I’ll tell you, that there is nothing like having your own designated space for preparing raw foods. I highly recommend it if you have the chance. We needed to create a separate space for me because my grand daughter Simone is allergic to a lot of different foods. I may post pictures of her on here from time to time, but if you’d like to read more about Simone (we call her Simmi), you can go to my blog “Loving Simone” and read all about her.

We converted our sun porch into my raw kitchen and it is coming along very nicely. I still don’t have everything I need for it, but we are getting there slowly but surely. Almost everything that is in my raw kitchen is from salvaged materials off of the Craigslist free section, or from Freecycle.  I still need a dehydrator, small fridge, more powerful blender and a juicer, but believe it or not, you can still be raw without those things. Well, I do have a fridge, but it is in my main kitchen, however, I wanted a small fridge to go under my counter top. I can not purchase certain things right now without having a separate fridge to store them in. Things like Tahini, almond butter, nuts and seeds or meals prepared using these foods.

We had dreamed up many uses for the sun porch, but in the end it became the perfect solution for my raw dilemma because it not only provides a safe place to prepare nuts, seeds and wheat berries, but I can also close the sliding door leading to the main part of the house and it won’t disturb Simmi or anyone else inside. Blenders, food processors, dehydrators and some juicers can be very noisy. Especially a dehydrator that needs to be on for more than three or four hours.

The room is bright and sunny, but it was definitely in need of a new paint job. We used left over paint that we used in our main kitchen and we had just enough. The trim was painted using left over paint from our living room. The shelves were relocated from the utility closet and painted. We didn’t have to cut the shelves because they were the EXACT length I needed. The counter top, wood we used for the counter top support and frame, and the flooring were all salvaged from materials off of Craigslist free section or from Freecycle. I opted to not have cabinets because I wanted to fit different things underneath the counter to save on space. In the first bay the dehydrator will go, the second is for a 4.5 cubic ft. fridge, the third bay has two large baskets for storing bowls and other containers, the fourth bay is for sprouting a variety of nuts and seeds, and the fifth bay is for a worm bin to compost all my scraps. Some of the finishing touches (purely decorative) that need to go into the room is molding to finish off the base of the lumber (I wanted a rough look to the legs) a long rug runner and curtains. I was amazed that someone offered two wicker baskets the exact size I was looking for! It is like everything so far was made to go into this kitchen.

When we first moved into this house, there was chair rail that went around the perimeter of the living room. We took it off the wall and stored it in the shed outside. I was going to offer it up on Freecycle, but after we put the shelves up, I realized we needed something to give the shelves a finished look. We went to Lowes to price out decorative molding for the front of the shelves, but it was too pricey and we don’t have a penny to spare these days. When we got back home, I remembered the molding that we ripped off the middle of the walls in the living room and realized that it would cap off the shelves perfectly. Dom measured everything and it turned out we had exactly the amount of molding needed to finish the shelves…nothing more, nothing less. How cool is that?! He also took off about a half inch from the top of the molding and with those small strips, we only need to paint them and they become the finishing touch to the floor.

The window and back sliding door are both south facing and get the majority of sun through out the day, so using a shelf below the window created the perfect space for growing herbs. I prefer fresh herbs growing because you only have to pay one time, just continue to grow, and are always readily available when a recipe demands them. I have Oregano, Lemon Balm, two pots of Arugula (which I plan to plant outside soon), Lavender, Cilantro, Dill, Thai Basil, Sage, regular Basil and Parsley so far. I love that they are there whenever I want to taste something, but don’t know what I want. (I know, I’m a strange bird)

I found a nursery in Albuquerque that sells fig trees. I was so thrilled to see that gorgeous tree because figs are my all time favorite fruit. I don’t have the money for one yet, but it is on my short list of  “gotta have’s.” I wouldn’t plant it outside until next year, and it will grace my glass slider door until I get a Myer Lemon tree.

Here is a slide I put together of the raw kitchen from start to present. As I said earlier, it’s not complete, but when it is, I’ll make another slide with everything complete:

Tags: potted herbs, raw kitchen, salvaged building material, worm bin