commercial kitchen

In order to cook food in your home and carry it to a farmers market to sell there are regulations that need to be met.

For baked goods that do not need refrigerating after being cooked, a business can use a home kitchen, as long as there are no pets in that house. We have the dog, so that eliminates our ability to do that.

The other building on the farm had a kitchen in it. Pipes had burst in the ceiling before we moved here, and it was an ugly mess. Torn up ceiling with dangling insulation, ancient, nonfunctional oil furnace, split pipes to the radiators, broken up cabinets, cracked up counter and floor tiles. It was a shell of a kitchen but not really a kitchen!

A commercial kitchen needs a triple sink, a separate hand wash sink, lights with covers, easily cleanable walls, ceiling and floor, freezers, fridges and stoves used all in there, ovens/stoves and fans all cleanable.

We don't have the oven, stove or exhaust fan yet. There are holes in the ceiling already in place for when we do. We have lots of the other needed gear, and are in the process of acquiring the rest of what we need.

There was a an opening in the wall for an air conditioner. When it was removed, we could sort of see out to the farm. This small, high placement opening became a cause for all to look around and think...what can go in there? We need to see the farm, have light, see the mountain beyond!

The drywall has been removed. The sawzall will cut through the wood and exterior sheathing for a larger opening, a kitchen with a view.

The window will be one of the four glass doors our neighbor removed from his house. 2 be came cold frame covers in the hoop house. This one will have part of the door frame removed and then turned on its side. Double glazed glass will help insulate, and a shade will be needed, as last night the sun was beating right in!

Now, visions of what we can prepare in the kitchen and sell at market are forming. Chicken pot pie? Mini meat loaf? Salad with fresh berries, beets on the side? Asparagus quiche?

Cooking what we have is already a favorite. Taking to market will be fantastic!

With a view?! Even better.