If there’s one room in the house that has the most “stuff” it would have to be our kitchen. We’ve moved several times in the past five years and with each move, we toss, sell and donate more and more items. However, the kitchen always takes three times as many boxes when it comes to packing. I have a gadget for this, two sets of that, a utensil for this, and a machine for that. Thing is, I just can’t bring myself to throw any of it away. My rule on clothing is if I haven’t worn it for a year, toss it or donate it. There are things in the kitchen that haven’t been used in five years, but I keep them around, just in case.

Here are a couple of gadgets called cherry stoners (or cherry pitters). The one pictured on the top was patented in 1883 and the other in 1917. Back then, they didn’t have electric can openers or rice cookers, and they pitted their cherries one at a time by setting them on the plate then lowering the “pit poker” as I like to call it. The pits shot out into a pile and you had cherries you could eat without having to worry about your teeth.

I guess my Grandfather didn’t want to throw out any kitchen items either.

Until our next history lesson …