A Visit to Saltbox Primitives

Good morning prim gals~ I hope you're all doing well and finding that the number of your blessings is plentiful. Our leaves are turning color here and the temperatures have definitely taken a drop. The frost hit our garden hard a few nights ago and now my vegetable garden is asleep for the winter. :( I was sad to see the growing season come to such an abrupt end, but I guess that's the way it is with vegetable gardens in Maine. We got 9 beautiful pumpkins, the rest of our delicata squash harvested, enough fresh green beans for one more meal and of course more cucumbers and zucchini. (I've been searching up zucchini recipes like crazy online). Truly we were blessed this year for having our first vegetable garden.



Last week, my friends Betty, Lynda and I took a little drive to Augusta, Me., our state capitol city. Yes, we saw the beautifl state house (just in a drive by) but no I didn't take any pictures. We were there for a different reason; a prim shop!! Saltbox Primitives is located at 240 Eastern Avenue, Rt. 17 in Augusta, Maine. It's a sweet country/primitive shop that is so much larger inside than it looks on the outside. This was my first visit and I'm so looking forward to going back again for their Columbus Day sale and Christmas Open House.

As I stepped inside the door, the warm scent of fresh butter and spice fixin's inspired my senses. Instantly, I was on eye~candy overload. They have everything there from candle boxes and candles to wreaths and Olde New England Furnishings (their own line of beautiful Maine made furniture). If you're ever in the area, their gathering hours are 7 days a week from 10:00-5:00




Sit back and enjoy browsing their quaint little shop and be sure to visit their website for more primitive offerings.
















Love this dry sink and cupboard!!







As for purchases, I was a good girl and only bought a set of primitive~ folk art stencils that I can't wait to use! That project I'll share in another post. I guess that's all I have for today. I do hope you enjoyed your visit here today. I love seeing you all and reading your comments so I hope you'll take the time to say hello and let me know you stopped by. Hugs~ Birgit

Fall Swap Goodies & A Special Purchase

Happy Fall blogging friends! It's a beautiful day here in Maine for the 2nd day of fall. I've had all my windows opened and have been busily working outside in the garden and inside getting things done such as laundry and vacuuming. Y' know... the fun stuff that never goes away. :)

I had joined Char's fall swap and my swap buddy was Sondra from Grace4home. Sondra is very gifted in creating homemade prims. She's got a great eye for detail and color. Here is was she made:
There is a ragg quilt done in warm fall colors, a beatifully done penny mat, some sweet chenille pumpkins, a fall checkerboard and the most yummy smelling candle in a pumpkin cornbread scent with a festive berry ring.

My heart was pounding with excitement as I unwrapped each gift from the box. Not only is Sondra gifted in crafting but she's also a sister in Christ. I just love everything and I thank you again, Sondra, from the bottom of my prim little heart!

Here are some pictures of the goodies after I had found the perfect place for them.

I put the chenille pumpkins in a wooden bowl with some raffia and bittersweet berries along with some homemade corn and some fall leaves. I placed the bowl on the penny mat she made on our living room coffee table, which is actually an old chest that was a roadside find from a few years ago. Don't you just love the colors she used in making the penny mat?? I do!!

The checkerboard found a home on our fireplace mantle along with some wood stump pumpkins that my friend Heather in Utah, made and a little pumpkin makedo from another swap that I participated in a couple of years ago. I've participated in many swaps and I must say, it's a great way to add a variety of decor to your home. If you've been considering participating in one of Char's swaps, I highly recommend it. It's great fun!


The quilt is in full view on the quilt shelf in our living room. I've been wanting to make a ragg quilt but never quite knew how. Now I don't have to, although I may try with some old flannel quilt squares I cut a long time ago. What a great gift idea!

I love how the colors go perfectly with the color in our living room and on the shelf. The candle is sitting on a round iron candle pan on my stepback cupboard. I guess I forgot to take a photo of that, but it looks great there and smells so good when I walk by.

Also, in today's mail I got the beautiful candle box that I had ordered fromKath's selling blog. Kath's work is amazing quality and I just love the finish she does. I couldn't wait to hang it on one of the pegs in our mud room. We have lots of pegs in there and I need help desperately decorating that small, narrow room.

I filled it with some pretty fall flowers and leaves. I love how these are made to hang over a shaker peg. That was one thing I noticed when visiting Shaker Village, how everything hung off the pegs in every room. They didn't put nails in the walls. I guess the color looks funny in the photo, but it actually has a beautiful, smooth black finish on it. Truly, it is a beautiful, primitive piece!


Kath also sent this sweet Hot Apple Cider sign and I just love it!! For now I've got it propped in front of some old stoneware crocks in our mudroom. I need to get some faux apples to place around it too. I think that would look nice. :) I'm also still on the lookout for some bittersweet to give it a nice finished fall touch.

Thanks for stopping by today and seeing what's happening in my neck of the woods. I hope you all enjoy some festive fall days! Hugs~ Birgit

A Day at Shaker Village

Hello friends~ Today was a beautiful fall~ish day with bright blue skies, brilliant sun and a cool breeze in the air. It was a perfect day for my friend, Lynda, and my outing to Shaker Village.


We arrived just before they opened so we had an early opportunity to check out the Boy's Shop which is located in the reception center. They asked that no pictures be taken inside but since I had gone on a field trip with my daughter several years ago when they allowed pictures, I scanned some of the photos so you could see the simple beauty of this historic location. This post would have been very picture heavy so I put them in collage format to make it easier and quicker to post since it's almost supper time. Remember that you can click on the pictures to enlarge them to get a better view.



There are only three living Shakers left and they all live here on the premises so many of the buildings were off limits for touring.

Shakers didn't believe in marriage so the only way to become a shaker was to join their communty of beleivers. Many were sent there as children if they had lost their parents or if their parents couldn't afford to keep them. One of the last "sisters" has been there for 70 years.



They're located on over 1800 acres of land however the small community is built together in a small area. They still have their prayer meetings and services together and follow some of the same religious rituals that they did over 200 years ago. I say "some" because they don't dance and march and chant anymore. Those practices caused much persecution. Shakers were harassed, beaten, stoned, driven out of towns and imprisoned all for religious reasons.



Also, because of their beliefs of dying to themselves and living for Christ, they don't "own" anything. Everything that is there is communal and men and women are treated as equal.



At the Meeting House, there are two doors. One for the men to enter and one for the women to enter. They both sit on opposite sides, facing each other. There are also two sets of beautifully worn staircases, one for the men and one for the women. The trim and doors inside the Meeting House are still painted in the original Shaker Blue Milk Paint that they used over 100 years ago when the building was constructed. The color is amazing and brilliant! They used blueberries, indigo and a third ingredient that I don't remember. If my friend Lynda remembers, I'll ask her and update this post.



There is so much history at Shaker Village and eye candy galore! I encourage anyone, if you're in the area to go for a tour. You can find all the information about the village on the link at the top of the post. I hope you enjoyed this little peek into Shaker history. Thanks for stopping by! Hugs & be blessed today as you go. ~ Birgit

The Fruits of Labor

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a nice weekend. Ours was nice here except for a bit of rain which we needed, so I'm thankful for that. On Sunday after church our church had a picnic and baptism at Dunn's Camp in Oxford. Both of my kids were baptised along with 5 others so it was a great celebration for the Lord! It was supposed to rain but the Lord shined His blessings on the day and the rain held off. The sun actually came out and it was about 70 degrees so it was a beautiful day for a baptism. When we left the picnic, it rained all the way home. :)



As many of you know, this was our first summer with a vegetable garden here in this home. We've lived here for 10 years and finally decided to try our hand at vegetable gardening. Mind you, we live on 2 acres that is filled with pure clay! Every bit of loam that we have for our lawn and flower gardens has had to be hauled in by dump truck. For the first few years living here, I felt like we lived on a barren waste land filled with weeds. Each year we do a little more to the yard and maybe someday it will be just the way we hope it would be.

Anyway, getting to the title of my post today. I thought I'd share with you some of the preserved goods I was able to put up this year as a result of our little garden. It wasn't large, and we actually lost all our tomato and green pepper plants due to the abundance of rain we got early in the spring into summer. Thankfully other veggies did survive and we're still now enjoying the fruits of our labor fresh from the garden.




Our cucumbers did amazingly well this year. We've yielded so many cukes that I've been giving them to family, friends and neighbors.



I've put up two batches (14 pints) of bread & butter pickles so far this year.



The green beans did well too. We grew both a yellow and a stringless green bean and combined them. I love the color variation in the jars! We eat a lot of green beans so next year we're going to double up on our rows in the garden.





Although the peaches and strawberries didn't come from our garden or property, I still count them in the fruits of our labor because it was still work. I made up 7 each of strawberry and peach jams. There's nothing like sweet jam on warm toast in the morning... Yummy!



Our summer squash and zucchini's have been producing well for us too. I put up 2 batches of zucchini relish too along with eating stuffed zucchini, zucchini bread and roasted or grilled veggies all summer long. The plants still are covered in blossoms and growing more fruits every day.



To some of you, this may not look like much but to us it is more than plenty! We'll be giving much of this away at Christmas with other home made food goodies. I like to make up sweet bread recipes, fudge, peanutbutter balls and homemade candies to give as gifts too.

We've still got carrots growing in our garden as well as winter squash, pumpkins, turnips and rutabaga's. The corn was coming along nicely. We planted two different varieties. I had never grown corn before and my friend told me how I could tell when it's ready. When the raccoons eat it! Seriously though, she said when the hairs turn brown and start to dry up. I've been watching it on a daily basis get bigger and bigger and watching for the pretty pink hairs to turn brown. My sweetie went out the other morning and came in and told me the corn was ready!! The coons got it last night!! Thankfully, they didn't get all of it. I went out that day and picked the last 8 ears and cleaned up the mess that the over~stuffed and ungrateful raccoons left behind.

Anyway, that's all I have for today. Tomorrow I'm going to Shaker Village with a friend of mine. I'll be taking lots of pictures of the old Shaker Village to share with you all on my next post. Until then, have a great day! Count your blessings and be blessed! Hugs~ Birgit

Joining the Recipe Pool

Happy Friday everyone. Yes, I know it's September 11th and I should be a bit more somber and respectful and I am. I woke up this morning remembering what today's date was and what it signifies. I will never forget where I was on the day that the terrible tragedy struck the USA in 2001 either. I was working as the school secretary at my kids elementary school. We had a number of parents come to take their children out of school early, not knowing when or where the chaos was going to stop. I was so thankful to have both of my kids there with me so I knew they were safe. But, it's also my sweet nephew, Benjamin's 5th birthday today. Isn't that a reason to be joyful and happy? My SIL and her family live in New York where a large part of the tragedy struck and she gave the family a reason, 2 years later, to find happiness and a reason to celebrate on September 11th. I hope that doesn't sound cold and unthoughtful, I certainly don't mean it to be. Life goes on and laughter and smiles continue too. That being said, Happy Birthday Sweet Benjamin!! We love you lots!



So, I thought I'd join in on Colleen's Recipe Swap. The recipe I'm sharing today, isn't exactly a hearty, fall recipe. It's actually a cool summertime recipe. I'm sharing it with you today because the Lord has truly blessed our cucumber vines this year and we're getting so many cucumbers that I've pickled them, shared them with friends, neighbors and family and today I made this cool, creamy Cucumber Salad. It's my family's favorite salad in the summer time.

~*~*~*CREAMY CUCUMBER SALAD*~*~*~
You'll need *4 or 5 medium sized fresh cucumbers
*1 small can of evaporated milk
*2 TBSP vegetable oil
*4-6 TBSP white vinegar (I used 7)
*1/2 tsp salt and pepper
*pinch of sugar
*1 tsp spicy brown mustard
*1 TBSP chives, chopped (optional)


Peel cucumbers and fill a large bowl with about 4 cups thinly sliced cucumbers.


Sprinkle with salt, cover and refrigerate over night. The following day, squish out the liquid and let the cucumbers sit in a colander while preparing the sauce.


In a bowl, combine the evaporated milk, oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, brown mustard and chives and whisk the mixture together thoroughly. Add the cucumbers and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving. Serve using a slotted spoon.



As I said, this is a simply delicious, cool summer salad but it's not too cold yet to give it a try. Remember to plan ahead as it does take two days to make it.

Be sure to hop on over to Colleen's to see what everyone else is cooking up!

Thanks for stopping by today. I'm off to make homemade pizza for supper! God Bless you all and have a wonderful weekend!
Hugs~ Birgit

Thrifty Goodness!

Hello friends. We've been having such enjoyable weather, here in Maine. The sun has been shining and the days have been warm with a hint of fall in the air. Though I've been busy working in the flower gardens getting things cut back for winter, my heart is not ready to say good~bye to summer. I've also been working on some makeover projects outside since the weather has been so nice so I thought I'd share some of those with you. Most of these were either thrift store finds or yard sale finds, my favorite treasures to seek!

This bowl was a thrift store find that I got for $1.99 at our local Goodwill.

There are three holes on the bottom of the bowl. I'm not quite sure what they would have attached there, but that's okay. It doesn't take any charm away from the bowl in my eyes.

After giving it a coat of Antique Linen paint over black and sanding it a bit, I like it much better! It's a great color as whatever I put in it seems to pop!

Ithought this candle holder was cute but the unattractive candle was questionable.

A couple coats of flat black spray paint, a new candle and some festive fall fixin's gave it a whole new look!







This knife box is one that I've had for a while and never knew what to do with it. I finally decided maybe a make~over would inspire me to use it.

I love how it came out using the same flat black spray paint and sanding it. After that, I went over the whole thing with some walnut gel stain. I love it, but I still don't know what to do with it. Right now, I've got it sitting on a bench in my dining room with some other make-overs in it just waiting to find them all homes.



I found a set of these wooden wall sconces at a yard sale for $3.00 for the pair. I figured, $1.50 each isn't a bad price.Sorry the picture came out so grainy, I'm not sure why, but I wanted to post it anyway. They really came out much better looking for real.









This isn't a make~over but it was a great yard sale find. I got this pewter sugar and creamer for $1.00! They're my first pieces of pewter... Woohoo!



That's all I have to share for now. All this decorating, re-painting and moving stuff around makes me want to go junk shopping again! :oP I spent yesterday cleaning and moving stuff around in my bedroom and throughout the house. I had an old frame that I've been wanting to use and I finally found the perfect picture for it.
Isn't it just the cutest picture? A young girl kneeling beside her bed in prayer. It's just so soft and sweet to look at and I really love how it looks in this old frame.


It filled up that empty space and gives me something warm to look at each night before I go to bed and when I awake in the morning. It's a gentle reminder to say my prayers and thank God for every good gift.

Have a blessed day! Hugs~ Birgit