Sometimes you know something is going to be pretty great just by looking at the materials that promote it.
That was my feeling three years ago when I first started hearing about the Farm Chicks antique sales. The vintage-inspired fonts and charming graphic design style used to advertise the twice-yearly shows in Fairfield were enough to hook me, but it seemed I was always out of town on Farm Chicks weekends.
In the spring of 2006, I was working as the editor of Inland Northwest Homes & Lifestyles magazine, a publication put out by the Journal of Business. A story about the Farm Chicks sales and the two women behind them was at the top of my to-do list.
I met Teri Edwards and Serena Thompson at a coffee shop out north for an interview and they told me the story of how they met and how they started their operation, which seemed big at the time but has grown considerably since then.
They told me about the nun who introduced them to each other at church, the strong friendship that quickly formed between them, their shared love of junk, and their adventures tracking down treasures in abandoned cabins and barns—in one case with their husbands standing guard with rifles because cougars had been spotted in the area.
I haven’t missed a Farm Chicks sale since then and have had the privilege to get to know Serena and Teri better along the way. Last week, I got to re-live our first conversation when a review copy of their first book arrived in my mailbox.
“The Farm Chicks In The Kitchen” is a combination of recipes, craft projects and memories of Serena and Teri’s childhoods. They also tell the stories of some of the people they’ve met through their business, including Floyd and Margaret, a couple in their 80s who have sold the Farm Chicks truckloads of old goods over the years. Floyd, who picks his wife a bouquet of wildflowers from their property every day, has found it difficult to mow the lawn on his own lately.
“In true-love fashion, he and Margaret now push the lawnmower together,” Serena and Teri write in their book.
The book is full of stories of simple living like that, including the adventures Serena and Teri had during their childhoods in a “gypsy wagon” and on a farm, respectively. The common values their families shared: be frugal, use what you have, and create what you need with your own hands.
The craft projects in the book are darling—from making aprons out of vintage sheets to turning antique toy refrigerators into countertop spice holders.
One of my favorite parts of the book describes the gifts Teri and Serena make for their vendors before each show. The welcome packages are different every time and in the past have included homemade scones wrapped in brown wax paper and mini pies kept in small white bakery boxes stamped with a pie image the women made by carving a potato.
The book captures the mood of the Farm Chicks sales, and if you’ve been to one you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, I guess I’ll see you there next time.
The Farm Chicks are working on their second book now—all about Christmas. You can read about some of their recent photo shoots on their blog.
The photo above was supposed to be of just the book and a cloth food cover I made a couple days ago following instructions in their book, but my youngest discovered their were cookies hiding underneath. I've posted a few more shots on my craft blog, Penny Carnival.
“The Farm Chicks In The Kitchen” will be available April 7.
ISBN 978-1-58816-729-3, $27.95, hardcover
Published by Hearst Books

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