Mike and Frank are so right........

.....when they say it's more about the people than the pickin' !! I have usually found that to be true, and my most recent pick is no exception!

But to backup just a little, one day a few weeks ago, I was out driving along the rural Georgia backroads, and I noticed some folks were setting out stuff to sell on the side of the road. When I spied an old mantle, I stopped and started chatting with this nice man named John who had a bushy red beard and a really pleasant personality. In the best American Picker style, I eventually inquired if he knew of anyone who had architectural antiques in the area. I was so excited when he actually gave me the name and number of someone! Oboy!....a pickin' adventure!!!

John had given me the number of Todd Lister, who, along with his wife Dale, own an historic homestead in Vesta (between Lexington and Elberton), and who is a talented carpenter and organic farmer (AND who formerly sold antiques at Scott's in Atlanta).

This is where the excitement of someone being so generous in sharing their home and history, certainly trumps the excitement of a good pick! Todd kindly directed me through rural East Georgia to his property in the community of Vesta, and his interesting tour and stories of the former "Burt" estate (once including 500 acres of cotton fields) was a wonderful step back in time!

Pictured above and below is the community post office (the main street once went directly through Todd and Dale's property, and is now their driveway). It is an interesting building with the original mail slot, which Todd is showing below.


These are the doors of the post office, and I have never seen anything like them. There are hundreds of old nails pounded into them, supposedly for sake of security, but notice the pattern of them!! I wonder how long it took someone to do this?


Todd hand-built his workshop, using all reclaimed materials, and he did an incredible job of making it fit into the period of the other structures. In addition to the main house and post office, there are sheds, a root cellar, slave quarters, a pumphouse, a small cemetary, remnants of barns, and of course his extensive organic gardens.


I was thrilled to be able to take this wonderful buggy home with me, as well as those cool European-looking iron (street sign?) couplings. I loved the very old concrete bowl with inset rocks. It is a piece from Dale's childhood--coming from the garden of a relative--and it brought to mind my Grandmother's garden in Illinois.



On the way to the garden area, you pass the outbuildings, and you can't help but wonder what it was like a hundred years ago!

There is a great website called "Beauty Everyday" (I have added it to my links) where you can see more photos and read the expanded stories of this interesting homestead.



Look closely below and you can see how this tree has grown around the wheel on the old piece of farm equipment.


Todd has one of the best organic farms around. He carefully tends to every detail of his plants, and you can buy his luscious vegetables through Athens.LocallyGrown.Net, and also at the Athens farmers market held every Saturday in Bishop Park. You can order on-line and pick up your order certain days of the week--be sure to visit the site and order from Todd at "VERIBEST FARMS".

Todd and Dale grow beautiful flowers and sell those as well....I love the use of this canoe as a flower/herb bed!


Here is the contact info for Todd and the farm produce network.

I was able to pick some great stuff--mostly components for my future projects--but of course, the best part was meeting John and Todd (Dale wasn't there that day, but I hope we can meet someday soon) and getting to visit and photograph such a cool place. Thank you so much Todd! I had a blast!

As it turns out, they are also friends with Jimmy Poss, who owns Heritage Heart Pine in Carleton (I have posted about him in the past) where I find some wonderful architectural pieces. I visited him again recently, and will be posting about that trip soon.