Vintage Home and Farm

At the risk of being called a Chicken Whisperer, I will admit that I enjoy taking chickens for a walk.  It all started when I noticed one day, a few weeks back, that our three girls follow me around the property when I let them out of their pen.  I like to walk around in the late afternoon and inspect things, or I might be out doing a chore.  As I transition from one area of the property to the next, I noticed that my three hens would soon come along, pecking the ground, but following just the same. So, I decided to see if I could actually take chickens for a walk. Meet my three hens. Amy, above left, is a Rhode Island Red. Henrietta is an Orpington. And trailing behind is Miss Prissy Fuzzy Bottom, a Wyandotte. Prissy has a crooked toe but she walks just fine. These girls were city chickens who moved to the country with us. So, here we go. They've left their pen, and sure enough, they're tagging along. It's a pleasant way to spend a half-hour, slowly ci...

After cleaning up the first five mid century vases I found in the cellar on the old metal bookshelf, I decided to go down and look around a bit more. It's kinda spooky down there with all the dust and cobwebs, but after poking around a bit, I did discover a few more treasures.  Three more mid century items are now added to this new photo. So, after looking at the bottoms for markings and doing a bit of research, here is what we have.  In the back row, left to right: Mid Century Royal Haeger Rectangular Brown Vase with Green Drip Mid Century Shawnee Rocket Vase, Pink Matte with Gold Drizzle on exterior, shiny white interior Not sure what this one is; it has no markings. Roseville USA 747-10 Brown Pinecone Vase. This one would have had lot of value, but unfortunately it has multiple chips in the base and top edge. Even with the chips, though, the vase has a lot of charm. It may still be somewhat valuable. No idea what this one is, but it has markings on the bottom a...

We've been planning to move a couple of metal shelving racks (the sturdy kind that Costco carries) from the cellar over into the laundry room.  This morning I went down into the cellar and thought I'd see if I could move them on my own. They were too heavy, but in the process of puttering around in the cellar, I noticed that there are several nice-sized pieces of plywood that would be great for helping to weatherize my chicken coop. So I moved a piece away from where it rested -- it was leaning against a 1950's style metal bookshelf -- and out of the corner of my eye I noticed something red on the bottom shelf.  I was a bit startled at first because it looked like a red glass bong.  I squatted down, brushed the cobwebs out of the way, and saw that there were several other objects on the shelf next to it.  Looks like I found some mid-century modern planters and vases! Of course I grabbed them all and rushed up to the kitchen so I could get a closer look.  Th...

Brrrr...it's sure been cold lately, which means my family has been trying to figure out how to keep warm in this big old farmhouse. We decided to go ahead and manage the cost of installing a pellet stove in the living room fireplace, as our electric HVAC system has been running continuously and it's barely 60 degrees in the house. I'm not looking forward to receiving our next electric bill. So, I headed over to Thurman Supply, a local home improvement store, and picked out a quality pellet stove at a pretty good price.  The next step? Call the chimney sweep. Scott from Fire Pro Chimney Sweeping came by today, and ended up here about twice as long as he had anticipated.  Our first clue there was an unusual situation to be dealt with was when the chimney flue damper handle broke off due to deep rust.  He had to use a crow bar to pry the flue open.  The flue was barely open when bird skeletons began to fall out, landing in the bottom of the fireplace. ...