Unstuffed: What a Crock!

Monday, March 9, 2009

What a Crock!

(Update: A reader kindly left a comment reminding me of the dangers of lead and other metals that were frequently- and sometimes still are- used in the glazes of many ceramic, stone and earthenware items. These are not food safe! I completely forgot about this potential danger. Darn. I'm going to do some more research and see if I can get a lead test kit, but until then, there will be no sauerkraut in the crock for me...)

Two girlfriends and I made a day trip to Perth on Saturday, stopping at flea markets, antique shops and thrift stores along the way. I was really pleased to find some good items.

I'm baking more, and have been short on bowls, but not anymore! I fell in love with these two pyrex bowls that I got a charity thrift shop, along with an embroidered table cloth (not pictured).

I'll be using this enamel pot in my sun oven.

I'm so thrilled to have found this stone crock.

The first thing I'm going to make is sauerkraut.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...: Those bowls are so cute! What a find.
Cheers,
Tricia; March 9, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Anonymous said...: Do you have issues with using an old crock for food? I have one but have hesitated due to concern about metals in glazing.
EJ; March 9, 2009 at 12:04 PM
Sarah said...: Love the crock. Should be wonderful for sauerkraut!; March 9, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Amber said...: Oh crap! You're absolutely right EJ, there's a very real possibility that my crock has a lead glaze.
I totally had that in mind as I was looking at (and avoiding) all the other dishware, but for some reason I didn't even think about it when I saw the crock.
I'm going to do some research and get a lead test to be sure, but sadly, I may not be able to use the crock for food purposes.
Thanks for reminding me of this.
I'm going to update the post as well, so others are aware.; March 9, 2009 at 1:57 PM
Anonymous said...: That crock is quite the find (jealous) ... going to try making some kimchi too?; March 9, 2009 at 2:01 PM
GEM said...: Your crock looks as if it might have a salt glaze, which were a method of glazing crocks, back in the day. From its appearance as shown on your photo, it does appear to be a salt glaze on the outside. Crocks are made in a high fire, with a feldspar based glaze, rather than lead. The clay, highly vitrefied due to the clay body used and the high firing temperature, would have a non-lead based glaze, which are generally used in lower fired ware. Do some research on production methods to set your mind at ease. G; March 10, 2009 at 2:03 PM
Amber said...: Hi GEM. I did some research last night on the crock. My crock says E.L. Farrar, Iberville, PQ. From that I was able to determine that the Farrar family generally used salt glazes and opaque slip glazes for their stoneware, and my crock was probably made in the mid to late 1800's. I also learned from a contemporary potter that, as you mention, stone crocks are fired at a high heat, whereas lead glazed items are low fired.
I think there's a pretty good chance that I can go ahead and use my crock for sauerkraut! (But will do a lead test just to make sure.)
And thanks so much for your helpful information GEM. Having you back up what I learned from the internet, makes me feel even better. Much appreciated!; March 10, 2009 at 3:08 PM

Raison d'etre

In 2008 I didn't buy anything new for the whole year. Food and basic toiletries (but not toilet paper) were the obvious exceptions (twice I broke my own rule). Used items were allowed, but I tried really hard to reduce consumption as much as possible.

I finished my year successfully, and along the way learned a lot about how much the world consumes, the waste we produce, sustainability, voluntary simplicity, climate change, peak oil, resource depletion, the water crisis, the food crisis, voting with your dollar, voting with your fork....

Now, I've transformed into a slightly nutty, very passionate, gardening, preserving, DIYing, simple living, nature loving, weed eating, backyard medicine making, urban homesteader, and I still don't use toilet paper!

With the help of the Awesomedudeguy (ADG), I'm continuing my exploration of living lightly and frugally, while increasing my self-sufficiency and resiliency, staying debt free, and preparing for a climate changed, resource depleted world, in uncertain economic times.

My nothing new restriction is lifted, but I continue to be a gentle, local consumer as much as possible.

My hope is that some of the information and resources I post about here will be helpful to others. Thanks so much for stopping by !

Yours in unstuffing,
Amber

"Forgive me if I never visit. I am from the fields, you know, and while quite at home with dandelion, make a sorry figure for the drawing room" ~Emily Dickinson

"I never had any other desire so strong, and so like covetousness, as that.... I might be master at last of a small house and a large garden, with very moderate conveniences joined to them, and there dedicate the remainder of my life to the culture of them and the study of nature." ~Abraham Cowley

"The laws of nature are under no obligation to cater to our culture’s emotionally charged fantasies of perpetual progress and limitless growth." ~John Michael Greer

"Sometimes we think we are too small to make a difference in this big world. Our actions seem insignificant in comparison to global issues such as climate change and population growth. However, the reality is that action on an individual level is exactly how big changes are made. Without individual and family sustainability, there’s no community sustainability. And without community sustainability, there’s no global sustainability. In fact, earth-wide change is absolutely impossible without individual change.
It really does come down to you and me."
~From Living Sustainably: It's Your Choice

"The universal conspiracy of the silent-assertion lie is hard at work always and everywhere, and always in the interest of a stupidity or a sham, never in the interest of a thing fine or respectable. Is it the most timid and shabby of all lies? It seems to have the look of it. For ages and ages it has mutely laboured in the interest of despotisms and aristocracies and chattel slaveries, and military slaveries, and religious slaveries, and has kept them alive; keeps them alive yet, here and there and yonder, all about the globe; and will go on keeping them alive until the silent-assertion lie retires from business--the silent assertion that nothing is going on which fair and intelligent men and women are aware of and are engaged by their duty to try to stop." ~Mark Twain

"It is not enough simply to abstain from theft...We must remember that nothing in this world really belongs to us. At best, we are merely borrowers. It is our duty, therefore, to borrow no more from the world than we absolutely need, and to make full and proper use of it. Taking more than we need, and wasting it, is a form of stealing from the rest of humankind."
~Commentary on Sutra 30 The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali