Rules for the Country Living Fair

Rule Number 1 Do not wear a pink tutu over your jeans. You are not whimsical. You just look crazy. Rule Number 2 Do not wear thigh high, thousand dollar english leather riding boots. You are not in England, you are not riding, you are not Martha Stewart, and you at the County Living Fair...in Ohio. Rule Number 3 If you are over 40 and you break either rule number 1 or rule number two, you should be banned from the country living fair. Rule Number 3 Do not haggle at the Country Living Fair on Friday morning. If it is 3 o clock on Sunday, haggle away, the vendor does not want to lug unsold item back home. But on Friday morning? Look, these vendors come from all over the country, they have highly reputable stores and galleries. They have paid a hefty, hefty fee to get in, and there are people from all over the country here to buy, buy buy. You want to haggle, do it at your local antique shop/auction. Okay, now, on with the fun report with pictures! So this year Andrew was off and he went to the Country Living Fair with me and my friend M. Andrew loves crowds and is continually baffled by how at this one event crowds and the heat do not bother me. He sees a hardiness in me that cannot be replicated at the state fair, the columbus arts festival, the yellow springs street fair. So what's the difference? A purpose! It's not just that I'm shopping, it's that I'm shopping for my favorite kinds of things. AND I know where all the vendors are that I like AND I know what I am looking for and it's all very targeted. The weather was breezy and cool this year, and I think it was more crowded than I have ever seen it. My big find was a couple very reasonable priced galvanized tubs. Remember the spring project where I spray painted tubs for herbs (see May, Spring Project Number One in the sidebar?) Well I found a square one (don't know if I will paint it as square ones are kinda rare) and a nice big round one that I can plant more herbs in next year. I also bought something else along those lines, but you will have to wait to see it when it's in action for this idea I have. Anyway... Andrew made two notable finds...carboys for his wine making.

The one on the right is especially interesting as it holds 8 gallons, has a slight aqua color. I've never bought a lot of big stuff at the Country Living Fair, stuff I couldn't carry around in our little two wheeled grocery cart (like the use in the city) but we used the bag/check porter service a lot this year. M and I found those garden tripods we liked so much last year and picked up one each and then I found the usual smattering of smaller objects I like.

From left to right: A large, clear wiretop jar without marking that I'm going to make into a special gift-giving project this holiday season, so you'll have to see. The brown milk bottle with stopper is in impeccable condition. It has a detailed relief of a dairy cow being milked and it says "absolutely pure milk, Thatcher's Dairy Bottle Patent 1884." Then on the bottom it says, "Crawford China Company 1965 Bottle made in Italy." It is just so cool, I can't wait to use it. On the far right is some skin toner bottles in a little carrier, easy to take to work and share. The tablecloth was another find.

Collecting ironstone can be addicting, but I was a sucker for the delicate pink lines of these set of 4 Homer Laughlin cups. I've been using them for fruit cups at home.

And here is Maxwell modeling a tablecloth. And it wouldn't be the Country Living Fair without stopping at the 200 Acres Homestead Bakery from Arthur Illinois. My God that bread is good. A loaf of honey wheat and a loaf of dill went home with us and both got eaten pretty quickly. Lazy Bee Studio (excellent, excellent soap) made and appearance this year and I stocked up. Pictured below is two baskets I bought at the Rural Society show in May. Another M friend, made the linings for me out of a French ticking style stripe. One is a the oval one is a laundry basket, we can never seem to have enough around here, and the one with handles holds my yoga props in the family room. I'm so lucky to know some good sewing folks. The book is Randy Florke's "Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle." This is only his second book which is a shame, every page is a delight to look at. We need less Shabby Chic books (Sorry Rachel Ashwell, but really, they are all the same.) And more Randy Florke.

I hope to have a chicken update soon, and I've got some new recipes lined up and I may have some fun fox pictures so stay tuned...!