It's no secret . . .

I have a strange obsession with jars. Canning jars to be specific. When we moved into our new house, I discovered that I had boxes of empty jars. Seriously, boxes! My husband was exasperated, he just couldn't imagine what I was going to do with all those jars, and frankly, I didn't really know either.

Last summer, after a productive evening of canning (something I'd only ever done on a very small scale before), I looked at this crazy little lip we had in the staircase down to the basement and thought, "Wouldn't that be a great place for all my jars of self-preserved food?" So D and put our heads together and came up with this amazing idea of building some shelves there. Then, two shelves was about all I needed, but I keep finding more of those jars as we continue to unpack. And thanks to a good friend, I have now discovered the joys of pressure canning and all the yummy foods I couldn't preserve before (especially all those dried beans we love to eat.)

This weekend, D got to work expanding my little shelving system, and this is what he finally finished for me. There is still some room to grow here, but not much. If I end up canning all the things I'm interested in this summer, this little space is going to be an absolute wonder to behold!