red barn farm~northfield, mn.

last wed. night i crossed another fun event off my summer bucket list.

i was in northfield mn. to be a part of a yard sale, and i went a day early just

to be able to experience a night at the red barn farm.

this farm south of town hosts a pizza night every wednesday in the summer,

and if you're ever in the area, you simply have to make it out there.

not far from town, surrounded by endless fields of corn,

 sits this majestic old red barn. 

i'm not sure how many years this pizza operation has been going, but man do

these people (the white's) have a good thing going.

we went early because my friends have been there several times and 

figured out that if you don't arrive shortly after they open at 4 p.m., you'll be waiting

a long time to eat. we pulled in about 4:30 and it already looked like we 

were parking at the county fair. 

: )

the kids got out and booked it towards the farm site, anxious to see the

critters that live there. there are some horses and a pen full of chickens 

that love the kids as much as the kids love them.

there is one indoor wood fired oven and one outside. it was humid and almost

90 degrees when we were there, so i felt sweaty compassion for

the hard workers cooking for all of us~

the kids discovered grapes growing by the chicken coop and wasted no

time plucking some to feed the happy chickens.

you know me, i totally enjoyed just watching (and photographing) all the groups of friends and

sweet families spread out on the lawn around the farm enjoying their evening.

the white's opened up a little store in the milk house this summer and they sell

more of their home made goods, like yummy looking desserts, jam, salsa and honey.

they sell farm fresh eggs too, but they have to give the credit for these to the hens.

so, if you go out for pizza, you bring your own plates and silverware, blankets, chairs, drinks 

etc... all the farm offers is the pizza and the desserts~ they even ask you to

take your pizza boxes home with you.

christa said one evening when they were there, there were over 500 

pizza's that had been served by the time they left. if you do the math

that's a small goldmine every week. (over $10,000)

unreal!

christa (with her littlest ben) ran into several friends from northfield.

there was live music in the barn and also a free yoga class going on.

umm hmm~ i told you, it was all just the best!

so, here's the farm's website if you are interested:

www.redbarnfarmofnorthfield.com

*really, it's worth the drive from mpls. some wednesday night*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

now i'm switching it up to the yard sale.

christa has a farm share in one of the cool farms around the

nation that grow large amounts of produce and flowers and people can

buy a share and go once a week and get their portion, of whatever is in season.

maggie, christa and i went out and what we were most excited about

was the "unlimited flower picking" that day.

(be still my heart~ and get busy my hands!)

we were having our sale the next day, and when us girls do something 

together, we like to make it FUN...so we had a plan to put

flowers in anything we were selling that could be used as a vase.

out at the farm, onions were drying as far as the eye could see. i didn't have my

real camera along so i didn't get a good picture of the rows and rows of flowers,
 but trust me when i tell you that we filled the back end of the jeep

with cut flowers and then went home & got busy arranging them.

i loved how christa made our signs and they worked great to

lure people to the sale. lot's of peeps commented that they could not

"not" come to a FUN YARD SALE!

we were up till midnight finishing the signs...and i took this pic of her mantle.

here's a couple shots of the sale set up

maggie used the fence to display some outfits...it worked like

a charm. anything that was up there sold...then we'd throw another

ensemble together and it would be gone.

it was over 90 degrees that day and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

we finally just put on some of the props from adria's wedding that i'd brought and soaked

our feet in totes full of cold water~

 i thought i may just melt into the lawn like the

wicked witch, from the wizard of oz...... but

my only causality is the cold sore on my lip.

i could write a whole blog post on the old cowpoke-he was about 80- who showed

up in cowboy boots and sporting this rather enormous belt buckle,

but i'll just tell you one of the many things he said that will have

 us laughing for the next 10 years.

he came to our checkout table with a bunch of stuff, including several

yoga books. maggie said cheerfully as she was bagging it, 

"so do you do yoga?"

he replied "i sure do girls, i am extreeeemely limber,

do any of you want to go dancing with me tonight?"

we (of course) laughed and said, no we're too tired, hot,

"unlimber",  (not even remotely interested) etc... and he said,

"well, what do you think is wrong with my pick up line?

it's: "would you like to dance, or would you rather just snuggle" and 

it isn't working".
i may or may not have said "maybe that's just too creepy"
(hey, i was just trying to help this poor guy.)

**********

we heard him exclaim as he walked out of sight,

"happy yard sale to all, and to all a hot night".

laughter is the best medicine~

xo, beth