Labor Day

Happy Labor Day Everyone. It's a great weekend to take a ride in the country and visit farm stands for some apples, mums and your first pumpkin of the season. Visit Local Harvest to find family farms and farm events near you.

Kitchen Helper

I like to hang bundles of rosemary right from the knobs of my kitchen cabinets. This makes for quick and easy access while cooking. Rosemary adds such great flavor to meats, especially when grilling. Try our Rosemary Garlic and Maple Sauce, which imparts the hearty flavor of rosemary, blended with balsamic vinegar, basil and oven-roasted garlic.

I also hang sprigs of rosemary in the shower. The intense aroma wakes me up. Click here for more information on storing and cooking with rosemary.

All Creatures Great and Small are in this Fall

Deer Head Mount $48
With wall decor like this all you'll need is a cozy throw,

and you'll be transported to some woodsy cabin far away.

Linen Cow Tea Towel Set $28
This set of French Style Linen features one vintage style cow design on oatmeal linen and one towel with black stripes for a classic farmhouse feel.
Champion Pair $39.95
This set of two prize cows is based on 1932 champion livestock trophies. These vintage style reproductions will look handsome grazing your shelf too.
Linen Cow Pillow $48
Let this friendly cow bring plenty of down-to-earth warmth to your home.

18 years of bliss

Today is our wedding anniversary. 18 years ago my husband and I eloped after a wee courtship of eight weeks. We’ll never forget the day. We were all decked out in our vintage prom attire as we snuck off to Walden Pond, temporary home of Henry David Thoreau. My niece made this picture of us at the time. I still crack up at my hair in the picture—very 80’s. I especially love all the hearts floating up from us. Those hearts are still floating all around us.

Cedar Reach Horse Farm

Well, today is my daughter's last day at Horse Riding Camp. Tomorrow she'll put on a little show for us, and the whole family will be coming in this weekend to watch her. Wish her luck! I leave you for the weekend with some shots of this idyllic summer camp. Have a great weekend!

Like Mother Like Child

My daughter has been attending horse riding camp over the last few weeks. Of course, I can’t really afford this camp, but I figure we’ll just eat more PB&J for a while so she can have, what I imagined to be, an idyllic summer experience.

You see, I never had a real “camp” experience. It’s not that mom and dad didn’t offer. I just rejected the idea of leaving my house and neighborhood friends. I was quite content to play “house” on my porch with Donny Osmond as my hubby and a plastic doll that needed my love. We’d play kick-the-can until the street lights came on. Who needed camp when you had the coolest fort right down the street?

There was one time when I was all set to go to overnight camp in some woods somewhere in Rhode Island. I was all packed up with my shiny new sleeping bag and a bottle a bug spray. My mom dropped me at the bus stop and sped off, waving goodbye (she may have actually peeled out). While waiting, this little girl starting describing camp and all the “fun” things she had done there. Everything she described filled me with sheer terror. Making pancakes in the morning as a group activity. Nightmare! I didn’t know how to make pancakes. I was like seven. I never made a pancake in my life. I ended up knocking on some stranger’s door to use their phone. My poor mother had to come and pick me up. She had probably just walked back in the house, thinking she was free at last, when the phone rang and she heard my unrelenting sobbing on the other end. She came to my rescue and was sweet as could be—never letting on how frustrated she may have been at my inability to leave her side that summer.

My daughter is, for the most part, much more adventurous than I was. She doesn’t want to hang out with me all day. She’s learning so much more than I did playing on my porch. However, almost daily I get a call at lunch. Her little kid voice says, “Hi. Whatcha doin’?” I say, “Are you having fun?” She always replies “yes” with enthusiasm. Then after a few moments she lowers her voice to a whisper and says, “Please don’t make me come back here.” She tells me how all the kids are so mean, but when I pick her up at the end of each day, she rattles off the names of all her new best friends, which consists of just about everyone at the camp.

Tomorrow, I will drop her off. I’ll watch as she lovingly greets all her friends. I’ll enjoy the smell of the dusty barns and the view of the big blue sky beyond the mountains, and I’ll think to myself “this is idyllic”. I’ll enjoy the peaceful car ride back and wait for the phone to ring. She can leave my side, but she wants to know I’m available for rescue—if needed.

Get the Look with our Ebony Compote

I'm in love with the kitchen on the cover of the

September issue of House Beautiful

so I recreated a small piece of it

Here is our small Ebony Compote, by Potluck Studios, with some yummy Bosc pears.
Our new French Style Linen Tea Towel with Black Stripes is also pictured. I have a feeling this will look even more spectacular with the large Ebony Compote.

Ruffles are In-Season

My zinnias are such little flirts. They’re always poking their heads up out of the garden, trying to get my attention and showing off their frilly petals. Any zinnia will tell you ruffles never go out of style. The more the merrier. It’s no surprise that our Flirt Compotes by Potluck Studios came to mind when I shot this zinnia. They both like to flirt and they both make ruffles look so good.

I've got that Fall Feelin'

I can smell a hint of fall in the air today. It's cool and cozy. I usually cling to summer like a needy child. I get sad thinking of my gardens turning brown and losing my outdoor dining room. But today, I welcome a bit of fall. The grayish-blue sky signals that it’s okay to take it easy today. It’s time to wind down and enjoy the weekend. Maybe we’ll go looking for mums.

If you’re in the mood for some fall décor checkout these cuties at Farmhouse Wares. This set of hanging tin cans, with their vintage style pumpkin labels, will look great on your garden gate.

Sherbet Blossom Giveaway

Enter your chance to win a Farmhouse Dish Soap, made by Sweet Grass Farm, over at Hannah's great blog, Sherbet Blossom today. Hurry, contest ends this Saturday.

Message in a Bottle

The message in this Recycled Bottle Coat Rack is quite clear. Basically, it's a great way to show off your eco-savvy style while helping the environment. Each coat rack is handmade in Wisconsin using recycled wine bottles that would have ended up in the landfill.

Taking the "message in bottle" theme to the extreme, try leaving rolled up love notes inside each one. When your partner grabs his/her coat in the morning, your little massage will make them smile.

Available now at Farmhouse Wares.

Gone Fishin'

Have a great weekend everyone!

National Garage Sale Day

This Saturday, August 9, is National Garage Sale Day. This is the day to clean out all those knick-knacks and coffee mugs that are just taking up good space in those kitchen cabinets. Or if you're like me, then it's the day to make other people's trash your treasure. Either way, it's a win/win situation because it keeps the stuff out the landfills. It's recycling bliss.

Photo from Flickr

Umbria in a Bottle

My sister is in Italy right now visiting our good friends Paula and Mario. They live in Trevi, which is an ancient town built on a mountaintop in central Umbria. Trevi is filled with medieval churches and cobblestone streets. The thing I remember most about my visit to Trevi was the smell that was always in the air. It was of wood smoke and fresh earth. For years, I've been sniffing scented products trying to find that exact smell.

I have finally found it! These Fig and Cedarwood Fragrance Sticks have captured the scent of Trevi, that little village in Umbria. The blend of fresh fig and earthy cedar is super delicate--understated, exotic. I'm sitting here right now, wishing I were with my sister and friends, taking in that scent and sharing homemade wine. Instead, I am just as happy with my Fig and Cedarwood reeds--my Umbria in a bottle.

Get the Look

We spotted our Vintage Style Red Striped Table Runner and Oversized Napkins in the July issue of Country Home in an article about lake-house style. Whether your decorating your lake-house, cabin or farmhouse, you're going to love these casually elegant linens. You'll also find an Apron and a comfortable Bolster featuring this same Vintage Style Red Striped fabric at Farmhouse Wares.

Help Save the Arapawa Goat

Arapawa Goats are globally endangered (approximately 243 remaining) and just recently added to the Conservation Priority List. Arapawa Goats were introduced to the US through Plimoth Plantation in 1993 as part of a heritage breeding program. Plimoth Plantation is a living museum of colonial life in North America in 1627 located in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The possibility of a connection between the Arapawas and the animals brought to North America by the first colonists made them a logical addition to the rare breeds collection at Plimoth Plantation.

The folks from Jenness Farm in New Hampshire lovingly raise Arapawa Goats. Just the other day two kids were born and another was on the way. This sounds promising, but the gene pool is so small that it's complicated to keep this breed going. Jenness Farm makes this incredible soap exclusively from Arapawa Goat's milk. We're pleased to offer these soaps because Jenness donates the proceeds from the sale of these soaps to the conservation of this amazing breed.

To learn more visit the International Arapawa Goat Association.