Something New For Our Farmhouse Kitchen...

Bread-making Cart

 

Do you like it? I found this great three-tier, rolling cart - you guessed it - on Facebook Marketplace a few days ago. I contacted the seller within two minutes of her listing it, only to find that it was already pending pickup. 

When I went back a day or two later, it was still listed, so I sent another message to the seller and said that if it hadn't been picked up yet, I'd pay her five dollars more and come and get it right away. She responded quickly, told me the other buyer had backed out, and she'd accept my offer. Handsome drove me to pick it up this afternoon, and this sturdy beauty came home with me for a whopping $30. (Almost a steal, right?) 

We brought it into the house, I cleaned it up, and put my baking flours, sugars (brown and white), canning vinegars and a few other containers on it. It's the perfect height, and has convenient storage shelves below. 

While the butcher block is very useful (and I love it), there's some gapping between a few of the blocks, which make it difficult to use for making bread. The flour would gunk up (that's a technical term, you know) the crevices and crannies. So, until we figure out how to deal with that issue, this little cart will take up the slack.

I'm going to sand the top to remove the sealer, and then simply oil the top with a mineral oil. That will be the perfect, sanitary surface for creating the beautiful doughs I learned about last weekend. The shelves will provide the perfect spaces for my food scale, tools and ingredients, freeing up some space in the pantry for other things (like my canned goods!). Score another point for the Marketplace!

Today, I'm back in the studio until I have to leave for a haircut. I'll show you what I get accomplished tomorrow. I hope you have a great day!

It's Home...

Our Farmhouse Butcher Block

When we purchased our "new" 100 year old butcher block the end of last month, I wrote about it HERE.  We made arrangements with the shop to have it delivered the next time they were in our area. Friday was the day!!

Two strong, young men, Dan and Cowboy (the tall one) carried it into the house, which we never could have accomplished on our own. But with their strong, young muscles, in no time at all, it was in our kitchen.

Our Farmhouse Butcher Block

When we do our kitchen installation, this will be the centerpiece of our layout. For now, it's situated in our work area near our gas range.

It can't be used yet, as it spent a considerable time in a woodworker's shop space prior to coming to us. That means it's not food prep ready. We'll start with a nice sanding, and then follow the instructions we found on the Internet to complete cleaning.

We've already given it a good scrubbing (Dawn dish soap, water and scrubbies), but we'll repeat that process again. Following that, we'll spray it with a vinegar/water mixture, and then rub it with a lemon juice/salt paste, allowing it to dry between each step.

Once that's done, and all cleaned off, we'll seal the refurbished surface with food-grade mineral oil. Then, we'll be able to use it for food prep in our kitchen. We'll do that this week, as I'm so anxious to be able to put it to work.

Our Farmhouse Kitchen

We changed things up in the kitchen a bit, andt it's actually more functional this way. My plan is to paint the oak china cabinet that's next to our fridge. I'm not set on the color yet, but I'll tackle that in a few weeks.

Kitchen Toward Windows

 

As the sun set behind our hillside on Friday, the last rays of sunshine settled on our beautiful butcher block. The other (blue) piece that I had in our kitchen will now be sold for someone else to love. Right now, the butcher block commands my attention every time I walk through or into the room. I can't help but smile. Lucky farmhouse. Lucky, lucky me.

 

Something New For The Farmhouse...

Back Porch Gatherings Image

There's a shop in Ripon, Wisconsin that carries vintage and antique items, and items created from repurposed vintage and antique items. They also have a nice representation of fragrant candles (and probably other new treasures that I missed when I was there).

The shop recently relocated, just down the street from their previous storefront, and I learned about them on Facebook. Tammy is the owner, and her son, Dan works with her. Their displays are creative, beautiful, and practically demand that you rush right in to purchase whatever they're selling! Tammy has a wonderful eye for arranging her displays, and Dad contributes not only muscle to get things delivered to clients, but he also has a friendly, bubbly personality that left me looking forward to meeting him, in person, after our telephone conversation.

They posted photographs over the weekend, as they set up display areas in their new shop, and a particular image caught my eye. This gorgeous butcher block couldn't be ignored. I showed the picture to Handsome, and we agreed that I should call the shop to get more information.

After getting all the dimensions and price from Dan, we asked if they'd hold it until we could get there yesterday morning. We made an appointment to go to their shop to see it, and by 10 am, we were parked and heading in to check it out.

New For Our Hickory Hill Farm Kitchen

 

Dan told us that this butcher block was manufactured in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and that each style block they made was given the name of a different city in Wisconsin. This is an "Appleton" butcher block. It measures 30" square, is 37" tall, and even has its original bevel, which is unique for any block of its age.

 

The block sits on new legs that were turned by a local woodworker in the Ripon area. They match the style of the original legs, except that they're beefier. Then, they added an industrial caster on the end of each leg. As Handsome stands 6'5" tall, and I'm 5"7" tall, the fact that this block is 37" tall was a huge selling point, too. Just right for both of us to use comfortably.

Dan said the block is probably 100 years old...and, yes. I know what you're thinking. PERFECT for our 100 year old farmhouse, so after careful inspection, Handsome and I decided that this Appleton butcher block will be the focal point of our kitchen remodel. We purchased it on the spot, and made arrangements for it to be delivered to the farm. It will be here within the next two weeks.

Our plans are coming along for the kitchen, and we'll soon visit showrooms for cabinet styles, countertops and flooring. We're not rushing our process, as we're getting a feel for desired functions and layout at this point. We'll likely contemplate our choices through fall, when we'll finalize everything and set a remodel date. 

 

I'm quite sure we'll be keeping track of future offerings at Back Porch Gatherings, too...just in case we see something else Tammy and Dan have brought in that we have to have for the farmhouse.