Wool and Bees and Eggs OH MY!!!

I'm sorry I haven't posted for two weeks but last weekend we had our Saturday seminar at work and on Sunday morning I realized our modem had died. Anyway I'm back online and I have so much to share with you. Yesterday I was up before dawn to do a little treasure hunting but I will get to that later. As most of you know I live in the city but the good thing is that I am just blocks from the Farmers Market. Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful young family. The wool and divine bonnets that you see above are the handiwork and craft of Sherryl King-Wilds. Sherryl and her husband and son Andrew and Forest are the owners of Dairy Orchard Farm just 20 miles away in Spring Hope N.C. I can't tell you how excited I was to visit their booth and how wonderful it was to know that this young family  is bringing back to our community the much needed and long missed art of organic farming. Please visit their website at http://dairyorchardfarm.com/. 

 

Sherryl is also an accomplished writer. On my first visit I bought her first book; Daughter of Air and Storm. I was captivated from the very first page. I won't give the story away as you must read it yourself but I will tell you it is a magical story that sends us on a journey not just through the enchanting lives of the women she writes about but also sends deep into our own hearts to to grasp the sorrows of prejudice and misunderstanding that we as humans see too often and to hold tightly to the knowledge that we each hold within ourselves gifts to be treasures and shared. 

 

Sherryl gifted me with her second book in the trilogy Daughter of Earth and Tree and I can't wait to start reading it. I also bought a dozen of their free range eggs. Kirby is making Sunday brunch as I am posting this morning. I am looking forward to fresh eggs again. Thank you Sherryl and your family for sharing your wonderful talents and for your devotion to bringing back the goodness of preserving a natural way of life.

 

Yesterday was also Bee Day at the market. Bees are so important to our environment and again this is another art that is disappearing from our lives. I not only came home with some sweet local honey but got to see an actual hive and demonstration on how the bees are kept and the honey and wax are harvested. I also now have a local source for beeswax. I haven't made candles in ages but I'm so looking forward to the fragrance of melting beeswax in my home. 

 

There was a group of young boys dipping candles the old way. I remember this from the farm when I was a child.

There was even a solar wax melter.

I also came home with these! Fresh local grown strawberries.

There will strawberry shortcake tonight and next week is the strawberry jazz at the farmers market so I expect to making jam after I enjoy another visit to the market.

If you are in the area don't forget to stop by and visit their website at http://www.rockymountfarmersmarket.com/

Now back to my treasure hunting; there were only a few sales yesterday but I must have been in the right place at the right time. I found this fantastic antique table.

It is just my primitive style. I guess the magic was just high yesterday. I also was lucky to find a couple more rolling pins for my collection. I love rolling pins and great set of green canisters. The canisters are showing some wear but that's the way I like them, well used and loved and I just love the color.

I ended the day with a visit to my neighbors to feed and check on her new babies while she is out of town. She recently rescued a mama and her newborn litter of kittens. I didn't get a picture but we spent some time playing with five rolly polly kittens about six weeks old. They had us laughing so hard. As you know I have my own furbabies that I adore and it was so nice to visit with these little scamps. Please remember to adopt a pet from your local shelter and please, please spay and neuter. I was in rescue for a number of years myself and all of my brats are rescues, some were ferals but believe me they give back more than I can ever give to them.

I wish you all a week of happiness and  joy. Reach out and embrace the magic around you.

Blessings Sallie

Saturday Treasures And a Fraktur to Share

I hope everyone is having a warm and beautiful spring weekend. I started out early yesterday and went to a couple of local garage sales. We had a cool down Thursday and Friday after having temps in the 80's and it was cool and crisp Saturday morning at 6:00 AM but it was just the perfect morning. It was so refreshing and getting started early and being out in the cool spring morning air was just what I needed after a long week of being stuck in the office each day. I found some great treasures that I want to share with you along with my first ever Fraktur type drawing. I've done folk art painting quite a bit but I've never tried to draw. I know it seems strange that a soul could paint and not draw but that is the truth. Anyway a while back I decided I'd try my hand at drawing. I ended up with this little fellow.

I honestly didn't know what to do with him after I sketched him but then I decided to try some water color and ink and this what I ended up with.

I drew him on parchment and then stained it all up after I painted it.

I had this old frame which is a favorite of mine because I love the carving on it so here he is. The frame shows better in the next picture.

 

I've been really hooked on drawing since I tried it and I have some others in the making. It is just a comfort for the soul. I love sewing and crafting but with the time that I spend at work each week and the never ending work required here in this old house I don't get much time to do the things I enjoy most but I'm starting to get back in the swing of it now and hopefully I will be posting more of my craft as the weeks pass.

Now back to the treasure hunting! As most of you know I am a primitive lover but my Saturday finds were to please my primitive and my chic side. I found some lovely hankies, and a pair of beautiful  Madeira towels embroidered in the shades of spring. (I told you it was a magical morning)

And then there was lavendar! Yep, a never opened box of lavendar soaps by Laura Ashley and at another sale I found two bars of the sweetest homemade lavendar soap. 

I took the plastic cover off the Laura Ashley soaps and sat them on the table in the keeping room and everytime I go in there the room is just so fresh and sweet with the scent. I will enjoy these. I found a pretty vintage wicker dressing table last week that I didn't get a picture of but these soaps will be finding a home on that table soon.

Next I found for my primitive side two fantastic wash boards. These are made of glass instead of metal and were made for washing your unmentionables. I guess that would be your petticoats, chemies and step-ins as my grandmother would have called them.

I also found two great vintage baskets.

These are a few of my finds and at my last stop I bought a set of Pfaltzgraff stoneware. There were eight place settings and a set of blue glass anchor hocking bowls. As I said it was a great morning and I was only gone an hour and a half so with so much excitement and being totaly refreshed I had a quite productive day. I managed to get lots done in the old house and some gardening done. That being said since my collections are running over and I'm constantly changing things around in the old house I've been thinking about opening an Etsey shop. I'm often finding glassware and sweet chic dishes and linens that I sometimes pass up because I don't have any space for them. I'm really needing to pass along somethings from my own collections as well and since I'm back to crafting maybe I could add a few of my own designs. Let me know what you think.

Oh! I also had a great visit to the farmers market. I'll post about that on another day. I hope you all are having a pleasant Sunday afternoon. Now I'm off to blogland to visit all my favorites. Take care and bright blessings to all. 

                                                                               

A Beautiful Surprize

What could be a better ending to a long dark work day????

Well I can tell you !!!

Finding a box from Lori at Notforgotten Farms!!!

I was the very lucky person to win Lori's necklace give a way and I can tell you it is just perfect in every way. I love it!!!

Thank you so much Lori!

  

If you haven't visited Lori's blog at  http://farmhousenotforgotten.blogspot.com/ please by all means go NOW!!

Lori is an artist for all seasons, she has so much talent. She does the most beautiful needlework and paintings, you just never know what she will be crafting next. She opens her heart and home to us and I know you will feel just as I do. It's like a visit to your  best friends home.  

I always look forward to Lori's posts. Notforgotten Farm was the first blog that I started following and I am always amazed by Lori's many talents as an artist and her very inspiring love for home and family. 

   

It's been a long busy week at work and I can tell you this beautiful gift just lightened my heart. It is perfect for me and I will be wearing to work tomorrow. I know that when the day gets stressful I will touch this beautiful necklace and smile. What a wonderful gift.