Using a home

I've mentioned before that I'm a collector. Of stuff. Not just any stuff, of course -- really valuable stuff. Stuff like empty sour cream containers, broken egg shells and bread butts.

For example, some person might finish off a pint of sour cream and throw the container away. I finish off a pint of sour cream, wash the container out and store it in my bathroom for starting vegetables in my basement the next spring.

Some people throw egg shells away. When I crack open an egg, I carefully put the shell into an old coffee can underneath my sink, to dry and be crushed into tiny shards of calcium. A handful of calcium shards gets poured into every hole that is dug in my garden for tomato transplants.

Some folks would throw out the butt ends of bread, since hardly anyone likes to eat them. I lay the butt ends out on the counter top, flip them over after a few days until they are completely dried out, run the dried bread through my blender and store the bread crumbs in a mason jar for meatloaf and casseroles.

You get the picture.

I've also mentioned that my house is a mess. Or rather, very very cluttered.

This is why, when I know that people will be visiting my house, I (actually, hubby does most of the grunt work) spend about two days cleaning. Because at any given time I will have a stack of empty sour cream containers in my bathroom, bags of broken egg shells under my sink, layers of drying bread butts on my counter. Plus boxes of canning jars on the kitchen table, a bucket of vegetable scraps for the chickens, cups of fermenting tomato seeds, a buzzing dehydrator full of apple rings, a pitcher of clabbering milk, bunches of drying herbs hanging from the ceiling, piles of unread mail next to the phone, mountains of unfolded clean laundry on the dining room table, and scattered childrens toys and books on the floor.

Sometimes I envy the clean, sterile, antiseptic homes of others. Then I realize that the reason my house is constantly cluttered is because my house is constantly in use. Most folks don't USE their homes. They just hang out there. When I cook dinner the chopping board is out, the sink is busy washing or draining various things, two or three stove burners are on and the oven is probably hot. Other folks just pop something in the microwave and call it a day.

So I've decided to stop feeling guilty about my messy house. And if you come over to my house unannounced you'll be very welcome, but please watch where you step and be prepared to move a tray of tomatoes before you can sit down. Oh, and could you carry this bucket of food scraps out to the chickens for me?