Bakersville: The Pioneer Village

How many of you have heard of the Baker Creek Seed Company? I had read their story a few years ago in Countryside & then when we were down here last year looking at properties we drove right past the turning and so my memory was jogged again! They specialize in rare, non GMO etc seeds – flowers, fruits & veggies. www.rareseeds.com What started out with a young man collecting seeds at the age of 17 has now turned into a mail order company plus much more including a Pioneer Village.

On the first Sunday of each month they have a Heritage Day Festival so we thought we would head up there this past Sunday. (Only an hour from here.) Don’t know about you but I do NOT like it when the clocks go back. It really messes up the kids sleeping schedule & makes for a VERY long day – always try to get out & do something. It was a glorious day. Saturday evening I had made pasties & cooked them fresh on Sunday morning so they were still hot at lunchtime. Yum! Yum! We got to Bakersville about 10am when it opened, walked around for a while & then came back to the truck for an early lunch. Here are Daniel & Hannah sitting in the back of the truck:

Of course it is too dangerous for Caleb to sit up there but he wasn’t about to miss out so he was quite content to eat his cookie sat on the grass.

I have NEVER seen so many different varieties of tomato seeds in my life. The shop of course doesn’t just sell tomato seeds but that was what really “wowed” me. There were shelves & shelves – quite incredible. One of the first places we visited was the Blacksmith.

A young man of 17 was working there & asked us if there was anything he could make for us. We said, “No” as we couldn’t think of anything. Halfway through the day Richard suddenly remembered that we needed some cut nails. The folks that used to live here hung their cast iron pans on the side of the kitchen island & we were really looking forward to doing the same BUT they took all the nails out. Although we have looked for some we had never found ones the right size. SO Richard went back to the Blacksmith & asked him to make us 10. We now have our own nails – one pan is hung – the rest are waiting for us to get around to planning where they need to go to all fit on the ends of the island.

Many of you know that I am a big fan of GOOD music. I like quite a variety but it has to be good. Well at the Bakersville Opry they had performers ALL day – normally in 15 or 30 min increments. Most were good but some left a little something to be desired so when they came on we went off & did something else! The performers shown were some of the good ones 🙂

Along with rare seeds they also have a LOT of rare birds so the kids thought that was great. Honestly you would think they had never seen a chicken before, they were so excited. As we walked down to see some sheep we came across this building. Is this not the coolest building – look at the crooked logs (tree trunks) holding up the porch.

All in all this was a great day out – we met & talked with some really neat folks. Being November it was not at all crowded and do you know what? It was FREE! We’ll definitely be back.

Take care,

Liz