Summer Kitchen.

A young chef from Ukraine who lives in London has been receiving a lot of attention with her new Cookbook, Mamushka.  

Her instagram pictures below of her grandmother summer kitchen remind me of summer kitchens in Saskatchewan   A Summer Kitchen; a place where canning and baking were done in the summer.  

My Mom didn't have a Summer Kitchen.  However, I remember how busy her kitchen was in the fall at harvest time, not only did she have to prepare a hot lunch for the workers on the farm, her garden was ready to be harvested and preserved for the winter.  Mason jars were readied for preserving vegetables.  Water Bath canner was used to can vegetables, fruit.  Meat and fish were also preserved this way but certainly not recommended nowadays!  

Olia describes her grandmother's summer kitchen,"a whole family's sanctuary during the hot summer months. Young couples would usually build a summer kitchen first,and live in it while they built the main house bit by bit, brick by brick...a beautiful hot climate tradition that I hear exists in other Southern countries too." 

In my reply to Olia's posting, I thanked her for the fond memories.  Summer Kitchen are so much part of rural Prairies in Canada.  All the canning and baking of Breads and summer Pies were done here!

Olia wondered if summer kitchens were a Canadian thing or brought here by the Ukrainian. 

Unfortunately a lot of pictures were not taken of buildings years ago.  But I did write two  of cousins as I remember one of my Aunt's having a summer kitchen, just outside the back door of her house. In side was a huge white wood cookstove with a bed behind it.  Her daughter did confirm my memory!

'Good morning!  Oh how I wish I still could be in that summer kitchen.  Good times! There were two rooms; one was like a dining room, the other had a cook stove and a large cupboard called a side board, now worth some cash.  I  don't know if I have any pictures inside but I do have of the out side call me lov '

My other cousin remembers her grandmother having a Summer Kitchen;


"Summer is going too fast and I havn't had time to do everything I like to do. I guess this year it has to be quality time instead of quantity time. Yes Baba had a summer kitchen . All the canning, preserving and cooking was done there especially bread. That way the house stayed some what cooler.  It was just on the other side of the fence and the size of a grain bin....probably was a grain bin. They ate there too in the summer....that way Geedo didn't worry about his mink smelling cloths. I may have an airiale photo of the farm, just have to locate it. I don't think I have a close up of it. What have you two been up to this summer?"

There is what is called Living Museums in Canada and all the living museums are listed, along with two Ukrainian museums.  It looks like summer kitchens are also in other parts of Canada.  Summer Kitchens are separate from the house and used in the summer 

 A heritage site that is well preserved is a farm close to where I grew up, it has a smoke house, ice house and summer house, a wonderful heritage garden, cooking oil press etc.. 

Although the two brothers were teachers in the village, they maintained and lived off the land without any modern facilities.  I’m talking until 1991, it certainly is a treasure. 

Recently, I have seen pictures of She Sheds which are designed and decorated for women to relaxing in!  Certainly the summer kitchens that I knew where not a place for relaxing! How times have changed.