blending old & new

I love vintage!
I also love fresh fabrics...often found on my bimonthly stop at T.J. Maxx.

I love how they go together...like peanut butter & jelly.

They bring out the best in each other.

Vintage finds lend warmth, fresh fabrics tone down the age just a bit.

Always a tad of a balance...I like to call "Fresh Vintage"!

     Sweet kittens also are a farmhouse style addition!

the art of gathering

Gathering, picking, is not always for the meek...

it can often consist of a long, hot day at an auction or flea market.  

Take these burlap feed sacks as an example.

Dave & I spent a hot, sunny day at a farm auction...

trying to stay with the cadence of the auctionnaire, 

attempting to follow any shade, and working to keep

our goods safe & sound.  Dave actually bid on the 

feedsacks that were still in the barn.  I came upon him after he 

had won the bid and was trying to stack & sort the huge 

pile in the barn, dust kicking up everywhere-sticking to 

sweat.  But it was a great deal...so I jumped in with him!

We both looked like "Pigpen" from the Charlie Brown comic

when we came out for air from the barn with a huge pile

of sacks.

The next step was to get them home, shake & shake & shake

them out...then air them on our clothesline.

Batch two out of likely fifteen lines full!

Once aired, they will be priced at $5.50-$6.50 each and brought

in to my booth at the Hixton Schoolhouse Mall.  They will then

go home with crafty folks that will turn them into bags & chair

upholstery or even curtains.  With the popularity of Farmhouse

Style continuing to gain traction, these have become popular

finds...often just laid over a table to show off the great graphics.

Some sacks will be purchased by other dealers, knowing that

my prices are low and they can sell them even higher...and

I'm good with that.  

So, from a humble barn, through our sweat equity, to you...

sweet moments

How often I wish I could capture those times in life, put them in their

own sweet box, under their very own cloche.  A morning with wrens

singing outside, kittens napping here & there, quiet except for nature,

and time for reflection.  Sweet, precious moments...

ever more

This is the country road I travel from our farm to my office in Eau Claire.
I have grown to cherish the fields I pass, the barns, the woods...

They are all part of my Township of Otter Creek, and they speak

to me the quiet language of rural life.  There is such a purity in their words.

Even the bales of hay repeat, "live gently on this earth".

And so soon I will sit at the table in our one room town hall, a member of a 

Land Use Committee...and I will help to put the words on paper to

protect this land, to save it for farming for generations to come.  

Although I arrived later in life to this countryside, I believe it had

called to me.  I hope I can find the right words to protect her, to 

sanctify her beauty, to keep her rural roots.  

the tale of a coyote & a mother tiger

If you look...slightly to the right of our farmhouse, right there in the driveway, you will see my Whisper Annie heading back to the barn. This was the day Matt & Caroline visited and they photographed my little 6 year old barn cat ~~ mostly because she was just so friendly.  She was my oldest kitten born on our farm...outliving the 5 year average mortality rate for female barn cats (males only average several years).   She was a sweet, independent girl - princess at this farm.  She often spent nights on our porch, one of only two outdoor cats allowed on.  We had debated bringing her in after our boy cats passed away, but knew she would fight with Rosie...and knew she would crave her freedom.  So, we took our chances.  Two days after this picture was taken in mid-June, she disappeared, without a trace, just gone.

But the wren knew, she chattered near the corn crib, telling us tales of alarm.  Our minds traveled to so many possibilities, but in the end, we guessed it was the work of a coyote...the wren told us as much as she danced over droppings in the yard.  And Tuesday, as I watered plants, again I found droppings.  So coyote ~~  I venture to share that you may have met your match ~ when you mess with "my flock" ~ you mess with me.  Lights were lit about the farm last night...and we also learned that coyotes dislike talk radio (of course they do-such are the analogies of life).....so we broadcast WPR all night from our deck.  We have a new fence around our pasture and a hunting rifle at the ready.  

This may have started with a whisper, but it will end with fury.  

I do not have patience for such evil.

for the love of...

Happy 4th of July!

with a Whisper

And in the quiet of a summer day, my first-born girl kitten at the farm is gone. This is

one of those extra difficult losses, because she just never came home.  So we search 

& call for her, we check outbuildings & treetops.  Over the 6 years Annie 

gifted us with her sweet ways, we knew this day would come.  Such is the life of a barn cat.

Whisper Annie...you are missed!  May her memory be for a blessing.

Thanks dear Robin!

Robin at The Primitive Hutch surprised me today with the kindest post about my booth at the Hixton Schoolhouse Antique Mall!

You can find her here:  Robin at The Primitive Hutch

                      Thanks, thanks, thanks dear Robin!

kitten view

Lucy Lily has now been home for a month.

August Rose has accepted her with such joy.

Rosie & Lucy ~~~ my girls!

special find

In recent years, we seem to have found our share of very special

vintageness!  It really shows that wonderful items are out there if you

just look.

This 1892 Herbarium is one of my special finds!  I found it tucked away on

a table at a thrift shop....paid no more than a couple of dollars for it.

To many, it may not look like much....but tucked inside are catalogued

botany samples from the late 1800's.

I was amazed to find it still intact...and treasure it.

I will share about a Planetarium Globe we just found in another post.  We

are awaiting word on a potential buyer from a national market.

Our Antique Mall noted that it was really too unique & valuable a find

to sell it there!  

Pieces of history...found!

found

Friday was my first auction of the year...in nearby Brackett.

The auction was at a charming hobby farm, dispersing almost

90 years of an estate.  The skies were blue, the bidders & auction

folks were amicable. I sat under a shade tree enjoying every moment.

Dave & I bid & won quite a few items.  My favorite find is

the Eau Claire County Plat Map.  I liked it for the vintage

graphics and the color.  Little did I know that it showed the

county sectioned by farms....and there was our farm.  We

guess that the map was in an Agriculture Office--and is from

the 1930s-1950s based upon the roads.

This is a keeper and brought many other bidders over to look 

closer.  Not a bad find for $25.00!

It found a home in our upstair's Study.  

I think it was meant to come home with us!

the princess & the pea...

               This is how they steal your heart!

that question...

Seven!

I had to actually go back and count exactly how many times

we have opened that blue door at the top of the stairs & invited folks

into our 100+ year old hayloft for a Barn Sale.  I remember thinking 

that this would be a fun adventure...and each year it grew, with a line

that awaited the opening of that door at our last sale in October of 

2013.  Never did I imagine that it would take six of us to run the sale

the first morning.  Needless to say, it surpassed all my hopes!

I would guess that you have a pretty good idea of the time it 

takes to ready for a sale.  Certainly it is a labor of love, but it 

does require time.  And between my health and now a job change, 

time is a luxury!

A week does not pass without someone kindly asking if we will again host 

a Barn Sale.  And as much as I want to answer with an enthusiastic "yes"~~

the truth is I am not sure.

This remains the place where I will share any Barn Sale updates.

Thanks for asking...and for your gracious support.

meet Lucy...

Fine, I am admitting to truly being a certified crazy cat lady...

there are worse things to be & vices to have.

So meet Lucy Lily...adopted from the Eau Claire Humane Society 

just this afternoon.  She is 2 months old--with a purr, but no meow.

Rosie cannot believe my indignation, bringing this little being into

her home.  But I know that my Rosie is lonely since Shawnee passed on.

She will eventually be quite O.K. With this change.

As for me, I am over the moon in love with this sweetie.  The

litter she was from were all named after some sort of Beatle's 

connections...Harrison, Yoko, and of course my little girl - 

"Lucy in the sky with diamonds".

I imagine I will spend a good portion of my weekend with this 

sweetie...lucky me!