Birthday evening and wide pine floorboards~

My 'new' kitchen floor is sitting in a pile in my old wood shed.
Another 'find' has precipitated another happy project! After years of wanting one, I am finally getting a kitchen floor of wide pine boards. Enter 'Matty', an older gentleman with an unmistakable New Hampshire accent living not 4 miles from us, with an old time sawmill set back into the woods.
 My neighbors across the road are building a vegetable stand for selling fresh produce in their yard, and I noticed the lovely aged pine boards they were using. That's how I found well, who I thought was 'Matty', and his piles of neatly stacked old and seasoned pine boards---And now I am the proud owner of a number of very long, 1 inch thick pine boards each 10 and 12 inches wide---enough to do our small kitchen floor, and all for the princely sum of $50.

Now here is the really hilarious part. I, like an idiot was blithely chatting him up and calling him "Matty". He never corrected me. Only later did I realize that the person who told me about him had a classic Yankee accent, and was actually saying 'MARTY'!
I sure felt silly, but Marty sure didn't seem to care---maybe in his mind he was rolling his eyes and thinking "Oh ayuh, this daffy lady must be from some way-yuh else"!

The huge old saw blade set on hewn whole tree trunks with the bark still on them, and settled into a glade with tall trees all around it, "Mahty", aka "MARTY's"  little mill looks as if you have stepped back in time.

Some of the boards waiting to become our kitchen floor

It's my birthday, and we really had no 'special' plans, so as soon as Adam gets home today, we're heading back over to Marty's to pick up the last of the 12 inch wide boards.
I brought home what I could yesterday, driving the short distance with at least 3 or 4 feet of board sticking out of the back of the van. We are excited to get started, so after a simple birthday dinner of deli roast chicken, salad with some of our hand picked blueberries in it, snap peas sauteed in a little butter and mint, and a bit of special dessert, we plan to start the new project tonight.
I have never had creme brulee, so I made some today---just enough for 2, as my birthday dessert! Sure looks yummy!

After dinner Adam will begin the un-fun 'removal' tasks---taking off all our baseboard and thresholds, and get ready to do the worst job---move all our appliances out and into the dining room where they will have to sit until this job is done.
We decided get up early this Sunday and begin the "kitchen floor project" in earnest. After getting all the appliances disconnected and moved, we can both take up the 'engineered' wood floor that is already in the kitchen. Luckily it's a 'floating floor', so we should have it up and out of here in quick time.
We plan to but each board up against each other---no tongue and groove---in the old way and face nail each one with the beautiful reproduction rosehead nails we have. (We have gotten ours at the 1780's Moultonboro Country Store for years, and used them for many things.)

After we have the floor down, Bryan is coming to sand it for us---we need a bit of the roughness taken off, but the character will still remain. I am going to do exactly what I did with the taproom floors---rub one coat of Varathane 'Ipswich Pine' stain into them on my hands and knees, and NO varnish, oil, or other finish---like the old pine floors we recently had sanded in our taproom, these too will 'age' naturally, and show stains and traffic pattern wear, mellowing out and looking gracefully older in time.

After rain most of this day, the sun is out and it's warm and green here, and a fine birthday-evening indeed! Adam will be home any minute and off to Marty's we go...

UPDATE~FALL 2012~

Here's a sneak peek at our finished kitchen! Take a tour of our 18thc. house to period musick, and see ALL the new photos HERE~

Special occasions, antiques, and the newest project~

My birthday is this week and Adam is going to make something for me! This past weekend, we scored a rectangular, close to 4 ft. long smooth slab of natural stone, 2 inches thick, with one corner off---not broken off, but as smooth and soft as the top, obviously a natural shape, or broken and smoothed long ago. Anyway, I fell in love with it, thinking immediately "neat table top!" We paid $30.!

We have never had any yard or lawn furniture---Too many other demands on the budget that were more important, and besides, when you have an early home and 17thc. things, no Walmart or Sears patio furniture will do.  I could see this stone slab atop a natural wood trestle base out back---a small table for two near the firepit where we could have a nice dinner and perhaps a glass of wine on a summer evening...
Adam said he would go over to see Gary. Gary is a dyed in the wool "New Hampshah man" in ubiquitous faded blue bib overalls who has a one-man sawmill in his yard out near Spring Tavern Rd. and Thompson Mill. I think Gary will have just the pieces of thick pine Adam will need to build a small supporting trestle for my birthday table, and he usually only charges us a few dollars. I think he is amused at some of our interesting projects.

I couldn't be more excited about this homemade present. I am already planning a nice al fresco supper to christen it! To make things even better, we saw a pair of old ladderback chairs sitting out in our neighbor's drive. They had no finish, and were worn grey and dry as if they had been outside, like our raised bed gardens and front door. They were sturdy and in perfect condition, with no breaks in their rush seats.  Adam stopped to ask if they were for sale, and our neighbor said "Take them"! So for free, we have a pair of old-time looking chairs, perfect for our outdoor table.

This is the underside of the stone slab. The top is smooth as silk, and this will make a charming table top for dining outside~

Free is good! 
These chairs were in our neighbor's drive. They told us to "take them"!  They will be just the thing for sitting out at our new table and having supper by the firepit~

What a great birthday present this will be---It's always nice to get something new, especially for the house. I notice that friends and customers who love antiques as we do feel the same, and often an antique is the gift of choice for a special occasion.
This is the case with a customer and friend in New York state. Earlier in the summer another customer was considering purchasing a lovely chest with applied geometric moldings, but she never got back to us, and passed up the chance. Now, this beautiful old thing will be on it's way this week to D's home---an anniversary gift from her husband! D. is so excited, as we are for her. We love to see the things we choose and lovingly find to sell go to a new home where they are cherished and treasured.

The early chest displayed at the foot of our bed now has a new home---An anniversary gift from a loving husband to his darling wife~

~As for my own birthday present, the inspiration for the table base Adam is constructing is taken from this Elizabethan trestle table.

Adam will build a much shorter version of this table base, and maybe just a bit more primitive, with plain 'shoe feet'. We'll let the base 'age' naturally outside as our raised beds and front door did. The stone slab we found for the top will simply lay on top of the trestle, it's own weight keeping it in place. When finished we'll have a charming 'make-do' outdoor table for two!

I'll be sure and take pictures of our project when completed and share with you our first meal outside at the new table and 'freebie' chairs!

Wattle fences and stone walls. Bee boles, blueberries, and blue-podded peas~~High summer at an 18thc. New England house~

Some of these photos were taken yesterday. It's high summer in my yard, and we have completed the outdoor projects we've been working on, selling our brick pavers and replacing them with crushed stone and natural fieldstone step stones, and putting down the crushed stone in the gardens out back. I also dug up wild flowers along my New Hampshire backroads and planted them in front. Our wattle fences look better than ever---Settled into the landscape as if they had always been there---All of the work we did cutting down over 400 saplings, and weaving them into fences using no modern tools was worth it---And we had fun doing it together.
The stone too blends nicely with the landscape, making everything look much older than it did with those brick walks that had been here when I bought the house.

 ***You cannot just go out and buy wattle fencing like ours. The 2 of us have tramped through woods cutting down all the fresh saplings needed, and hauling bundles of 15 or more 20 ft. long trees walking and dragging them through the woods, over hilly terrain, over and over again. We stripped off every branch and leaf from each one by hand. By the time we finished, we had cut down, stripped and used over 400 hardwood saplings---(NO PINE)---in our almost-3 foot tall fencing around 2 gardens, and for wattle gates that we have designed ourselves.

 Because terrain is normally not 'even', you cannot just slap up sections of fencing. We built our fencing in long, continuous sections from the ground up. We put the posts into the ground first, at certain intervals, 'eyeballing' them to get them all at a visually appealing and similar height. This is not as easy as it sounds.  The saplings we cut down were very tall, as we wove whole sides of fencing using continuous lengths of tree, NOT piecing the wattle. We cut down and hand-stripped only enough for whatever section we were working on at a time. This is because if the wood dries out even a little, it is impossible to work with and weave, especially when you are working with lengths of 20 feet or more.
We did not use a vehicle or any power tools in the crafting of our fences.
Wattle fence-making is a labor of love and NOT a job for anyone with a lazy bone in their body! 

WATTLE FENCE KIT: 

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UPDATE~MAY 12, 2013~
I wrote a post today with many new photos of our gardens taken on Mother's Day~ See it HERE

Inside, we at long last had the paint layers sanded off the old pine floors in the taproom.

(Please visit the TOUR page of our website to see all of our 18thc. house and gardens~)

Late yesterday afternoon we picked more blueberries to add to the bags in our freezer. Right now I have a batch of my decadent Blueberry Brownies in the oven. We're leaving for Vermont in a little while and after our program this evening for the Tasha Tudor museum, we'll have a late picnic in the car on the way home. I'm bringing sandwiches, iced tea, and "those blueberry brownies"!

We picked until we had filled my large basket, and a bucket Adam was carrying. I picked a few wild flowers for our table~

Adam puts a few more berries in the basket.

These are the days to hold onto and remember. I wish I could capture the dappled sunlight as it highlights an herb plant or part of a rock wall in my yard. My heart aches because everything is so transitory and fleeting---I wish I could keep these beautiful summer moments forever.  Sometimes, nothing matters---not old hurts, or troubles or current cares or worries. Sometimes it is nice to sit quietly and drink in your surroundings. I feel glad for my cozy little home---an old house I love, and to be able to see the butterflies flitting around the wildflowers I transplanted, and the bees in the herb gardens. I so desperately want to make memories of all of it and store them in my heart and mind, for always. 

I'll take them out on chill winter days, or sad days, and close my eyes and smile, thankful that I had them all...The days that are no longer mine, except in my memories~

Take a tour of our 18thc. home, yard, and gardens HERE~

We built yards and yards of wattle fences approximately 3 feet high around several gardens, as well as wattle gates. We also built several 'twig' arbors with branches from the woods behind the house. Be sure to visit our website TOUR page to see all the photos of our 18thc. center chimney cape, and our period yard and gardens.

We hand built a 65 foot long stone wall out in front with moss and lichen covered granite stones we found on our own property using no modern tools, and doing some of it dressed in 18thc. clothing~You can read more HERE

Come visit us HERE~

Most of our stone walls are old, but we built this one in spring. It was back breaking work for both of us, but it looks fantastic~

 

I picked my heirloom blue-podded peas. (Yes, these are my peas, and I took this photo.)

I constructed all the crushed stone paths, and laid down the stepping stones myself while Adam was at work~

We both made the all-stone bee bole. I now have more straw bee skeps in it~

The firepit we made, salvaging the granite boulders from our stream. The arched stone is all natural!

I planted heirloom vegetable seeds in the cedar raised bed gardens we built a few years ago. You can read more about our projects in past posts on my blog~

Our taproom in our 18thc. house. The old floors look terrific now that paint has been removed.

Looking out of our taproom windows at the herb garden~

Visit our website, and click on the TOUR page to see all the new photos~

A little gallery of our 18th century wedding anniversary celebration~

Although we currently have a gallery up on our website featuring photos taken of us at High Tea and celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary in high 18th century style, we change out galleries periodically, and it won't be up much longer.
I thought I would put some of the photos up here in a post today, so that those who want to can always enjoy them here~The rest are in the gallery on our website.

June 30, 2012~ We had a fabulous High Tea at the Clipper Merchant in Limerick Maine, and then toured a late 18thc. house featuring authentic Rufus Porter murals from the 1830's. We ended our day strolling the lovely gardens and ground at the 18thc. Hamilton House museum in Maine...It was a perfect day!

(~As of now, July 2012, you can still see the entire gallery of large, high quality photos on our website, and to period musick while you share the day!
*This gallery will only be up a short while. We change our galleries periodically to reflect our 18thc. life and adventures, and hope you will keep visiting our website.)