#2 renovating our small farmhouse kitchen

"The kitchen was old and frankly very dirty, with years of moist and oil splatter from an oven, that no longer was working at all, clinging to the walls. The kitchen was not original, but had been built in the late 20th century in a simple aesthetic with wood countertops and curtains instead of cabinets. The old pantry had been opened up, but the painted shelves still hung on the back walls, reminiscent of a long gone time where the house had functioned as a proper farmhouse, and the shelves would be booming with jars and flour and produce.

The previous owners had bought the house on auction when the original owners had passed away. In my research of the house in the local archives, I found that the original owners had lived here from the young age of 25 years to their passings. It was a young man, Jens Mikkelsen, and his wife, Astrid, that had the house built nearly 100 years ago. Back then, the plot was mere moor, and purple heather would roam this land. The original owners would have had to plough up everything, most certainly with horses, in order to be able to farm this land throughout their years.

The woman, Astrid, had longed outlived her husband, but she had stayed on the farm, apparently taking care of a big hold of turkeys, and whenever we spoke to the old neighbors, they would always speak fondly of her, with much empathy and sadness over her passing, even now 25 years later.

The kitchen, in the state it was in now, was not functioning. The oven being broken and the overall cleanliness was of doubtful standards we instead set up a small camping kitchen on half of our dining table. Herluf is the cook of the home, and he was tasked with the impossible task of setting up something that only slightly resembled our kitchen on a very small space. Normally he enjoys making meals, and it is a great and relaxing hobby for him. But in that July, after a hard day of working on the house, he would be confined to the darkest corner of the house, with no counter-space and cooking with very limited options. Without an oven, making due with only one heating plate, he would still conjure up a warm meal for us almost every evening that rainy July."

Read the rest of the story "One Summers Rain, Our First Year at Baggebo Homestead" on our blog: https://baggebohomestead.substack.com...

Chapters:
0:00 how it was when we came
0:40 taking down a wall
1:24 sanding down tabletops
2:33 putting in a door
3:15 painting and cleaning
3:57 reusing shelving
6:43 making a hole for gas stove
7:49 putting up tiles
9:30 baseboards
10:12 making curtains
10:55 new fridge and stove
11:23 decorating
13:35 outro and apple pie