Voice of the Mid-Columbia | Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Wash. |
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closeWhen Teri Edwards and Serena Thompson wrote their cookbook, The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen, the two left a few things out of their recipes.
Missing are unusual, hard-to-find ingredients, complicated directions and dishes which -- to ensure success -- require a trip to the closest store that sells imported paella pans, couscousieres or polenta pots.
What you do find between the covers of their cookbook is homestyle cooking at its best.
"It's the way we learned to cook growing up," said Edwards, who grew up in White Swan. She and her husband, Steve, lived in Kennewick from 1986-96 before moving to Chattaroy near Spokane.
"Neither of our families had much money, so we learned to cook and bake from scratch," Thompson added. She grew up in Northern California and met her husband, Colin, in Alaska. Eventually they moved to Mead, also a small town outside Spokane, his hometown.
Many of the book's recipes are family favorites. Others were gleaned from friends or articles the enterprising duo have written for Country Living magazine.
"What the recipes have in common is they're simple to prepare. They're nothing fancy, but ones sure to appeal to families," Edwards said.
"They're a hodgepodge, but a delicious one," Thompson said.
If you're familiar with Country Living or like to hunt down antiques, you may recognize "The Farm Chicks" logo. It's what Edwards and Thompson christened themselves when they decided to turn a mutual love of country life, junking and baking into a money-making business, organizing and running The Farm Chicks' antique show.
The two met through church and instantly clicked.
"We might as well be sisters," Thompson said.
They bonded even more over their love of exploring old barns, outbuildings and cabins looking for "treasures." Over the years, they dragged home old furniture, dishes, pots, buckets, signs and once even a length of heavy, rusty chain.
"Our husbands, I'm sure, thought we were crazy. Not now," Edwards said.
As their finds mounted up, the women brainstormed, trying to find a way to turn their cache of goods into cash.
"We decided to hold a sale, like a yard sale, only for antiques and 'country' style things and products," Thompson said.
They invited friends and neighbors to participate and made T-shirts with their logo.
The day of the sale, they sold out almost immediately. And guess what was one of the first things to go? That massive, old, rusty chain.
"They loaded it into the back of a BMW," Thompson said. "We asked what they were going to do with it and they said, 'Hang it on the wall.' That was it -- we were in business. If we could sell an old, rusty chain, just think what we could sell."
That was in 2002. In the years since, Thompson and Edwards have confined their efforts to running the annual show, which is moving to the Spokane County Fair & Expo Center this year.
"All our junking now is for personal pleasure," Thompson said.
"It's what we've done all our lives. We apply it to how we live now only in a different way. Then it was out of necessity; now it's for fun, for creativity," Edwards said.
"It's ingrained," Thompson added.
They have been contributing editors for Country Living for several years.
"The pie recipes in the cookbook came from an article we did for them years ago," Thompson said.
In addition to recipes, The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen includes directions for simple projects like making aprons from vintage sheets, cloth covers for old, worn cookbooks and turning old baskets, buckets and metal lunch buckets into vases.
"They're nothing complicated. We're not the type to pick up a Skilsaw. We're more the glue gun type. If you can't do it with a staple gun or glue, it's out of our league," Thompson said.
*Loretto J. Hulse: 582-1513; lhulse@tricityherald.com
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