Farm Fresh….how I love those words! Anything fresh-from-the-farm just fills my heart with pure joy….fresh eggs, fresh milk, fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh jams and jellies, hot out-of-the-oven buttermilk biscuits and a golden-crusted fresh baked pie of course!

Just imagine…chickens cluckin’ in the barnyard, pecking corn on the ground, a mighty-proud rooster perched on a white rail fence, crowing at the sunrise… fluffy-yellow chicks scurrying to catch up to big-mama hen….cows-a-mooin’…farmer-a-whistlin’… his aproned-wife ringin’ the dinner bell…time for a hearty country breakfast…scrambled eggs, hickory-smoked bacon, biscuits ‘n’ gravy, grits, homemade strawberry jam and biscuits, a sweet slice of last night’s apple pie and good strong coffee. Ahhh…gimme that country life!

We can learn a lot about life by observing the farmer. When a farmer wants to have a harvest of corn he has to plant the seed. He can have sacks of seed, but until he plants it, it won’t do him any good. Once the seed is planted, he has to nurture, water and tend his corn field in order for it to grow. The same is true with our home and families. If we want to harvest a happy home with strong family relationships we have to plant the seeds of love, understanding, forgiveness, mercy and grace. We need to plan ahead to create happy memories, and create a home our family wants to come home to. Like the farmer, we sometimes have to be self-sacrificing for the benefit of our loved ones to reap a harvest of blessings.
“…For whatever a man sows, that and only that is what he will reap.” Galatians 6:7
We can’t all live on a farm, but we can incorporate a “Farm-girl” attitude in the way we approach life! Remember my story of Beulah? She lived her life with Gumption, Grit and Grace. That is the farm-girl way. (you can read the Beulah’s story by typing in the search engine “A Little Gumption Goes A Long Way” then scroll down until you find that title on the May 2008 post).
We can dress “farm-girl vintage” like my dear, adorable and sassy friend Catiena at The Vintage Housewife (we used to be chatty next-door neighbors when I lived in California!).

We can decorate our homes with old fashioned goodness….glass milk bottles, old white enamel dishpans, creamy pitchers, vintage linens, well worn bread boards, old coffee pots and bread boxes, canning jars, and white-washed picnic baskets, just to name a few! Things that remind us of the good-old-days. Wholesome days. Honest-to-goodness, breath-of-fresh-air days.

It’s good for you to surround yourself

with sweet little reminders of farm-fresh beauty,
because beauty inspires!

We can fill our homes with kind and loving words, tenderness, patience, a gracious nurturing spirit, comfort, encouragement, guidance, cleanliness and order, joyful music, fresh nourishing food and homemade treats. We can say Grace at the table for God’s provision. We can take our family to Church on Sundays, to instill in their hearts truth, hope and joy. These are all the things that will make our family feel safe, loved and cherished. It’s really all about back-to-basics homemaking. Simple and sweet.

The home should be a warm sanctuary

from the storms of life for each member of the family.

~ GiGi Graham Tchividjian, daughter of Billy Graham

Rascal Flatts

I love the Rascal Flatts song “Mayberry”, the lyrics go like this….

Sometimes it feels like this world is spinning faster
than it did in the old days

so naturally we have more natural disasters

from the strain of a fast pace

Sunday was the day of rest
Now it’s more a day for progress
and we can’t slow down
because more is best
It’s all an endless process

Well, I miss Mayberry
sitting on the porch drinking ice cold Cherry-Coke
Where everything is black and white
Picking on a Six String
Where people pass by and you call them by their first name
watching the clouds roll by…

One of the reasons I love living in the Ozarks of Southern Missouri (Branson) is the down-home Mayberry feel. Old town Main street has quaint little diners, a real 5 and Dime general store that dates back to the 1940’s, a barbershop, shoe store, drug store and lots of other shops in between. Folks say a friendly “how-dee-do” as you walk by, and you almost expect to see good old Deputy Barney whistling down the street. I live just ten minutes from town on an old homestead, surrounded by neighboring farms, and in the spring and summer I can hear an old rooster cock-a-doodlin’ across the valley. I may not live on a working farm, but I’m a farm-girl at heart.

After taking down all of my Christmas sparkles, I think I got kicked by old Bessie the cow, because I started painting and decorating everything in shades of Milk-White! I was ready for simplicity, and a cleaner, fresher look! What I call Fresh Farm Style! The bead board above my stove mantel used to be Red until I gave it a fresh coat of Swiss Coffee White from Home Depot! I also found my creamy new mini-lamp shades at Lowes Home Improvement store.

Mini Pearl, my hen in-the-pot, (named after one of my favorite Hee Haw comedians) guards over my delicious, farm fresh Strawberry Rhubarb candles from Walmart! Smells yummy like the real thing. It comes in different white porcelain containers….see the cute little washtub?


I’ve decided that until spring (when I can grow my own) I am going to buy a few stems of fresh daisies at the grocery store. How simply beautiful to stand them in a sparkling glass jelly jar! Ahhh…the promise of springtime!

I’m really liking the fresh uncluttered look!

Out came the white paint again! I painted my “Don’t Mess With Texas” star above my fireplace….added a white milk bucket full of daisies, a dishpan of fresh apples….and a Chuckwagon sign that I rescued from a flea market last week (on the back side it says Filling Station!)

…white candles… an old farm wife’s coffee pot …big enough to fill up the tin cups for all of the cow-hands….to help’em wash down all them biscuits….y’all!

At the same flea market I found these adorable, chubby, one gallon milk bottles. I scrubbed them clean then filled them with salt to make them more visible and to add to my “farm-fresh-white” look.

Vintage tablecloths… more daisies in tiny cream bottles….

…Blackberry Sugar Pie…

A pig named Honey ‘cuz when I look at her I just gotta say “Oh! Honey!”
(I found her many years ago, on vacation in Lake Tahoe)

More white….

Instead of painting the shelves white,
I draped vintage table runners over them.


One of the best ways to create a fresh look is to move things around in your house. Move your accessories into different rooms, rearrange your furniture, put your collection of like things together (like my cream colored pitchers). Put some stuff away for another season. Get your paint out and change the look of something!

Recently, a sweet gal asked me to share some of my sources of inspiration, so for starters, I highly recommend these two farm-fresh gals…..

The ever adorable, talented and creative Farm Chicks! Serena and Teri! They have a blog that is so fun to read and jam-packed with wonderful ideas and recipes. They are down-to-earth, cowgirl-boot and apron wearin’, sweet-as-pie, mama’s. They share refreshing homemaking projects that are practical and darling all in one! They also have fun T-Shirts and jewelry and other goodies available. Click here for their blog and here for their Web site.

And Oh my goodness! I cannot wait for their first book to be available soon! How fabulous does this book look?!!! I already know I am gonna love it so much I’ll want to marry it! (Hello, it has a PIE on the front cover!! It looks a lot like the pie in my Beulah story! How fun is that? You know what they say about great minds!)


I also love everything from Mary Janes Farm! She is adorable too!
Mary Jane has books and magazines for the “Farm-girl at heart!”
She is such a wealth of information for us gals who want to add a little farm-freshness into our lives. On her web site you can also find her product line of organic dry goods, aprons, items for the kitchen, laundry and bath. Click here to go to her site.

And another gal that always inspires me is my blog-friend Carol from

Raised In Cotton!
She always amazes me with her creativity and gorgeous style. I think my fresh white-kick came from her! Right now she is featuring a couple of interviews with gals in Sweden, sharing photos and ideas from their homes. I am telling you, Carol’s blog is so refreshing and wonderful!! She has a shop up in the Kansas City area which I hope to visit this spring or summer (it’s only 3 1/2 hours away) and she has an online store with lots of adorable must-have’s! Click here to visit her site.


Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour of my Farm Fresh Style.
If you did, leave a comment and let me know!
I always appreciate the time y’all take
to leave me words of encouragement,
they mean more to me than you’ll know!

Thanks for stopping by for some Fresh Pie!

Hugs and Blessings!

RuthAnn