Their childhoods couldn’t have been more different.

Serena Thompson bounced through the first years of her life in a hippie gypsy wagon, wandering the back roads of the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Teri Edwards grew up in tiny White Swan, Washington, herding geese, doing farm chores and kneeling in daily prayer. Who would have guessed that 30 years later, an Irish nun would bring them together, seeing instead their many similarities?

Both had come from families that lived frugally. From their mothers, they learned a clever knack for thrifty creativity. Adept at taking ordinary objects and turning them into something useful, their mothers created cozy homes on tight budgets. Both Teri and Serena dreamed of being mothers themselves someday in that same stay-at-home style.

Now Teri has two girls and Serena has four little boys. And both share a passion for junking — finding potentially beautiful and useful stuff in societal castoffs.

In the summer of 2002, they turned their passion into a business and named themselves The Farm Chicks™ (“We’re always scratching up cute stuff.”). They began orchestrating antique sales near their hometown of Spokane, Washington. The Farm Chicks Antique Sale, really an all-encompassing event with live bluegrass music and great food, is now held twice a year in the tiny little town of Fairfield, Washington, 22 miles south of Spokane.

In future issues of MaryJanesFarm, Teri and Serena will tell us about their Farm Chick Style™, which includes their love of good old junk, beautiful antiques and vintage funky fashion turned fabulous. They’ll share some stories from their junking excursions and let us take a peek into some creative, cozy homes along the way. They don’t profess to be antique experts, just adept at turning nothing into something.

A few great Farm Chick ideas (left):

• Turn old drawers into serving trays.

• Enamelware has unlimited potential. We especially love the pieces that have been chipped from years of use.

• Use straw for packing material. Your chicken farmer friends will thank you!

Read more about The Farm Chicks
at their website:

www.thefarmchicks.com

“I was standing next to Teri at one of their events
when an elderly farmer wandered by
and struck up a conversation with her
about one thing or another.
Suddenly, I heard the tone of his voice
change dramatically, ‘You’re a Farm Chick?’
as if he had just realized he was
talking to a movie star.”

– MaryJane