One of the things I love most about this homestead is all of the buried treasure. That’s right, buried treasure. Not quite the pirate kind, but it still makes me feel rich. The previous occupant left us a lot of amazing things behind, and it seems like we are constantly digging up and uncovering more finds. Even the chickens are unearthing all manner of things in their daily scratching around. The most recent and exciting is this beautiful stone wall that we uncovered while clearing vinca vines to transplant a couple of hydrangeas. Corey just kept on clearing it and it seems to wrap all around the downhill side of the house and front yard. It reminds me of something you’d find around a European country cottage. We named it Norman Rockwall. This got me thinking about all the other amazing treasures we’ve discovered around here, and I thought I’d share a few.
When we were organizing the garage, we came across this glass dish that looked kind of like an ash tray but not quite. I set it aside until I could figure out what it’s purpose was, and then I saw a vintage glass chick waterer on Etsy and figured it out. It’s exactly the right size for a narrow-mouth quart Mason jar. I still haven’t decided if its bound to be a decoration or functional item.
Then there was this blacksmithing anvil. Having no intentions of taking up blacksmithing (not for lack of interest but for lack of time) I put it in the garden by the lavender bushes where it looks quite lovely.
Coming from a family of stained glass artists, I especially appreciated this find leaning up behind some plywood and doors out in one of the sheds. I am scheming a good place to hang it up and show it off. I think of a new place just about every week, and we’re really busy, so I figure it’s fine out in the garage for now.
I found this antique coat rack on the back porch and moved it inside to hang up my aprons in the pantry. I could not imagine a more perfect apron rack if I tried.
One can never have too many washtubs and metal buckets, so I was delighted to find these in our barn. There were actually two washtubs, but since I had one to begin with, I gave one to a washtub-base playing friend of ours who needed to upgrade her instrument. It felt good to lend my treasure towards a musical cause, and I still have plenty to use around here.
You might not think of tools as treasure, but I sure do! We were gifted almost every outdoor tool we could possibly need, and some that I’m not even sure what they’re for. We even discovered we had a snow shovel when we had the Big Snow of 2013. I have started a collection of various tools missing their handles, so at some point, we will get those fixed and have even more!
Then there is the wood. The last resident of this farmhouse was into furniture building, and were gifted all these slabs and boards of very fine hardwoods. It has already inspired us to start some projects and I have no doubt it will all go to good use over time. Beyond that, there’s plenty of plain building wood around too, and we have hardly needed to buy any for our projects yet.
When I was decorating for the holidays, I was looking through a basket of pine cones and found these two Spruce cone specimens with botanical tags from 1900. I wasn’t sure if it was more notable to find something that old, or that I was SO excited about them having proper scientific name tags. I had to stop and wonder what this said about me as a person, and whether it meant I was a really big nerd.
When the leaves dropped in the fall I found this part of a skull on top of the pumphouse roof along with an enormous elk pelvic bone. I think this is from a wild boar judging by the tusks. I am assuming and hoping it came from the other side of the mountains and not around here.
I think the woman who lived here was a painter, because I found some smocks and an easel out in the garage, and this beautiful mountain painting on a top shelf in my closet. I took it as a good omen for this mountain hearth, a housewarming gift.
The biggest treasure was uncovered by my son, who found this whole extra outbuilding up in the woods above our chicken coop and woodshed. We didn’t even know about it until we had been here almost a month. It looks like it was an old goat barn, but now it’s the B.A.B.A.B. Clubhouse. (In case you are wondering, it stands for “boys are big and bad.”) I don’t think there are any more buildings to be found, but I have no doubt there is plenty more treasure in these hills.
impossibleway says
My goodness, those are treasures! My parents had a similar experience when they purchased the homesite of an old farm, though I doubt they came away with anything as beautiful as that stained glass!
LaraColley says
Old farm buried treasures are the best kind!