Halloween

This morning I looked out our front door and realized that Fall has finally arrived in Kansas! Suddenly there are more leaves on the ground than there are on the trees. The days are becoming shorter and they are certainly much cooler.
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that Fall is here, after all today is the day the little ones have been waiting for...Halloween! Drew and Jeni have had their costumes ready for a week now. Our little red head is dressing in black and orange and going as a witch. Poor Drew, we begged him into wearing his lion costume "one more time". Yes, it's getting way to short but he just looks so darn cute in it!
This afternoon Keith and I loaded up and went in to town where we watched them walk in their schools annual Halloween Parade. As I watched them walk with all their friends I realized in just a few short years like our older children, they too are going to be to old for this. So, we snapped a few pictures, stored these precious memories in the back of our mind and tell ourselves, "At least they'll still be dressing up next year!"
It's getting dark now so it's time to load them up and head back to town. One more "Trick or Treating" memory. Scary night all.

The Old Wood

Every now and then we all run across something for sale that makes us feel we have found the buy of the century. That's how Keith and I felt a couple of weeks ago. We were in one of our favorite antiquing shops and found "the wood"! Now if you're not in love with old things you're probably not going to appreciate this. ~~~There on the floor, between an old saddle and old cupboard was a pile of old wood that was in perfect shape. (Ok, as good as shape as any old barn wood can be in!) The lady that runs the shop called the owner of the wood, Charles, and he came in and told us the story behind it.
In 1986 Charles father tore down a barn that had been built in the 1800's. Thinking to use the wood himself, he stored it his barn. For nineteen years the wood had been sitting out of the elements just waiting for someone to come along and put it to use. Charles knowing he would never do it, decided to sell it in his booth at the flea market. Luck us!!!!
Looking at this wonderful pile of wood our mind raced. What to make first? Our old shop just calls for a "fireplace" so we decided that would be our first project. After about ten minutes of discussing how it should be built, Keith was off to his work shop.
Twenty-four hours later our old farm has another "fireplace". While not the wood burning one in our home, it's primitive charm is just perfect in our little shop. And the best part is~~No ashes to clean up!!!! Now the only problem is, what to do with the rest of that pile of wonderful old barn wood!

Our Old Farm

Located just one hour South of Topeka, "Old Crow Farm" sits on the Kansas prairies. Named for all the large black crows on our farm, this little piece of land is definitely our piece of heaven here on this old earth.
I honestly think I was born in the wrong era. While other women love to shop and run around, I'm perfectly happy sitting out here on our old farm. From the time I was a little girl at my grandmother's knee, I have loved anything old with a story behind it. My grandmother made everything she touched and every story she told magical.
I'm all grown up now but things haven't changed a whole lot. Now I'm the mother/grandmother who has little ones sitting at her knee and I'm still in love with old things with all their chips and dings. Like my grandmother before me, I'm still hanging out my clothes, baking my own bread, trying my hand at soap making and living on a shoe string budget. Heck, is there any other way to live???
The newest adventure on our farm is that we have started what will soon become our very own vintage junk shop. Taking an old cattle shed, lumber from my parents farm and things we have picked up at auctions, "Old Crow Farm" is starting to come to life! When done, it's going to be filled to the brim with old treasures, each with it's own story to tell. While nothing will be "pristine", each primitive "treasure" will still have a lot of life and love left in them to make someone happy.
If you enjoy old things and life on the farm we hope you will check back often. There will be lots of pictures and adventures to share, I promise! If you live on a farm too and share our love of old things and making do on a shoe-string budget, please drop us a note