The Vernacular Life Podcast

Should you get a vintage appliance? You’ll be hard pressed to find a vintage dishwasher, but everything else, from stoves to fridges, you can most likely find secondhand. I like my old appliances, but they are certainly not for the faint of heart! Grab your tools and bring your best troubleshooting, because finding a good vintage appliance is always an adventure!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

A brief history of my vintage stove collection

Why finding old appliances may mean compromising on aesthetics or functionality (but hopefully not both!)

Why Brandon is putting his foot down about our fridge

And so much more!

For more info and show notes, go to FarmhouseVernacular.com/57.

For those of us who are full-time homesteaders, planning for the future is probably second nature. But for many of us who are just getting started, realizing the longer time horizon that comes with homesteading can seem overwhelming! Sierra, our temporary guest host, is here to demystify how homesteading changes the way you think and plan for the future (by thinking smaller).

In this episode, you’ll hear:

Why you don’t have to have chickens to call yourself a homesteader

Which children’s picture book epitomizes the spirit of a homesteading mindset

How to think both bigger (and smaller) about the passage of time

And so much more!

For more info and show notes, go to FarmhouseVernacular.com/53.

A non-engineer talks efficiency? Yes! Sierra (AKA the unofficial Paige superfan) is here to pontificate on why systems are so important. We all love Paige and her systems engineering brain. But sometimes it helps to hear a different perspective to help understand why having processes is so important to making your life run more smoothly.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

Why it’s so important to get off the bike you’re pedaling so hard (and get in the car to get there faster!)

How smart systems allow you to scale up the difficulty of life without having to carry more mental burden

How a systematic approach to daily tasks can improve your mental health, too

And so much more!

For more info and show notes, go to FarmhouseVernacular.com/52.

At least once or twice a week, I get an email from a follower with a picture of an antique piece asking me for help in dating the piece. Now, I’m no antique expert, but let me tell you, I’ve definitely developed an eye for eras and styles! If you like antiques and want to find similar pieces from the same era, I’m excited to share some of my resources to help you train your eye, too.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

Why dating styles can be tough when styles change gradually (but somehow also quickly!)

How Empire is one of my favorite eras for antiques, but I have next to no pieces in this style

About my oldest antique that I own – it’s over 200 years old!

And so much more!

For more info and show notes, go to FarmhouseVernacular.com/48.

You know me. I LOVE old stuff, and I especially love second-hand things! I love saving money and it’s great to salvage and restore pieces that might have otherwise to a yard sale (or worse, the landfill!). But there are actually a few things that I’d rather buy new.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

Which things I’ll always try to buy used (and how to make modern things fit in with older pieces)

Why salvaged tile is too hard to come by (and replica tile is too darn expensive)

My love/hate relationship with old plumbing. (Old sinks are gorgeous but the fittings are not!)

And so much more!

For more info and show notes, go to FarmhouseVernacular.com/47.

You see, it all started when I was about 13… If you know what fan fiction is, you probably already know where this story is headed. So let’s retreat into the deep memories of the internet to see where we started and how we got to the Farmhouse Vernacular you know and love today.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

The disappointingly unfinished Draco-Hermione fan fic of yesteryear that started everything

My first ever YouTube video (it’s NOT related to home renovation. Like at all!)

Why what you see on social media may not be the whole story. In fact, it isn’t. Guaranteed.

And so much more!

For more info and show notes, go to FarmhouseVernacular.com/46.

How do you get along without Door Dash and food delivery? When you live out of town, popping out to a restaurant, swinging by the grocery store on the way home, or calling for a pizza is not really an option. But it’s not all slaving away over a hot stove to feed yourself and your family, even here in the country!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

My pizza-based metric for determining how “in the country” you are

How we simply food creation to make eating easier

Why a trip into town is such a delicious treat!

And so much more!

For more info and show notes, go to FarmhouseVernacular.com/45.

I used to think that people who had chickens were REAL farmers. Like whoa, you must have made it as a homesteader if you can keep your own chickens! Now that I’ve had a hen house of my own, I’ve realized how much easier it was to raise a brood than I thought. If you’ve ever dreamed of collecting a little clutch of farm fresh eggs every morning, then this episode will help you demystify the ins-and-outs of keeping chickens!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

The difference between a straight run and pullets (ooh, technical bird words!)

What food and equipment you really need to protect and raise healthy birds

The sometimes hard truth about loss in your flock

And so much more!

For more info and show notes, go to FarmhouseVernacular.com/44.

There are so many colors in the world, but how to make them play nicely together? Oh, just a little color theory to tame those tints, tones, and hues to create a stunning display in any space in your home!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

Why monochromatic doesn’t have to mean all white

How to walk your way through the color wheel so you can spin that baby and mix up some gorgeous color combos

All the wonderful ways you can combine colors for a stunning final effect

And so much more!

For more info and show notes, go to FarmhouseVernacular.com/43.

I love my floors. Like love love them. They are original to the house, and though Douglas Fir is by no means considered a high-quality material, I would never DREAM of getting rid of them. We put a lot of labor into saving and restoring them and I am over the moon with the results. So let’s talk about my floors!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

Why I’ll never have an orange room in this house

How we painstakingly remove nails from this floor thanks to our Beastly Nail Puller

The solution we found for protecting this soft wood against scratches and dings

And so much more!

For more info and show notes, go to FarmhouseVernacular.com/42.