Little Space, Big Value

Our pantry is probably the smallest room in our house, not counting the attic or closets. Set towards the back of the house, behind the kitchen, it would seem that our pantry wouldn’t be used for much more than a storage room for our food goods. Yet, though small and out of the way, our pantry is not only frequently used but has many occupations.

Of course, our pantry’s first use is for storing our fresh, canned, frozen, or dried food goods. During the late summer/early fall season, our pantry is always busily being filled with items like tomato sauce, jelly, pickles, apple butter, and so much more. With all that produce being harvested from the garden, the shelves which have been filled up with empty jars, are once again teeming with the fruit (and vegetables) of our labor.

When the need arises, our pantry substitutes as a playroom. I can remember times when five or six of us kids would crowd into that small space, lost in our world of Legos, fairies and knights, or farming. Even yet, when all the other rooms are filled and there is no other place to play, toys and little ones find their way to the pantry.

The pantry also fills in as music room at times. Being at the back of the house, it is a perfect place to go when you need to focus on practicing your guitar, mandolin, fiddle, or banjo. Even now I hear Samuel practicing away on his guitar in the pantry as I write.

A now infrequently played role of our pantry is that of a disciplinary chamber. Many a day, in times past, has every child returned from the back room with an adjusted attitude or renewed obedience. One of our family’s favorite stories involving discipline and the pantry, still brings us smiles, eight years later. It included all five of the youngest McDaniel children, though Unique was the star actor. It all started in the afternoon, when we had been particularly naughty. During that time, we were still hosting music lessons and late evening rolled around before we could have true justice administered. The guilty were told to come to the pantry. Since the pantry is often times filled to overflowing with snacks and sweet titbits, we imagined ourselves “starving,” as we had not yet eaten supper. All were called to judgment. We older ones bowed our heads in remorse, while Unique, misinterpreting this particular visit to the pantry, with a great big smile and an exuberant, “Yes!” made her way happily back behind the kitchen. She returned with the rest of us, disillusionment cleared, and lesson learned!

All the grandkids love the pantry and call it Grammy’s pantry, since she stores all types of treats and goodies back there. Often during a visit can you find a few of them in the pantry, gazing wistfully at all the gallon jars filled with candy or cookies. Whenever Mama does let them have a sweet from the pantry, which is often, there is usually a large bunch gathered around her, many times including her children along with the grandchildren. Sticky fingers, big smiles, and colorful tongues are all results of a visit to “Grammy’s Pantry.”

So, you see, our pantry, though small, plays a large role in the everyday life of our family. And though it may not get voted as the number one favorite room of the house, it certainly is in the running for the most versatile area, most valued per square foot, most venerated little space in our home. It is truly a little space with big value!

~Halayah