I had always liked my pantry and the storage space it provided in our small city condo in a century-old Victorian building. But now I adore my pantry. I love that in place of store-bought bread are bags of bread flour; that in place of boxed cereals are jars of oatmeal; that in place of jars of pasta sauce are baskets of fresh tomatoes ready to be blanched.
Natural homemaking is probably second-nature to many moms, but for me it's been a deliberate and empowering migration from viewing my household as a consumption unit to a production unit. It may have started for me with cloth diapers when J was an infant, but it really took off after A's homebirth and an astounding realization of what is truly possible to accomplish within our homes.
