Arghh! The chipmunk(s) discovered the bed, I put netting up (hoops closer this year) and 1 strangled himself trying to fit through 1" mesh. But something (squirrels?) is still getting in and eating literally half the berries (I find the other halves). Pulling pegs out of soft ground and going back out the same way? B/c only a few pulled, haven't found a critter trapped. Put heavy stones on those places and I plan to make the bed narrower next year so we can get pegs in better. Someone mentioned pipe - that sounds good, go the full length, easy for me to move, but how heavy so squirrel doesn't move it? Would they just dig under? Thinking a 2x4 frame with chicken wire, but would have to re-do the bed to make it a series of beds with lids since current bed is so long. And how to keep them from digging under? I just can't think of anything that would be easy for me to (re)move to pick, but keep the rodents out. Help!

robin_d - Do you remember when McDonald's french fries were so good? They formerly used a small amount of beef fat in the shortening. I try to avoid junk food, but I would make an exception for those fries! I can only imagine how good they would be in all beef fat. We did get our half cow last year, and have enjoyed the meat very much. Unfortunately, my request for the fat and all the bones for stock was passed from me to DH to the butcher. The result was that I got the usual soup bones, but all the long bones and fat were disposed of. The butcher did tell DH that we could have all the bones we wanted any time, because most people don't want them. One of these days I'll take him up on the offer, and I'll ask for all that connective tissue as well. Since the butchers normally pay to get rid of these, I imagine other butchers would be glad to get rid of them as well. Fat is one thing that I don't like to store in plastic, as it absorbs molecules of plastic quite easily. I imagine this absorption no longer occurs once frozen, but would be even faster than normal when the fat is warm. I realize that this isn't a concern for most people! ".........When you buy beef to be butchered, you pay for the hanging weight of the side/whole/quarter on the hook after the obvious parts are disposed of. Hooves, head, etc., and it's sectioned. That's how our local butchers do it, anyway. It's your call within bounds what you want off it and how you want it since you have paid for it by the weight........" calliope - that's the system used around here as well. We also paid a slight fee for the wrapping, that was either based on the pound or the number of pieces wrapped - I forget which. One reason I didn't go back and get some fat from another cow was that I particularly wanted the healthier fat from a grass-fed animal. It occurs to me now that I can call up the farmer who sold us the cow and ask when they are taking another animal in to be butchered. Of course the 100 mile drive was also a factor! Fortunately there are some great German restaurants in the town where our butcher is located, so it makes a nice outing.

Well both will be dry that's not an issue the shed will be very cold garage will be not quite as cold...

Do you use your Instant Pot every day? Weekly? Other? Do you have to have all the pantry cabinets? Have you considered, instead, making that whole row base + uppers (no uppers in front of the window, of course)? If you did, you could make a Snack/Appliance Center where you put your Instant Pot, toaster oven, coffeemaker, and what ever other small appliances you want to use without moving them. They could be on the now much longer counter with several outlets to accommodate them all? (Personally, I wouldn't use the mixer there as it's usually part of a much larger baking effort and I prefer to have it where I work.) The uppers could be used for food storage as well as the base cabs. If you need more pantry storage, maybe reduce the seating at the island and, instead, have a row of shallow base cabinets that would provide more storage. You show what appear to be at least 4 stools; I cannot tell, but be sure you don't have two stools sharing the same corner since two people's legs cannot share the same space. (I see that mistake a lot here, so I thought I'd mention it. I assume you also have the minimum recommended 15" of clear leg/knee overhang space as well & are not skimping on the overhang, especially on an aisle with a lot of traffic.)