Cast iron is a very reactive metal. It is not considered safe for cooking acidic foods. Cooking, for example, tomato sauce in a cast iron pan will definitely release some iron. I had read years ago there is also at least a small amount of mercury used in creating cast iron. Now I can't find this info. online. Perhaps I read it in a book on canning? Nickel can be leached from stainless steel, and some physicians consider it to be very toxic. Glass cookware or certain types of porcelain and enamel ware are considered to be much more safe (non-reactive or "inert") The newer Staub and Le Creuset cookware (or most high-end European brands) are much more safe, and much less reactive. The State of California (it's just one state, I know) won't allow items containing lead to be sold in the state. It's possible some imports slip through, but you might try purchasing from an outfit in California, and have your item shipped to you. I'd done extensive prior research on this, and the newer enameled cookware is said to be non-reactive. 'Wish I could give you a better link than the browser search above, but it's a good place to start doing research, at least re: cast iron cookware. I LOVE my cast iron Dutch ovens, but am very wary of cooking acidic foods, or foods with extreme pH levels in them. I recently contacted a Customer Service rep. at Hamilton Beach. A senior person (quality control manager?) told me each and every Hamilton Beach slow cooker vessel is tested for lead and cadmium prior to going out for retail sale. I asked that question twice; I couldn't believe it at first! 'Thought I'd mention it, because I do a lot of slow cooking, and found that info. to be very reassuring. I don't think they'd have told me that if it weren't true, due to potential liability issues. 'Am still trying to find a non-reactive vessel for pickling. I'm told there's a company selling pickling crocks which imports them from Poland. I'm hoping to contact the company to find out if they warrant their vessels and crocks as "non-reactive." If you want more info., you might want to join a Weston A. Price forum online. That's a group committed to organic and grass-fed, pastured foods, more or less the way "primitive people" or traditional cultures ate their foods. The WAP'ers are a very health-conscious group, so if you really want to delve into this question, you might want to join one of the WAPF Yahoo groups, and check the archives for this information. A couple of links: "non reactive pickling crocks cookware" http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/nbbw.cgi and Dr. Mercola's question & answer web page (Dr. M. is really big on subjects like this): http://v.mercola.com/QA/BlogsQA.aspx Cast iron reactive?http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/nbbw.cgi A sante to you all! Nancy S. in Solano County, Calif.

mama g - I think your table, the top, shelf and boxes look just great! moccasin - what great stories! you should put them into a little book! my, what life used to be like! such memories. yours are more ? primitive (not thinking of correct word to use) than mine. my maternal gma died shortly before i was born and we had little contact with the paternal side. I only remember 1 time going to the paternal gparents house, being out in gma's garden and helping her pick veggies and gpa on the enclosed front porch yelling at us to be quiet so he could hear his ballgame (WS). we only had a very small garden - I don't remember getting much out of it. Life was very basic for us and looking back, I'm glad. I think life is too full of 'stuff' now and 'going' places. kids don't have time to do the stuff we did. like run around the neighborhood with our cap guns 'shooting' each other and putting one of us in 'jail' (neighobor girl's playhouse). we were playing cowboys and Indians. played all around the area (miles) until dark. spent lots of time in the summer in the yard on a blanket reading comic books (boxes of them given to us - from I don't know where). In the winter sledding down the street in front of our house. Such a different time than it is now.

I'm feeling pretty good right now as we are just finishing up the minor upgrades of a kitchen we did 20 years ago. Our house is an urban, 1916, primarily prairie style in an upscale neighborhood. My goal all along has been "timeless", and I think I have achieved it. Twenty years ago we put an addition off the back of our then-small kitchen, and we added a first floor powder room. Despite the fact that we (now) have a lovely vintage home, when we moved in our kitchen had dropped acoustic ceiling with brown grids, one major appliance in each of the "Current" colors--bronze, avocado and gold, cabinets that were so cheap the shelves sagged when used, one cabinet that wasn't even attached to the wall, and cheap vinyl flooring. When we put the addition on 20 years ago, we could afford the work to have the addition added, but we couldn't afford to have a contractor do the inside. So, we hired floorers to install thin board maple floors (as are found in many houses in our area), a plumber to do some of the major work, and a cabinet maker to make some replica cabinets for us and to hang the cabinetry. Everything else we did ourselves. We started out doing all of the demo before the addition was put on. The kitchen was sooooo awful that I really enjoyed using that sledge hammer. The change in layout also entailed moving the stairs to the basement, so to cook we spent three months literally swinging down between the rafters to access the fridge and old stove that we'd moved to the basement to be used as a kitchen along with the laundry tub. Because of layout and lot constraints, we ended up with a long and narrow--10' by 30'--kitchen with an eating area at the end furthest from the dining room. I found a kitchen full of 1920s cabinets with the inset drawers and original glass knobs and exterior ball top hinges that were being ripped out from a very large old home whose kitchen was being modernized. $500 for the entire kitchen full of birch cabinets, and there were a lot of cabinets. I designed the kitchen around the various pieces of cabinetry and hired a cabinetmaker to make some additional pieces. I stripped all of the original cabinets of their light gold glaze painted finish and stained both them and the new matching ones a honey color meant to mimic the color those old varnished cabinets so often take on. I also found vintage lights to hang over my sink and down the middle of the room. As a concession to need, we installed a lighted ceiling fan over the kitchen table. Counters were do-it-yourself tiled. 4" squares with contrasting full bullnose edging. Backsplash was white subway which, believe it or not, was not easy to find 20 years ago. I think we got it right because, several years after the kitchen was completed, an out-of-town guest who owned a similar vintage house came in and told me she so regretted doing her kitchen in the all white look that shouted 1980s, whereas mine just felt as though ti belonged. Now fast forward 20 years. Some things about the kitchen are looking a bit tired and need a refresh, but the basics are still very good. I wanted new counters because they'd chipped in places. The old Jenn-air downdraft (top of the line and the latest thing when we did the kitchen) was old and tired. We just finished our minor upgrades (other than still waiting to get the floors refinished), and in my eye the kitchen still fits in perfectly with our old house. We have no island and never did. The workhorse counters are unoiled, matte, charcoal soapstone. The opposite wall, which is more a buffet-type serving or pastry area, is Carrera counters. I found a replacement for the white, cast iron drop in sink with a drainboard that we'd originally installed and had cabinetry built for. So, we put that in despite the fact that everyone uses undermount sinks today. We replaced the old Jenn-air downdraft with a classic open burner SS Wolf we found on closeout as a new model was coming in. It has a 10" riser on the back which tends to mimic those old ranges with high backs. We did need to install a hood for ventilation (and modern codes) and went with a very flattened chimney style Zephyr so as to minimize the visual effect. Even though we hadn't planned to, we needed to replace all of our backsplash. For this I put in a creamy, crazed subway tile with grout that matches. Now our only thought is what to do with some of the appliances that we will slowly replace. When we did the addition remodel we'd gone with white because that color was appropriate to the era of our kitchen, and stainless wasn't yet a thing. As appliances needed replacing, we stuck with white because I hate (or thought I did) stainless. But, something funny has happened now that we have the new stainless range and the new countertops. Our old white appliances now visually seem to be out of place. Perhaps it is because we no longer have the tile countertops edged in white. Despite the fact that I thought I really didn't like stainless, I am now considering putting in stainless as we need to replace other appliances. Or, perhaps keeping a white fridge, getting a dishwasher whose front I could panel and putting in a replacement wall oven/ micro combo in stainless. After having been though this, and having lived with my kitchen for 20 years, my advice to owners of older houses is to shy away from the latest trendy kitchen. Instead install something that is not a true period replica but something that includes modern features and is period appropriate to the era of your house. You'll be able to happily live with it for as long as you live in the house (we've been here 30 years and have no current intentions of moving) and to just do some minor upgrades as necessary without having to face the expense and mess of a major remodel every time the trends change.

Arley -- I have a CORONA CORN MILL for coarse milling (you can adjust the grind from fine to coarse), and two other hand mills (noted below) that will also do coarse milling. I teach classes on home milling and that's why I've accumulated all these mills over the years. I also have a Marga Flaker Mill for milling flakes and some coarse milling (it has 3 different settings but can NOT do corn - only grains), and a Nutrimill (for fine flour). FAMILY GRAIN MILL: You can't (repeat, can NOT) mill popcorn and flint corn ("Indian" corn), chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) or tapioca pearls with a Family Grain Mill, but you CAN mill dent (field) corn. WONDER Jr. DELUXE MILL is another great little mill you should take a look at. It will mill all types of corn (popcorn, flint and dent) using the stone head (adjustable to grind desired). It will also mill tapioca pearls with the stainless steel burrs. You have a little more variety with this mill since it has both stone heads and stainless steel burrs. You can even mill peanut butter with roasted peanuts, almonds for making almond flour, coffee beans, flax, and the tiny things like teff and amaranth that a lot of mills can't mill into flour. I also have a Porkert Seed Mill for tiny seeds and oily seeds (flax, poppy). Not all mills can mill oily seeds. If I could only keep one mill out of my bevy of them, I would have to pick the Wonder Jr. Deluxe Mill (http://pleasanthillgrain.com/wonder-junior-deluxe-grain-mill - be sure to check prices on-line, they can vary quite a bit). It will do everything from fine to coarse flour. You can also mill with it using either the optional large pully system powered by a variety of power systems (including a stationary bike), or an optional adapter and an electric/battery powered drill, if you don't want to mill by-hand only. I had the Whisper Mill, which is now the Wonder Mill (electric micronizer mill), and it was a real workhorse for fine flour, but after years of great service it met with a horrible kitchen accident and went to "appliance heaven". I replaced it with a Nutrimill because it has a few features the (electric) Wonder Mill doesn't have, but neither of these mills will mill coarse flour you are looking for.