Our kitchen has evolved around the fire pit that we created the evening we moved on. It begun it's life as a kitchen when we slung some canvas between the trees around the fire pit to create a covered space. This was our first communal 'structure'.

The location has stayed the same, but the kitchen has changed beyond recognition. There is now a seating area, tables, work surfaces, rodent proof storage and a double sink with plumbed-in running water. The water is supplied by a spring about 100 yards up the hill. The water is filtered in a sand and gravel filter placed just above the kitchen.

We originally cooked on an open fire until it was replaced with an oil drum oven in the first Autumn when we also added canvas walls to keep the wind out. The oil drum oven was eventually replaced with a Rayburn which we hoisted up the hill in a trailer. The Rayburn now provides hot water via it's back boiler which sometimes makes washing up a joy. We will fit a storage tank and use the hot water in our new bathhouse soon.

In the summer we mostly cook on an open fire in an area below the kitchen. There is a seating area around this fire pit area and when the weather is nice this a much more pleasant place to cook and eat than inside the kitchen itself.

The space has always been dark, even before we fitted canvas walls. We added windows in the south side to try to make it lighter but the area is well screened so shaded from direct sunlight for most of the day. We hope to fit sky lights when we next 'upgrade' the structure. In the evening the kitchen is lit with candles and paraffin lamps or when our hydro is running, a 33 watts fluorescent tube provides the lighting.

Next to the kitchen, on the way to the 'long house' there is a small garden area where we grow herbs etc. for use in the kitchen. Other small growing areas like this are planned for the other side of the kitchen and a method of utilising the grey water produced in the kitchen is also planned.

See also: Heating and cooking with wood and meal times.