week 44: discovering goodies
this week on the little dream farm
I’ve got two quick how-to things for us this week:
How to score the very best finds on Facebook Marketplace
How to pop your own delicious buttery salty popcorn at home
At the end I’ll give you a couple little quick highlights from the week here on the farm.
So, friend…let’s get right into it!
Well wait one sec…before we do that let me tell you about how Chris meant to bring in a couple of packs of Darwin’s from our freezer in the milk house the other day to put into the freezer in the kitchen…but he stopped to feed the hens on the way, got distracted, and left the food sitting in the coop for an hour and a half.
Oops! That’s a spendy mistake!
Thankfully, you can cook Darwin’s right over the stove in a pan with a little bit of olive oil and then use a meat masher to grind it all up like you’re making ground meat.
It’s also nice that the Furmers happen to LOVE their Darwin’s cooked or raw…so no harm no foul by dada…thankfully he remembered before it was too late to save.
All that to say if you think your cat(s) or dog(s) won’t eat Darwin’s raw but may eat it cooked…maybe it’s worth a try!
Use our code FURMERS to get 50% off your first order here.
And now onto the Farm Note…
FB Marketplace Finds
Do you get a pang when you see a friend or someone you follow score a really good FB Marketplace find? You’re like…how the heck did they find that?!
Well…I’ve got a few tips for you and you can get started on them today and then your friends will be asking you, “How the heck do you find such good finds?!”
Here’s what you do:
Facebook Marketplace has its own algorithm, and it shares with you just a general list of stuff on an ongoing basis.
If it has an algorithm, it means you can teach the algorithm to work for you!
First, you want to set your location and radius. Throw your town or even the next town or two in there, and decide how far you’d be willing to drive for good finds. Around here, I’ll go an hour or two one way for something really great, so I set my radius fairly wide!
Next, jot down on a piece of paper or on a note in your phone or on your computer what you are looking for. What kinds of finds are you wanting to discover? I have categories I’m always looking for—furniture, decor, gardening equipment, farm equipment, plants, etc.
Now that you have that list, decide what style of stuff you’re looking for. For me, I’m typically looking for antique, vintage, various types of wood (oak, pine, maple, etc), patina, old, refurbished, etc. These are going to be the keywords you use in your searches.
With those two things nailed down, now you’re just going to start making a bunch of searches using those key words.
Here are a few things I’d be searching:
Vintage vanity
Antique maple high boy
Refurbished antique buffet
Vintage decor
Antique oil prints
Wrought iron patio set
See where I’m going here?
As you make your searches, the next key ingredient is to mark the things you like by saving them. Once you go into the listing, there are tabs to message, save, or share. You want to click that little save button and it’ll save your finds to one folder where you can come back to them.
Even if you’re not necessarily going to reach out or go buy that piece, you’re still telling FB Marketplace both what you like and what you’re looking for.
Do this a bunch of times and then refresh your FB Marketplace feed and voila! Now you’ll begin seeing exactly what you’d be most interested in finding!
I’ve scored some of the most incredible finds on FB Marketplace over the years…and this is the secret sauce!
It goes without saying you should always practice safety and look out for yourself when buying things and meeting people from this platform. Also, don’t be afraid to haggle and score yourself a really great deal! My haggling trick is to go low and see if they’ll agree or meet you somewhere in the middle. Can’t beat a great deal!
Let me know if this mini guide is helpful…and please do share with me what you discover!!
Home-popped Popcorn
Recipe time!
I shared on IG the other day that Chris and I grew popcorn in the garden this year so we could have our own homegrown, homemade, home-popped popcorn all winter long during movie date nights by the fire!
This was our first time growing popcorn and I’m proud to say it was a great success, but before we were growing it, we’d just buy organic kernels from our local health food store and make up batches at home.
Thought you might like to try it if you’ve never popped your own popcorn.
You don’t need any fancy equipment for this.
Here’s how we do it:
Take a large, tall stock pot with a lid and add about a tablespoon or two of oil (we use avocado oil, you’ll want to use something mild in taste so olive oil won’t work here). Turn the burner to medium heat.
Next, add 1/3 cup kernels to the pot and give the pot a quick swirl so the kernels get covered in the oil.
Set the lid on top of the pot, leaving a small gap so that steam can escape. If you make the gap too big, kernels will come flying out. If you make it too small not enough air can escape. You’ll find the sweet spot.
After several minutes your first kernels should begin to pop. It’ll take about 2-3 minutes for everything to pop, and you’ll know you’re just about there when the sound of the popping really slows down. Turn the burner down to low until it sounds like just about everything has popped, and then turn the burner off completely, remove the lid, and slide the pot over to the unused side of the stove.
While the popcorn is popping, melt 2-3 tablespoons of butter in a small dish for about 20-25 seconds in the microwave or in a small pot over the stove.
Once you’ve removed the popcorn from the heat, pour the butter directly over it in the pot, generously add salt, replace the lid, and then shake the pot to coat the popcorn in butter and mix in the salt. If needed, melt more butter and add more salt until it’s to your liking…you’ll get a better sense for this each time you make it!
Pour into a bowl and enjoy! You’ll never want to buy the bagged stuff again!!
As promised, here’s a few little highlights from the week:
Molly-Max is doing great! His new orthotic booties came in so we’ll be getting those on him today and testing them out this week.
Black and White Kitty really started coming around to Chris in the house! He can pet her, call her name and she’ll come to him, and she’s generally been a lot more trusting with us—it’s wonderful! We think once we get the fires going she’s going to become quite the little snuggle bug!
This week I spent bits of time here and there harvesting dahlia seeds from the buds I collected in December. Next year I’ll be starting those seeds indoors in the Seed Room (our guest bedroom and my office)—Buist is going to be so happy!—and trialing growing dahlias from seed and doing some dahlia breeding!
For our adventure this week, Chris and I drove out to Concord and Manchester New Hampshire where the leaves and fall color were still pretty great! It’s a lot of driving to do these weekend adventures, but our quality time in the car together is one of my favorite things about our life here in the country.
Those are the wave tops for us for now…we’ll catch you right back here next week!
Love a good sale! Here’s a few fall/winter things I just got in from Old Navy that are running 50% off:
*Note: Not all, but most of these links are affiliate links. That’s no matter to you, as it costs you nothing. However, if you make a purchase, we -may- receive a teeny weeny commission.
Several weeks ago you shared a compression bag set for packing your luggage. I used it to go to Portugal and it was a game changer! Always love to check out your favorite things. Thanks, Sarah!
I finally read the Farm Note this evening. The time change really messed with my day! I will definitely be choosing some Old Navy items, especially the moccasins.