Anniversary #5!!!

Hello everyone! I am glad to be getting back to somewhat normal routine after the wedding (click here for pics) and the next weekend laying Grandma to rest. A little dip in the road, but back on the highway now...Blogging, ordering, unpacking merchandise...Fall is my favorite, and I know it is for most of you! Though the season is already underway, I have many new things out this week.

I opened the shop the same weekend as Amery Fall Festival five years ago. It doesn't seem like five years have passed already. Thank you to everyone who has helped me, encouraged me, and shopped @ Bittersweet Farm. It has been a very rewarding adventure for me. I have learned so much from all of you! In fact at my Grandma's visitation on Monday, I was sharing some "note taking" advice w/ my nephew who is in college that I received from an Iowa customer last weekend!

I need to get things rolling out there, so before I go, I just want to extend the invitation to you to come out this week to help me celebrate! I will be doing drawings daily for a $10.00 Gift Certificate. I will do a drawing on Friday for a $25.00 Gift Certificate, and another one on Saturday!!

I also have some fresh fireside coffee to sample, along with treats, and when it gets hot, I will have cold drinks!

HAPPY WEEKEND!!

PS...You might find me on the windmill cutting bittersweet today...it will be ready by Friday and Saturday!

New Arrivals!

NEW THIS WEEK!!!

2010 Calendars including:

"Folk Art by David"

"Simply Shaker" by Karen Cruden

"Life Itself" by John Russini

"Folk Art by David" (watercolor)

"Homespun America" by Carol Endres

Pocket sizes available too!

Remember that fall is making an appearance!

I am adding a little every day...

Signs of Fall are Here!!!

I passed by the first true sign of fall today...I don't think I have ever seen a Maple tree turn this early...but then we have never had such a cool summer either, so it fit perfectly with fall showing up in the store this week. I usually take it slow not wanting summer to end, but this year with the wedding right on the brink of the beginning of fall/school, I decided to just start putting it out now! So for all of my loyal customers who seem to ask me sometime in July, "when will fall be out?". To you, for once, I can respond...NOW!! It will be gradual as I have time, but here is a sampling:

Everyone loves this sign! The turkey is a new addition to hang from the arrows.

For Sale!

Yes, when you come to shop now, and for the next 6 months, you will see a Westconsin Realty sign by our driveway. Before you begin to feel remorse about losing the shop, I want to assure you that we are selling it with the house if someone wants it. We have a fully equipped cabinet shop that will go with the business as well as the 20 acres, barn, large machinery shed, and other buildings. If someone does not want the business, but wants the farm, I have the option of moving the shop with me, or into town if it is doable. I know you are dying to ask "why?"... As Dale (my husband) and I mulled over our time of life and the current condition of his job/ the construction industry, along with the fact that Kayla (our oldest) is getting married and will be gone in a little over a month. Then Ethan is going to be a senior and off to college next fall, we decided to see if we could sell, and perhaps find a house on a lake somewhere. If it doesn't sell, we will be happy to stay. I absolutely love it here! And after all the work I have put into the yard this summer, it is really hard to think of leaving. Though in the back of my mind, I keep thinking that if the house doesn't sell, I can rent the yard out for weddings next summer! Dale has been downsizing his responsibilities at home over the course of the last year or more. He has sold his farming equipment and is having someone else bale our hay. His commute to the Twin Cities every day doesn't leave him much time to do it all when Ethan is not going to be here to help. At present, for the last 7 weeks, he has been working out of state. He is thinking he may have to travel more in the future, going where there is work. I cannot take care of the driveway when it snows, nor do I want to do all the other things by myself. Please continue to come and shop at the farm. I will do my best to keep things as usual. I have some amazing fall items that are starting to fill up my basement, and are awaiting pricing. I hope to have some out late August, and if not before the wedding (Sept 4th) then the following week. I hope to see you soon!

House Tour: My Living Room

As promised (though long ago) I finally took photos of my living room that are not Christmas ones! The oak floors are original to the 1940's house. So is the fireplace and it's oak mantle.

I would love to replace my old Levitz wingback chairs with Johnston Benchworks wingbacks, but ... well I have to wait. The couch and loveseat were at the request of teenagers who wanted comfortable cushy seating. This is our compromise. I love it though. I think I am a beige freak. I can change all the surrounding accessories without the couch going out of style (hence the old wingbacks...) The church birdhouse in the corner was designed by me and made by my dear husband. Many of the pieces you see in my home I can still order. Though I think the penny wool runner on the trunk is discontinued.

The fireplace is on the right of this photo. Then the dining room doorway. I love the Capitol rugs. I carry them in the shop, they are easy maintanance and wear wonderfully! They come in rectangle or oval, and all sizes. They're very affordable and have a variety of colors!

Looking from the dining room into the living room (fireplace on wall on the left) I think you can click on photos to enlarge. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. This little table was a rescue from the old barn on our property. My guess is it was used in the extremely small kitchen. It was a drop leaf. The leaves are missing, but it still has the hinged wood slat to turn outward to hold up the wing. I left it in it's original state (after I cleaned it).

I can order the wool hooked rugs that I have on my walls if you are intrested. I love them!

You can see, that I love the twisted twiggy wreaths, they fill in any space nicely and soften the edges of pictures or shelves...

Hope you enjoyed the mini tour!

My Love Story

On July 13, 1980...I was 15 years old, between my sophmore and junior year of high school. I was so excited to go with my friend Teri, to Valley Fair, the amusement park I had heard soooo much about! Her mom worked for Sperry Univac, a local business who was having their company picnic there. My friend and I had just returned from a Young Life camp in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina where I had met a boy, fallen in love and gotten dumped as soon as we got back...needless to say, I was heartbroken... To me,Valley Fair was everything and more than all the raving reviews I had heard about it, with a roller coaster as high-as-the sky, food, and fun shows. That day was extra hot, and being the middle of summer, very busy. As a result, the lines were long for the rides. The new ride, and most popular one of the day was called "The Flume" it was like a roller coaster with water at the bottom. Since the lines were so long that day, they were doubling up "couples". So Teri and I were put on a ride with two....boys. I probably don't need to describe the condition of my heart when they had such a fun time splashing us! One in particular looked mighty fine in my eyes...I had always loved the combination of dark hair and blue eyes... After the ride, we parted. My heart sunk, and I kept watch...Later that day, we were in a long line again for the roller coaster, and who came up behind us? Mhm. So while we were waiting, we had a chance to talk, and found out that the boys, Dale and Craig, went to the same high school as we did!! They were a grade ahead of us, we had 500 member classes, so it wasn't too surprising we had never seen each other before... So we kept bumping into each other throughout the day, and at the end they came looking for us, and Dale asked me for my phone number...A week later we went on our first date, Three years and a month or so later we were married, on August 20, 1983. Last August we celebrated our 25th wedding Anniversary! Here are photos, first of our wedding day, and the next one was our Anniversary dinner last summer.

Dale is a fun and funny guy, always making jokes and will almost NEVER take a serious photo. Whenever we are with people who don't know us very well, and he is being his funny self, I like to tell them we met at an amusement park!! Several days ago, I joined Valley Fair's facebook group, and made a comment on their wall about our love story. They asked me if they could post it on their blog, I thought it would be fun to share...29 years ago we met...whoah!!

SALE THIS WEEKEND

oops, I should have turned the sign to "open"!!

TO CELEBRATE THE BEGINNING OF SUMMER, I AM HAVING

A SALE!

Come out to the Farm this weekend, Friday and Saturday June 26,27

and receive 15% off your entire purchase.*

*does not include special orders.

The porch is full of birdhouses, birds, plant pokes, and

we just finished three new porch posts w/ hooks.

White/ burgundy/ black!