SRING AT LIBERTY HOMESTEAD

Before the enthusiasm left me, I decided to bring out some Spring decorations. I have a small collection of primitive bunnies and went around the house gathering things in which to place them. I took the vintage wire egg basket out of my refrigerator, removed the eggs, and washed the basket so I could line it with grass and add carrots and bunnies to it. My dad bought the egg basket for my mom when they were first married in 1945 and I'm sorry to say, she never liked it. She gave it to me shortly after Dad passed. I was thrilled to have it and now it does double duty as an egg keeper or a display piece. Mom also gave me an old glass jar with most of the label intact. It originally held malted milk so I thought it would be fun to fill it with speckled malted milk eggs. It's tucked into the display directly behind the wire basket of bunnies.    

 

I took a tall "bucket of bunnies" from the guest room and placed it in the Hoosier to add a little whimsy to the display. To my surprise, I won those bunnies in a raffle at a folk art show a few years ago. I also unearthed vintage papier-mache` rabbits and eggs I remembered purchasing at a church bazaar last year. For some reason, I'd stored them inside the  Christmas closet and I needed to pull out half the decorations in order to retrieve them, but I'm just glad I actually remembered where they were!  I had spied them in the Granny's Attic room at the bazaar and instantly knew they needed to come home with me. When I was ready to pay for them, I was told they had been marked to half price. What a stroke of luck! Inside the bunny was  an old handwritten note from the former owner, listing exactly how the bunny and eggs were to be displayed. The writing was faint but I smiled as I read it, realizing the former owner had taken great pride in displaying the bunny. I'll care for the bunny as lovingly as she did.
 

(You can click on each photo to enlarge it.)

 

 WHITE PAPIER MACHE` BUNNY WAS A GRANNY'S ATTIC FIND 

 MY ATTEMPT AT A SPRING DISPLAY 

 GRAY BUNNY MOLD (CENTER) FROM BUTTER STREET BARN 

 BUCKET OF BUNNIES WAS A FOLK ART RAFFLE PRIZE

BABY BUNNIES & CARROTS IN WIRE EGG BASKET (RIGHT)

 

Two weeks ago I was visiting the Butter Street Barn and spotted a great old rusty iron bunny mold. Amy, the owner, offered it to me at a very reasonable price and I knew I'd find a good spot for it. I found a few other bunnies at the very primitive Talmadge Rd. Mercantile and added them to my display. I'll most likely be tweaking the whole lot until Easter arrives, but that's part of the fun!