In early Powhatan, the kitchen was the center of life and served as the central place to store and prepare food. While most people cooked meals in the fireplace, wealthier families often used a separate kitchen building to keep the main house cooler in summer and reduce the danger of fire. The kitchen was also used for food storage and preservation, with a small nearby garden providing fresh herbs and vegetables and helping discourage animal pests. By the 1850s, cast iron cookstoves had become popular in many homes. Food preparation and storage were labor intensive and time consuming: cheese was coated in paraffin wax, butter and milk were lowered into a well or spring house to keep them cool, bread was made almost daily, butter was churned at least once a week, and fruits such as apples and pears were sun-dried. Food was preserved in many ways, including smoking, drying, pickling, salting, and storing in cellars, and by the 1880s, home canning was popular.