Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Let's Go to Josie's

Today we're going to take a trip out to Josie's Antiques. Her place is between a nearby town and DeKalb, Illinois. It's a nice ride in the country. We visit Josie's every so often just to browse and have some quiet time. It's very quiet on her farm, except when her peacock is screaming. Yes, peacocks are incredibly loud and annoying.

The farmhouse and barns are quite a distance from the main highway.



She's got an historic 1839 barn that is filled to the brim.

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There are also many interesting outbuildings that are likewise filled. When we park the car we see the small outhouse structure. There are a few antiques inside.

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Her chickens are just to the left as we walk down the path.

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And her ponies are wearing their warmest winter coats.

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Let's go inside the main building. Josie bakes fresh chocolate cookies every day for her customers.

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They are good.

This woodburning cookstove stood in her kitchen for thirty-some years and she did actually cook on it. It is notoriously difficult to maintain any kind of long term even heat and it's a nightmare to attempt a turkey in one of these. My sister recently took a seminar on how to cook on a woodburning stove that was offered through Old World Wisconsin.

I'm fascinated by these small sinks. Josie had many of them in the different buildings.

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Here's another one. I'd love to find a spot for one.

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I totally fell in love with this old card catalog.

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Thanks for going along with me to Josie's! Come back tomorrow and I'll tell you how she helped me to solve a mystery.


7 comments:

Vee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Vee said...

Okay, I love to know about mysteries and solving them is the best. What a terrific place! Do many people find their way down the pine-lined path? My parents had a woodburning stove in the kitchen during those rough years in the 70s when oil was so terribly high. I loved roasted chicken baked in it and baked potatoes have never been as good as they were from that oven. Not to mention all the steaming kettles. Today it sits dismembered in the basement. My dream is to open a tea shop in the current library (it's moving to a new location) and set up that old stove. Now here I thought that I didn't have anything to blog about today and I could blog about this. Gheesh.

(Sorry, my problem today is that my only flaw is being perfect. Ha!)

Lisa D. said...

I love places like that!
Both my parents grew up with a wood cookstove. I had one in the last house we lived in. My electric oven was on it's last legs so I used the woodstove to do most of my baking. It was great for bread, brownies, casseroles. Vee, you're right, potatoes were never better. I never had to try a turkey though, that would have been tougher. And cooking on the stovetop I found very, very difficult to get right, so thank goodness my electric stovetop was fine.
My mother-in-law has peacocks, and as beautiful as they are to see wandering around the yard, they are very annoying. It takes time to get used to the screaming, (and to learn to differentiate the peacock's scream from your own child's scream), and have you seen peacock droppings? As big as the dogs! They're favourite roosting places are on the tops of the trucks and on the roof of the house.

janetm said...

Love the pics!

janetm said...

Love the pics!

Unknown said...

What a wonderful place!
We grew up with nothing but a wood stove for heat and a wood stove to cook on.
Trust me, food tastes better cooked with wood :)

I would LOVE one of those sinks... Or one of those cookies ;)

nance said...

wanna buy a little bathroom sink . . . or two