Goodbye "Root Cellar"

Under our basement staircase is a storage room. It was fulled from the floor to the ceiling with shelves of wood that were perfectly placed to hold jars. That, combined with the big, weedy patch in our back yard, leads me to believe that the previous owners enjoyed canning and preserving vegetables.

My mom used to make pickles at the farm. We had a garden that was placed in a small field in our yard which used to be a pasture. The weeds were unstoppable, but for a few years we managed to grow a good variety of vegetables and even pumpkin patches. Most important were the cucumbers and the dill! Oh, I love the smell of dill. . .it makes my mouth water whenever I smell it. . .

Unfortunately, the shelves, although numerous, were not practical for our storage needs. So last night Justin ripped them all out and replaced them with new shelves!

I never took a picture of the previous shelves before started working, but I got a few in the process and after. This is what is in there: empty boxes for future present giving, things we use occassionally be don't have room for in the kitchen and luggage and air mattresses. Oh, so much crap everywhere! At least it's nice to have it all with us and not strewn about at our parents' houses and in a storage unit.
It was cute to discover behind the shelves some carving in the wall done by the children who used to live here (they are all adults now). Very cute! I almost want to carve my own name down there!