Fresh Clean Snow....

Today is Kansas Day or Kansas's 149th birthday. This has me thinking of all of the brave folks that settled this great place and of all of the history that Kansas has to offer. I proudly live in one of those historical places. Behind our home is the original dogout that the first settlers of this land lived in. I can only imagine how hard that would have been. I realize now looking down there that it would have been much nicer when it was new, but it is so small and dark. The second thing on our property that they built was the barn. Third they built a one room house above this original dogout and lived in it. This was also used as one of the first mail houses in the area. I have heard stories from the relatives of the original settlers that Indians came to visit the little one room house and peeked in the windows. One of the last things that they did was build the 2 story farmhouse that is where we live today.

Here is some easy Kansas History for you....

Our state flower is the sunflower.
Our state tree is the cottonwood tree.
Our state bird is the Western Meadowlark.
Our state animal is the bison.
Our state insect is the honeybee.
Our state song is "Home on the Range."
Our state nickname is the Sunflower State.

I will leave you with these words from the song "Home on the Range."

Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, where the deer and the antelope play; where seldom is heard a discouraging word, And, the skies are not cloudy all day.

My husband and I are farmers and finally yesterday were able to finish harvesting the fall crops. Whooohooo what a year! I would like to think that this would be the strangest year in history with the crazy weather that we have been faced with. I never thought that I would see it but we actually cut sunflowers in the snow! I heard that this was going to be the least amount of wheat planted since the 30s. We have none in the ground for next year. On a brighter note--with this finished I will have more time to search out more antiques!

Several years ago we purchased a large two story farmhouse on 7 acres on the plains of Kansas and thus began my obsession for antiques. This also helped spark my obsession for a great auction and my endless passion for scoping out as many antique shops and thrift shops as I can find all over the state of Kansas.

A lot of my purchases are often pieces that have the potential to be used for another purpose other than their original uses. For instance...an old chicken waterer or feeder with a good old glass jar becomes a great storage unit for craft supplies. Old antique insulators become paperweights and an old primitive wooden chicken feeder becomes a great way to organize your pens, pencils, and much much more. Old wooden trunks are great for storing quilts and I also keep one right by the back door to collect shoes.

And, because this farmhouse came complete with a Royal KMM from the 1940s I have also become obsessed with a great functioning typewriter! I am constantly looking for these and am always excited to come across them! I spend hours cleaning, oiling, installing new ribbons, and using these.

I am very excited to be able to share some of my collection with you and help you with some creative new uses for old well loved treasures!