My obsession with antique French pottery started out after I bought one of my favorite vintage books; The French Country Table: Pottery & Faience of Provence by Bernard Duplessy. I have a massive collection of vintage decor books that show these beautiful pottery pieces being used in everyday life which I love so much. Faisselle molds for making French cheese, walnut oil jugs for storing the walnut oil harvest, cruches for collecting spring water, colanders for washing produce from the garden, confit pots buried halfway in the ground for preserving duck confit, and tian bowls for washing up dishes in. If I had to pick out one of my antiques that I would never sell it would be my huge 400 year old French pottery walnut oil jar (not pictured)!
fragrant isle lavender farm | washington island, wisconsin
Fragrant Isle Lavender Farm on Washington Island in Door County, Wisconsin. It felt like we were in France! The smell was unbelievable & we even got to harvest our own bouquet of lavender!
ironstone sale
It’s that time of year when I need to clear out my hoarded attic full of treasures! I have so many ironstone pieces! All of the ironstone & a few porcelain pieces in the shoppe are on sale. They’ve been discounted a lot so get them before they’re gone! I love decorating with white ironstone since it matches everything & you can just keep on stacking them up in different ways to give your room a new look. I personally love decorating with simple white ironstone without fancy designs on them, but love to sell both! Ironstone butter pats are definitely the most popular ironstone piece I sell & it’s hard for me to find them. I will leave them on sale for awhile until they’re gone so I can make some room for more things to hide in our attic! ;)
in the greenhouse
Here is my 8x10 cheap greenhouse made by Palram “Mythos”. I thought I’d share some photos from inside. I found the tops for my tables at our local Habitat for Humanity Restore. They were only $5 each. They’re actually shutters that someone made, but when I saw them I knew those were perfect to use as greenhouse table tops. All I had to do was add legs made from 2x2’s. The little greenhouse on the table is a vintage Wardian case I found that you use indoors as a mini greenhouse. I use it in my garden on top of plants like a cloche to keep them warmer.
My favorite watering can is an antique English Haws watering can which are hard to find especially in this huge size! I don’t actually use it though - I just have it on display in my house since I don’t want it to get ruined by rust. I use a vintage copper watering can I found at a thrift store since they don’t rust!
The bags you can see through the outside of the greenhouse are burlap bags I use every fall that I fill up with all of the raked leaves. I use them throughout the winter inside of our chickens cage/coop so I’ve never had to buy bedding! The chickens break down all of the leaves, eat the dried grass, & any berries that fell from the trees then I use it all in my compost in the spring!
I was looking for some kind of container to hold potting soil then when I saw a wash stand at an antique store I knew it would be the perfect thing! I plugged up the hole inside then filled it up with my favorite potting mix by Fox Farm Fertilizers - the Ocean Floor kind - then added a wood scoop I found at a thrift store. I just need to make a lid with angled sides so it can double as a lid & potting table.
Natural fiber flower pot brushes available in the shoppe! The English trug & potager pots are also available (medium size & small size).
The herringbone style brick path I made down the middle of the greenhouse. I was going to cut some bricks to go along the sides, but it was way too hard to cut them without a table saw so I just spread sand all throughout the cracks/sides which works perfectly. I can get water anywhere without ruining anything. Also, getting water on the bricks/sand/soil inside of a greenhouse evaporates then raises the humidity which helps create heat and helps your plants grow. I got about 300 antique cream city bricks for FREE from Craig’s List!
French bottle drying rack that I have small pots hanging from & some plant markers.
I love using antiques gardening tools - I found this dibber at an antique store & it’s one of my favorite tools to use! The black thing is an antique cast iron twine holder that you hang up then the twine comes out of the bottom.
Heirloom kale that I planted in the greenhouse last fall that just came back up by itself!
Swiss chard growing under glass cloches. Covering with glass inside of a greenhouse makes it way warmer inside what is growing under the glass, but only use them during the colder seasons otherwise your plants will cook & die! I will be posting more photos throughout the seasons of what’s growing in my greenhouse & garden!
easter
To me, Easter is the most important week of the whole year! I hope you all have a great Easter! God bless!