era 

rooms and beautifully lit grounds. Click here for more information.

Also, please remember that I still have copies of The Pantry–Its History and Modern Uses available for sale at my website. They make excellent gifts and I am happy to sign, and inscribe, copies and even ship them directly to anyone on your list. Hardbound, and filled with beautiful color photography, the book is an affordable addition to your home library. And still only $16.90, including shipping! Order today in time for the holidays ~

Blessings to you and your family this holiday season, and always,

Catherine

My father, left, admiring the Yule Log in the Great Hall of Stan Hywet Hall, c. 1940.

PS For more great images of Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens––at Christmas and through the years (both archival and promotional)––check out this new blog by architectural historian Michael Henry Adams, a fellow Akronite who now resides New York City.

At a Newsstand Near You! Yummy Kitchens-and pantries!

Just a note to say that if you are looking for some great ideas for your new or old kitchen, inspired by vintage and historic prototypes, Old House Journal and Old-House Interiors magazines have joined forces to produce a special issue, Kitchen Classics. It is available for a limited time at larger bookstores and/or certain magazine stands (and possibly via their website, although I'm not certain).

The editors were also kind to include two articles I had written several years back for Old-House Interiors on pantries and Hoosier cabinets. It is online here (although the layout in the magazine––with more photographs–-is much better!). The publication of the original pantry article was what inspired me to put together the book proposal for The Pantry.

This special issue is a keeper for any kitchen (and pantry) enthusiast for new-old design ideas, resources and wonderful photography. I'm going to tuck it away in my file marked "Future Farmhouse Kitchen." I can dream, can't I?

In the meantime, I've been promising photos of our new cottage pantry at the farm which is a great stand-in for the time being: we don't live in the cottage because it is too small for all of us, so, naturally, I have adopted it. [And it will one day be our 'doty house' for our older years.] It also has a great canning kitchen that has been in constant use these past two months. So, I will make those photos a priority as soon as I get organized post-canning!

Best wishes and have a lovely autumn season wherever you may be,

Catherine

Pantries I Saw on My Summer Vacation

An old Hoosier-esque cupboard in the shed at Green's Heritage Museum
 in Orient, Ohio. [I particularly like the vines growing around it.]

We took several trips to Ohio this summer and, of course, I brought my camera along. I'm always on the lookout for unusual spaces and pantry places along the way. What's fun about visiting Ohio is that even though I have spent much time there––as a child and adult––there is always something new to see or find. [For more about "What I Learned on My Summer Vacation," please see my Farmwife at Midlife blog.] We don't go far together now that we have a cattle farm and much responsibility here in Kentucky, so we do try to pack as much time as we can into our short trips.

The butler's pantry at the James A. Garfield Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio.

The interior of the small field worker's wagon at Green's Heritage Museum.
It was used by migrant workers from Kentucky who came up to Ohio each summer.
There is a small bedroom and an open area for cooking and living space––like a Gypsy caravan.

The cupboard and counter in the field worker's wagon.

A former tourist cabin.

The cupboard and kitchen area of the tiny tourist cabin
 at Green's Heritage Museum. What little girl, or grown woman,
would not want this as a playhouse of their  own?

Two views of the kitchen and pantry area that was in the old store at Green's Heritage Museum. 

A row of old oatmeal boxes in the old store.

A "Portable Pantry," made in Ohio in the latter part of the 19th century. I'd heard about them but had never seen one before. I found this in an antique shop in Berlin, Ohio (but did not buy it!).

A flower arranging volunteer in the room made for the same purpose at
Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens in Akron, Ohio. Above this space,
on the second story, is a commodious linen closet with cupboards and drawers.

Last but not least, my friend Linda spotted a copy of my book on the upper shelf
of the gift shop of Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens. I was glad to see it and they ordered more copies.

A Nice Nod to Pantries ~ and THE PANTRY

© Catherine Seiberling Pond

The Pantry––Its History and Modern Uses was mentioned (and quoted) in an article called "Tips on Designing a Pantry" in the Winter 2009 issue of New Old Houses [through the wonders of the internet, I am only now discovering this article as it was just posted on line]. You will find OldHouseOnline.com to be an invaluble resource for all of your old house questions.

Thank you for the informative tribute to pantries, Jennifer Sperry!

Our First Eggs and a Few Ruffled Feathers

First of all, a wide open pantry welcome to all of my new readers! I am delighted that you are here with me in the pantry and I look forward to your thoughts and comments along the way. A special thanks to Aunt Ruthie at Sugar Pie Farmhouse who not only keeps a delightful blog and now website from her home and writes such inspiring words when I need them–like yesterday after our chicken fiasco (see below) when I needed to keep a lid on things and to remember what's important–but who also had high praise for The Pantry! She is the homemaker I will never be but whom I admittedly envy in her journey. [Aunt Ruthie also made what looks like a beautiful and delicious plum jam for her own pantry–I love anything "plummy"–and she has one of the most lovely pantries I've seen, to her own design, in glimpses on her website.] PHOTO: Eli holds the first eggs from our hens on August 7, 2009.


Our first green egg from an Auracana "Easter Egg" chicken in the foreground.

I just wanted to post, briefly, on our good news: our first eggs in the hen house! Our son Eli found the very first egg last Friday (August 7) on the floor of the hen house and they have been coming in a few a day since then (this time in their hen nests). As the hens–and Mr. Stew–are almost five months old, I thought this might be timely if not a bit early. Can you only imagine their surprise as they each lay their first egg? "Whoops, what was THAT?!"

Now for the bad news: on Monday one of our "Pond puppies" got lose from a system of confinement on our cool north porch that I thought was fair and workable for a few hours each day while the chickens free-ranged. I had been gone for just a half-hour up the road and that little devil scaled the 3-foot plus railing and gates! We lost seven of the hens in one half-hour rampage. John, the culprit, is remaining with us, with a new system (one of those line ties that he hates), and I'm determined to have peace and harmony in my "farmyard." It was especially hard for this mother who loves her doggies as much as her hens and who understands that there is also instinct to be reckoned with. I should have known that when he and Patch always followed me to the hen house and peered through the door, smiling like foxes, that they weren't just being helpful. Meanwhile, brother Tom, who kind of ambles along and is very Type-B about things, couldn't be bothered with the chickens (and clearly didn't inherit any Jack Russell traits).

Patch left us a month ago and has never returned–I fear he got into one fox hole too many or was bitten by a poisonous snake–so the possibility of losing John so soon after Patch, and less than a year after Lucy's death, was just too much for this farm mama to bear. Now that the dust has settled, so to speak, kudos and love to my husband who, despite his better judgment after a collective chorus of pleadings, decided to let John remain with us (and I mean that expression in all of its meanings). It was his suggestion for the zip line for John during "free range time" (kind of like "puppy nap" and "chicken play"). During the past few days I have often thought of poor Fern begging for her father to spare Wilbur's life, in E.B. White's immortal classic tale, Charlotte's Web.

In the meantime, our boys are back in school (ironically they went back on the hottest day of our summer so far, but August in Kentucky can be hot), I have green beans to pick and freeze, more corn to put up, and more assigned writing projects (there is nothing more gratifying then being asked to write and being paid for it, too–and writing while taking breaks to look out on the third cutting of our knob field or to run into the kitchen to bake something or toss some laundry out to dry). I promise a blog very soon on last week's Highway 127 Yard Sale (and pics of some of my fun findings), as well as that one on root cellars I've been promising.

Blessings from my pantry to yours,

Catherine

Postscript, dusk, 9pm: We just shut up the chickens for the night and counted 27...so a few more have found their way home (and we're still down four--one we know is dead--haven't found other three except for a lot of feathers). John is adjusting well to his new routine, too. I now better appreciate the expression, "coming home to roost"!

A Special Shout-Out to all of my Pantry Peeps (and Home Girls, Farmer Boys et al)

Just a quick note to say that I will soon be offering this snazzy In the Pantry button. The goal is to have the button in my sidebar for you to access and upload my blog (or website) In the Pantry into your own sites. For that I would be truly grateful! [Hey, I might even have to make mugs and T-shirts...] But, even the best walk-through directions via the internet are not always fool-proof, at least with this blogger, so bear with me. I just had to give you a preview.

Meanwhile, my webmaster, over at CatherinePond.com, the amazing Ronald Gehrmann at MetaGlyph (who I can't say enough good things about: he is a great designer and works for such a reasonable fee and remotely at that–we've never even met–that I'm not sure how he does it) has designed, as well as this "pantry button," a new wallpaper for this blog. I was inspired by a simple pantry-related design that I'm hoping he can translate into a new wallpaper. But we'll see. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I have more corn to freeze, salsa and ketchup to make and other summer bounty to take care of before it passes. And boys to get back to school on Monday. And a weekend of Route 127 yard sale to slog through in Casey County (twist my arm--we were just in Tennessee yesterday doing the same and I promise a blog soon on that). So we're busy here on the ridge and I'm trying to avoid any and all computer temptations for the moment, especially technical ones where the outcome is not guaranteed. [Also, dear Pantry readers, I have not forgotten my promise to post a blog about root cellars...]

Thank you, as always, for reading and welcome, again, to all of my new readers. I hope you'll keep coming back for more from the pantry.

Blessings,

Catherine

THE PANTRY Now Available Through My Website

A few months ago The Pantry–Its History and Modern Uses was going to be remaindered by my publisher, Gibbs Smith. Yes, this is the sad thing that happens to most books when sales get sluggish, they've ordered too many for a printing, or they start to molder in the warehouse. The irony of being a mere several hundred dollars away from earning my first royalty check (for those who think publishing a book guarantees instant financial reward, think again!)–as well as our current recession creating a resurgence in gardening, canning, more food storage and pantry-design–was not lost on me. [However, I continue to feel blessed that I was able to publish this book and that Gibbs Smith gave me the opportunity that they did. Publishing is taking a hard hit in this internet world and economic downturn. Books and magazines and newspapers–print media is in peril. So read a book today, open a newspaper or buy your favorite magazine. (I can count at least two favorites that have gone under in the past nine months.)]

My publisher very kindly gave me an opportunity to buy the books, all clean and unmarked and still in boxes, back at a special price. Horrified at the thought of being piled in a "remaindered" stack at a bookstore near you, I decided to take action. I donned my favorite apron, rolled up my sleeves, did some figuring and freight shipping information from Utah to Kentucky, added up the cost per book for me (including freight), and decided well, I AM THE REMAINDERER and I WILL REMAIN! I've been wanting to announce this for sometime but first had to get my website updated to accommodate ordering and also figure things out like PayPal accounts (thank you to the wonderful Ronald for both!). Now I am more than delighted to send you a copy of my book–from my pantry to yours.

So I am now the primary distributor for The Pantry (I still have to look into Amazon.com options and how to continue that). But based on the Amazon price (which is above $11), I have reduced the original retail cost of the book considerably to $11.95 (plus shipping) and that is still a bargain for a hardbound book (most paperbacks are more). It also includes a signed copy and inscription if desired–gift-wrapping is optional–and a souvenir bookmark. [I will also offer wholesale discounts to stores and non-profits in half-case (10) or case lots (20)]

When the books arrived from UPS in late April I was delighted that it was a clear sunny break during a very rainy month. My husband, who suggested and supported my "buy back" option, was there to help unload (not to mention helping with our children and other details during the writing, production and editing of the book!). I felt like my mother when she was Girl Scout Cookie Chairman for two years in Akron, Ohio and we received boxes and boxes of cookie orders for our troop that were piled in our living room.

Look for my ads and listings in the upcoming Arts & Crafts Homes (Summer 2009: available mid-June) and the updated Old-House Design Center Sourcebook (available mid-July 2009). In the meantime, I'm going on a two-week vacation back to New England and ending it with a book signing and radio show in Akron, Ohio (more about that later). I promise more blogs from the road!

NOTE: Media inquiries about The Pantry may also be directed to me at info@CatherinePond.com

Recent Pantry Press

I need to update my website also (desperately) but here is the latest:

• "Reads-On the Subject of Homes: Ten New Books Celebrate the Places Where We Live," by Barbara Ballinger, The Chicago Tribune, October 21, 2007
• "Pantries are Little Museums of Family Life," by Claire Whitcomb, The Orlando Sentinel, October 20, 2007 [As this article is with the Universal Press Syndicate, it has also appeared, so far, in The Chicago Tribune as "Behind Closed Doors: Pantries Let You Hide the Chaos," October 14, 2007 and in The Denver Post as "The Return of the Pantry," October 3, 2007]
• "The Victorian Pantry," p. 48, Country Victorian [Winter 2008: Harris Publications] You can find this magazine on newsstands every where (sorry, no website link).

Gibson House

In late September, before leaving for Kentucky, I gave a talk on "The Victorian Pantry" at the Gibson House Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. Preserved as a Victorian house museum since 1957, Gibson House was built in 1860 on the newly-created flats of Boston's Back Bay and remains today as a time capsule spanning many decades, especially the Victorian era. Like the most successful of historic house museums, Gibson House was left intact with family furniture, objets d'art, letters, books, photographs: the things that make a home.

For several years in the mid-1980s while I was living in Boston and attending graduate school at Boston University, I had the chance to live and work in Gibson House as a resident guide. I had the fifth floor servant's quarters to myself, more closet and drawer space than I'd ever had before, or since (where linens and extra clothes were stored), an opportunity to get to know a unique home while living in downtown Boston with few expenses. The experience of living and working there was life-changing for me in many ways: personally, in my career, and was even the subject of my first published article in Victoria Magazine in 1990.



In the early 1990s I was hired by the Gibson Society to complete a study report on the interior of the house and its architectural and social history. It later became the template for nomination as a Boston Landmark and National Landmark status. Their website is a well-produced backdrop for the house and its place and importance in Victorian domestic history (and of course there are several pantries, which were good to see again!).

I had not been back to the house in about fifteen years. The place seemed smaller but that old shut-up house smell was there, what my daughter Addie, now 19, always called "that Gibson House smell": warm and woody with echoes of a simmering past. I was glad that my husband, two boys, and several great friends were able to be there. It was an odd sort of homecoming.

A Chef's Table ~ Raiding the Pantry

Another programming note. A Chef's Table's "Raiding the Pantry" program aired on September 15 at noon on WHYY, Channel 91 FM. I believe this is a syndicated program on National Public Radio--for someone who probably listens to too much radio and watches too much television you think I would know these things! I do know of one person who heard it live because they told my husband (at our town dump, of course, our friendly source of all local information) about it the day after I learned the program had been aired.

I will eventually link this program to my website and have just linked in the blog in the upper left column. Click on that link and just scroll down to the 9-15-07 program details and click on "Listen" (you will need RealPlayer™). I'd love to hear your thoughts.

My interview with Chef Jim Coleman, recorded in August, is about ten minutes long and leads off a program on what's in different chef's pantries. We spoke about the history of pantries in fairly good detail as well as a few of my own pantry memories (and there are many but for some reason I chose to talk about my mother's broom closet in the small, pink, post-War kitchen on Ayers Avenue in Akron, Ohio where I grew up).

It was also interesting because the program's producer, Lari Robling, is also originally from Akron, Ohio and has published a wonderful cookbook, Endangered Recipes, that I bought a few years ago. I liked it so much that I sent her a fan letter (well, a fan e-mail). It was then that we learned of our "Akron connection" and she said to let her know when The Pantry was out. So I did and she kindly booked me on this program. [We also recorded two additional pantry-related segments that may air on later shows. I'll keep you posted.]

I've decided I love radio: no pantyhose or make-up necessary. Ok, enough about me. As I've been too busy to get recent publicity updates to Ronald for my website, you have to suffer through all of this self-promotional blather from time to time. Back to canning tomato sauce and helping the boys get back into their homework! And I can't wait to make Chef Jim's Gingered Jalapeno Orange Cranberry Relish for Thanksgiving this year.

TV Land

What has happened to this month?? I can't believe it is already September 19 and soon to be officially autumn, even though the days in New England have been fall-like for a while now. I have been busy getting the boys back to school and trying to get back on track with work and writing from my home office (while trying to pack for our new home in Kentucky). Summer was long enough and now that the transition is over, I'm glad that the days are shortening and I can hunker down and focus more inwardly and work on some new writing projects and other lingering things.

Yesterday I was interviewed for HouseSmarts™ with Lou Manfredini, a syndicated home design program. One regular segment is The Bookshelf, a several minute interview with a design book author. I was honored to be selected, although a bit nervous (more excited than anxious) about being on television. Fortunately, it was a taped segment that will be edited.

I have never actually seen the program but just discovered via our Direct TV search function that HouseSmarts™ will be on WBZ-Boston (Channel 4) out of Boston on September 29 at 5:30am (but not the episode I just taped). I understand the program is in 60% of the cable market nationwide and also on stations like WNBC in New York.

My husband and I drove down to southern New York and stayed just north of the New Jersey town where the production company tapes many of the segments. Lou Manfredini, a likable guy from Chicago who runs his own hardware business and is a contractor (and has written a series of books), flew in for several days of taping. The program will air sometime in December and I'll try to post the information here and on my website well in advance [my website is already out of date, so stay with me...]. Eventually you will be able to click on the segment via the HouseSmarts™ website.

Fortunately, I was happy with my outfit--as were they--but brought an additional one at their request, just in case. [You certainly don't want to clash with the set or the host!] A silk Italian scarf from Coldwater Creek was a great purchase last week and fortunately everyone agreed. [Sorry, from the looks of their website, I may have bought the last one. Anyway, I can't say enough great things about this clothing company.] And I wore pantyhose...the first time in years (but I'll spare you those details).

Perhaps the best part was having my hair "done" (and it held its shape and curl for hours because of whatever was glopped in and sprayed on) and the entire makeup/dress up. I had just bought some great mineral-based product at my trusty beauty spa at home, just in case (another thing I hardly ever wear--except lipstick) [Thank you to the amazing Sandy at European Esthetics and Jane Iredale cosmetics.]

However, I was needlessly self-armed as TV requires the full artillery unit. I was air brushed with foundation (literally sprayed on), eyes done, blush, lips. When I was "ready for my close-up" I was brought into the set, had a nice chat with the host (whom I hadn't yet met), and perched on a stool. Oh yes, and wired with a mike, further fluffed and untousled and arranged (and believe me, tousled is my usual get-up). The makeup woman even dabbed my brow when I started to bead up just a bit. [Fortunately the set was cool.]

Amazing, too, were the amount of people involved. There was a set decorator whose primary concern that day seemed to be arranging each author's book on the table for each segment (four authors were taped). A clothing stylist. A director and assistant director. Several camera men. The producer, who booked me for the segment. Another woman who seemed like an apprentice. And the host.

Everyone put me at ease, we were able to banter and talk before the taping began, and during the interview we spoke conversationally. It was over in a few minutes and we were on our way back home. I don't know if I'll be able to watch the segment when it comes out as I don't like to be photographed. But we'll see. Of course, we barely even touched on the book and I don't recall anything I said! But it was great fun all the same.

New Passion for a Pantry

Barbara Coles of New Hampshire Magazine has written a fine article on the book and I enjoyed her interview with me. This magazine is a stylish, well-written production each month and covers a variety of people, places and issues in the Granite state. You can link to the full article here (which does not include all of the photographs in the two-page article): New Passion for a Pantry

I have realized through the amazing finesse of Google Analytics that not many people glance at my website (where I have a Pantry Press page with updates) so I thought because of the new, easy-to-use template functions in Google that I would also start linking press on The Pantry here in my blog. [But you are always welcome to stop by at www.CatherinePond.com where I have to say is in an overdue need of updating on the Pantry Press and Home page, where I will always include appearances, lectures etc. So I will try to have those parts of the site updated within the week, with thanks to the amazing Ronald Gehrmann at Metaglyph], whom I highly recommend for any website design or Mac trouble-shooting. He is brilliant, affordable, and fun!

[I think even Ronald would agree that I have overdone the blog link feature in this posting so I will stop now!]