After a very cold and snowy winter, I think I can honestly saw that spring has officially arrived to Ohio. The birds are out and about singing their spring time songs, the spring peepers can be heard every night and the leaves on the trees have started to pop out.
This year my daffodils have bloomed earlier than they have ever bloomed before, because the of the small hillside they are one they usually don’t bloom until May
Happy Spring,
~Kristen
My husband texted me this morning to look out the window, what I saw was the sun hitting the hillside behind the farm across the street. He was talking about this gorgeous double rainbow that is pictures here. 
This morning the kids and I took a walk in the woods before we started our day.
The chestnut trees are starting to drop chestnuts.
Acorns 
Hickory Nuts
Mr. Sun was trying to peek through the trees
The neighbors cows
Skyward view
Honey loves going for walks.
We have walnuts all over the place.
Our Leprechaun gives out pots of butternuts not gold
Yesterday as I was walking back to my car after spending a few hours working in my studio, I came upon a few wild strawberries and flowers along the building.
Black Raspberries grow wild in abundance in Ohio and I make use of that fact by picking as many berries as I can so I can freeze them to eat over the winter.
I even found a few friends along the way.
The family dog Honey was my ever faithful companion today, she looks as hot as I felt.
By the time I was done picking berries, I had 2 quarts of berries to put away that is if my kids don’t get to them first.
My husband decided to burn the grass on the hillside near our house, why he decided to do that I’m not sure. I am just waiting for the Fire Department to arrive in our driveway.
While thinking over this challenge and what to do about it has had me stumped all week. So when I saw the smoke I knew this was the inspiration I needed. After a bit of manipulation to this photograph, this is my spin on Abstract Art.
Every Easter growing up we looked for something we like to call hostage bunnies.
Now hostage bunnies are just inflatable rabbits people blow up and tie to trees, porch posts, mailboxes etc. They look they are being held hostage by the owner of the house. This of course was fad in the 90’s just like acid wash jeans and mullets, so to find hostage bunnies isn’t typical Easter decoration nowadays.
Not wanting my children to miss out of the fun of seeing hostage bunnies I found some on eBay and purchased them. Saturday was beautiful and just a week away from Easter so we set out to hang our hostage bunnies.
I hope you get a kick out of these just as much as I do.
Happy Easter!!
Growing up my father collected Maple Sap and boiled it down into Maple Syrup, so when my husband showed interest in making his own maple syrup I told him “Let’s do this!”
Making or growing our own food in an important part of life for us, not because we are hippies or anything that may come to mind. It is because we want to know exactly what we are eating and where it comes from. Teaching our children how to grow plants from the seed up is something that not many children these days know how to do unfortunately.
So how does one go about making maple syrup? Well the process isn’t as difficult as you may think it is. First you you will need to make sure you have Sugar Maple trees. This handy little chart from the River Bend Nature Center Website is simple and easy to use.
Once you have found several sugar maple trees (you will need several because it can take 40-60 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup), you will need to drill a hole the size of your tap. The tap is what funnels the sap in to your bucket
Along with your bucket and lid, you are ready to start collecting sap.
Now Sap looks like water, but is slightly sweet, so it must be boiled down to be concentrated into syrup.
Our Little helpers, my nephews along with my daughter and son who is a toddler.
We collect sap and use a water pump to pump into the tank, which makes collection faster since we do not have to climb on and off the back of the RTV.
Once it has been collected, we start the boiling process. We use a boiling tank borrowed from my Dad, so I have no idea where it came from originally. We use a contraption my husband built to boil it down, this process takes a while.
Once it is boiled down and concentrated you have Maple Syrup, we put ours into canning jars and it is ready to eat.
Welcome to Kris’s Vintage Clothing official blog. I have been blogging on Tumblr for a while now but have decided it was time to move on to the real deal.
I’m Kristen the face behind KVC. Many years ago I planned on opening a Children’s book stores much like the one in “You’ve Got Mail” with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, after watching many small book store close I decided to change my focus towards vintage. I have always loved vintage clothing and accessories, I collected vintage hats in high school and had them scattered about my dorm room while in the military.
After the death of a distant family member, closets full of vintage clothing were found and the dream to open a vintage shop was born. I am a stay at home Mom of 3 children, one of which I homeschool. Being able to work from home and give vintage pieces a new life is all a part of living the dream.
Welcome!
~Kristen
Kris's Vintage Clothing 