Small Victories and Defeats

Dear Wise Ones,

Can someone please tell me what happened to my Dutch Oven? We went down to the cabinet to get it to make pot roast and found this:

I am quite distressed. It was one of those lovely preseasoned jobs from Lodge. How sad.

However, we did manage to get our pot roast together using these carrots from our very own garden.

And, in another small victory, we grew tomatoes despite living in The Frozen North.

Home grown tomatoes, home grown tomatoes
What'd life be without home grown tomatoes
There's only two things that money can't buy
That's true love and home grown tomatoes
--Guy Clark

Love,
Laura

Comments

[Uncle John]

Well, as Neil Young would say, "Rust Never Sleeps". Or was that Devo? Or maybe both of them at the same time?

Looks like maybe it was put away with a little water in it and chemistry did its thing.

Try scraping it off and re-seasoning with a little vegetable oil. Then make sure it's really dry before putting it away. I like to put mine back on the stove and re-heat it after washing to "encourage" it to dry quickly.

My, my, hey, hey...

Uncle John

[Bonnie]

As usual, John speaks wisely. (Did we learn that trick about putting it back on the stove at home? I use it too.) If it's rusted through, though, you're hosed -- although I suppose you could grow more tomatoes in it. Them is some good-lookin' vegetables!

[Laura]

I am pretty sure I didn't put it away damp... I was very well trained as a child. Hmph. I just don't get it.

[John]

Yeah, I learned about heating the dutch oven at home - I remember seeing Nell do it.

Does the rust really mean you're hosed? I've encountered small rust spots before (nothing that big though) and been able to scrub them off with a dobie pad and/or brillo. Anyone with more wisdom to share about his?

I googled "rusted dutch oven repair" and a suggestion which might be worth a try would be to soak it in some kind of acidic stuff like vinegar (mixed 50-50 with water) or Coca-Cola for several hours before trying to scrub it.

It's worth a try before you put the dirt in and plant the tomatoes.

[Bonnie]

Coca-Cola, huh? I knew it had to be good for something. I think the salvageability (is that a word? I guess it is now) of the article in question depends on whether it's rusted all the way through. Definitely worth trying the easy fix first... I'm sure Laura has vinegar in the house (and almost equally sure she does NOT have Coke!).

[Nell]

It doesn't LOOK rusted through. I exepct a mild acid, followed by an interval with a dobie or SOS pad followed by some vegetable oil will restore it. And maybe it would be good to put it in the oven for 15-20 min when you are done doing that. Is it possible something on top of it was damp? Or is there a moisture problem in the cabinet?

[Nell]

PS Great looking carrots and tomatoes. And such nice black dirt! Was it that way or did you add stuff to it?

[Laura]

I will try to repair the damage with vinegar. (Marcus might even have some Coke I could steal.) It doesn't look like it is rusted through so it ought to be okay. The really weird thing is the two frying pans stored right next to it are fine, no rust at all. Anyway, it will be a challenge. I will post an update and let you know how it goes.

Our dirt is naturally that color... all of it up here. Is that weird or what? It looks like pretend dirt doesn't it? You should see the corn and bean fields.

Thanks for the advice.

[Bonnie]

I expect to see the corn and bean fields soon -- I just hope not to get as good a view as I did the last time I flew up there with Charlie. That was some TALL corn.

[Sarah]

That can't real dirt. We all know that proper dirt is supposed to be RED.

[Nell]

Only in Alabama, dear. Or here except that it has lots of rocks in it. That there is Midwestern dirt.