home for christmas



Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!

~ Charles Dickens ~

beginnings

a little dream of mine is slowly but surely coming true...

It started with a "farmer's load" of old tongue and groove pine boards, carefully saved for several years until they could be used.

I would visit them in the back of the barn where they've been covered and stored.

I would pull back the canvas and smell the piney wood scent and rub my hands across the boards and dream of them as they would be someday.
At long last the day came when we were ready. We covered the walls in our downstairs and put in new old pine paneled doors, laid a wide board floor. It's as if I have walked into an entirely different house now.

Even before the last few boards were being laid, I brought in a make-do demilune table that I made from an old table that had only half it's top. I took off the old legs that had seen better days.

My dear daughter in law made legs for me in her wood shop for Christmas last year.

So here it is, all put together with a thin coat of milk paint like frosting on a cake.

Resting on it now, a large wooden bowl, old as the hills and perfectly out of round,

and a hand turned treen candlestick with one of my own beeswax candles.

There's a tin chandelier waiting to be hung and an old rope bed in it's original blue-green milk paint waiting for it's bed hangings to be sewn.
I look forward to the sun going down so that I can light the candles and visit another place in another time right at the bottom of the old stairs.

where my heart lives

emma, elisabeth & ethan

three of the most beautiful spirits I know

summer sweetness~ lisbet & pleasante thinges

a little summer sweetness for you~

little Lisbet & Pleasante Thinges

are now offered here~

Deerfield Farmhouse

enjoy your 4th of July holiday!

The Back Porch & Company

Hi Everyone!

Just a reminder about our upcoming Porch Party on Saturday, May 21st when we will be welcoming

Christine Crocker!

Christine is an 18th & 19th century inspired doll maker who's beautiful creations have been in several publications such as Early American Life, Romantic Homes, Country Homes and Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion.

That's just naming few!

She has also been chosen as of the country's top 200 Traditional Early American Artisans for the past 7 years.

Come visit with Christine and see some of her wonderful dolls and maybe finding one that speaks to your heart.

We also will be having a store wide sale that day so come take advantage of that.

Refreshments and goodies will be served as well.

So bring a friend and enjoy the party on the porch !

May 21st, 12-4 pm

The Back Porch & Company

522 SW 6th Street

Redmond, Oregon

1.541.526.1161

early morning star light

this is my wonderful old star light

shining from my little doll making house windows.

it always makes me smile...if I'm up letting Bella out or looking out at the moon,

I love to look out from our old farm house windows to the doll house and think

that the dolls are up to their usual late night frolics and dancing on the tables, trying on this and that, chattering away of new gowns and slippers.

Perhaps they carefully look through my piles of books and point out bonnets and pockets, little slippers and panniers to one another...

or maybe...just maybe they stay asleep snug in their little doll beds and wait til morning

while the star light shines from their windows...

I have, once in awhile, quietly crept out to the little doll house in the night and peeked into the windows...

...what do you think they might be doing?

listening to ladye humble~

Ladye Humble is my mentor...in a manner of speaking...

she tells me what belongs in our old farmhouse and what doesn't belong anymore...

She tells me that if she can sit beside it comfortably and hear it speaking to her...

then it should stay...

Although I loved these things...I see her way of thinking...

they are lovely...and yes, I still like this look very much,

But, it's time for these lovelies to move on to grace a new home where they will be loved anew.

~~~

They both speak French....wonderful white enameled tin French canisters... one says "Cafe" ~coffee~slightly worn away and the other "Sucre"~sugar~ They are both in good condition, although there are a few small spots of enamel loss and a little rust. They are nice and will work perfectly for you. They are both 7 3/4" tall and 4 1/2" across. They have been in use in my old farmhouse kitchen for over 25 years.

please do let me know if they Speak French to you as well ~sold~ I thank you for your interest in my old lovelies~ Ladye Humble will be helping me sort through more of my old treasures here as I clean and open up Deerfield Farmhouse for Spring. We have a beautiful day here today...sun shining and kittens climbing trees and half heartedly chasing a bird or two...sleeping on the sunny porch steps.

ahhh.... Spring cannot be too far away!

quiet january

fat little quail wading through drifts on their way to the feeder

~

the tip of mt jefferson through the fog above our fields

~

snug inside my little farm house ~

I have a lot that I want to do while chilly January days are slow and quiet here on our farm.

One thing is to play with my house and the little house where I make my dollies... both "she's" are asking for something different and I'm ready. I can't wait to see what's on their minds. ~~~ I hope that you are all keeping snug and letting love and laughter be just what the doctor ordered.

What are you doing this quiet January?

ring happy bells across the snow

early morning fields

Ring out the old, ring in the new

Ring happy bells across the snow

The year is going, let him go

Ring out the false and ring in the new

~

Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1850