Author: byjoella

Bar Soap Testimony

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ORIGINAL SCENT TRIPLE MILLED BAR SOAP

Dreamy smooth, this blend of milk, oatmeal, vanilla and vetiver is a tranquil, comforting scent with stirring, yet sweet seductive notes that are controlled by their classic, romantic and powdery virtue.

We sell BARR-CO. bar soap at Rustic Country Market. I bought a sample, but it really isn’t something our customers can sample like they can the lotion, so I decided to test it myself and share my testimony after using it.

My BARR Soap Experience

First thing I noticed in the shower was the fresh scent. Second, I noticed the texture. The bar soap is made with colloidal oatmeal, which is known to soothe dry, itchy skin and offers several health benefits. The bar has an exfoliating texture to it. For some, this might not be important, but for me living in Arizona, it’s essential to remove dry, dead skin.

Used the bar soap in the shower two times.

The 3rd time showering with the bar soap, my skin felt great. It didn’t leave it feeling dry. I should add that I always apply BARR-CO. lotion to sun and wind exposed skin after I shower.

My ♥️ for K. Hall products started in 2015…

I’ve been using BARR-CO. lotion since 2015 after I happened to find a bottle of the Original Scent at a shabby cottage antique shoppe on the east coast. I loved it so much I went back the next time I was on the east coast and bought a second bottle. The next time I visited, they no longer carried it. Fortunately I was able to find it online, directly from K. Hall. After opening Rustic Country Market, I decided to apply as a wholesaler to sell their products and got accepted. 🙌🏻

Customers ask if I make our skin care products myself. As much as I’d love to be able to say we make everything we sell, sometimes you find a product you gotta share with others. I tell our customers my story of how I personally started to use K. Hall products and a little bit about K. Hall.

BARR-CO.

Made in the USA

The Barr-Co. collection is made up of wholesome ingredients including colloidal oatmeal, Shea butter, mineral salts and other natural botanicals. All products are handcrafted in small batches in St. Louis, Missouri and visually styled to represent the Americana pioneer era. All of our products are free from parabens, petrochemicals and are cruelty free.

K Hall Studio

Rustic Country Market currently carries BARR-CO. bar soap in the following fragrances:

  • Original (milk, oatmeal, vanilla and vetiver)
  • Coconut (coconut and tropical flowers, finished with warm musk)
  • Saddle (amber with sandalwood and musk, blended with patchouli and eucalyptus)

(In the future, I want to add Lavender bar soap to our list.)

We aren’t just a market, we are Rustic Country Market Living.

Inspiring Home Life ♥️,

THE RELENTLESS REDECORATOR

I ♥️ Mason Jars

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Do you?

I have a ♥️ for Mason jars. It kinda happened subtly, not intentionally. Before I knew it, I had several here and there in our home.

I’ve lived and traveled Mason jar heaven; from the midwest to the east coast. My grandparents used to have Mason jars filled with canned goodness. My aunts used to serve fresh milk from a Mason jar and make homemade, canned jams and jellies.

While on the east coast, I found some Mason jars that were different from the norm I was familiar with where I grew up, and I found some old zinc lids, including some milk glass and transparent glass liners.

Blue Mason Jars…

  • Our drinking glasses…
  • Coffee Storage.
  • Used in a vignette.

I especially loved the blue glass Mason jars, so I bought some remakes to use for drinking glasses. Slowly I replaced broken drinking glasses in our home with Mason jars from sauces we bought at the store.

When we started Rustic Country Market, I hooked up with Mason Jar Lifestyles, a small, family based business located in Colorado. I started carrying various Mason jar accessories. Oh, but it didn’t stop there. I started to sell our fresh roasted coffee beans in Mason jars.

We recently acquired a couple old, dirty Mason jars, which inspired me to do some history digging. To my amazement, Mason jars play a huge part in the history of the U.S.A., and since I’m a patriot (and veteran) I decided to share what I learned.

I was taught we are supposed to give citations for our sources, but this info is quite common if you spend time doing the internet research. Let’s face it, all information is passed down one way or another. I’ll use my own words based on all the info I gathered…

How Mason jars got their name…

John Landis Mason was born in New Jersey. He was a tinsmith in New York. At the age of 26, he invented the screw on lid, and then patented the Mason jar and screw on lid in 1858. It is my understanding he did not patent the rubber seal under the lid that provided the airtight seal. He attempted to patent the rubber seal, but he was too late. Other companies were using rubber seals with their jars. After his patent expired (1878), Mason was unable to protect his patent via the court system, opening the way for new, “Improved Mason Jar” patents.

Sadly, Mr. Mason died poor in 1902, but his Mason jar legacy lives on with his name.

Mason Jars are a collectible and a common household item today…

Ball started using Mason’s design in 1880, branding it the “Improved Mason Jar.” Blue Ball Mason Jars were produced the late 1880’s – the late 1930’s. Ball’s “Perfect Mason” was produced circa 1913 – 1922. “Ideal” Mason Jars were produced circa 1915 – 1962.

Royal Square Fruit Jars, made by A.G. Smalley Co., Boston and New York, were patented in 1896. The company closed circa 1918.

Atlas Mason Jars were started 1902. Atlas EZ Seal were produced in the early 1900’s. Atlas Strong Shoulder Mason Jars were produced circa 1920’s – 40’s.

Drey Mason Jars were made in the late nineteen hundreds to 1925, until Ball bought them. Ball continued to make Drey Mason Jars for a few years.

Did you know…

  • Mason jars (Patent 1858) were originally made of handblown glass. They can be identified by the air bubbles in the glass jar.
  • Circa 1908: Mason jars were machine made and will typically have a mold seam (line) in the glass and a glass mold and/or production mark on the bottom.
  • There were 2 common types of Mason jar closures:
    • The wire bail and glass lid that clamps down (Lightening Seal) common prior to the 1920’s.
    • Screw top jars which became more popular after the 1920’s.
  • When aging your Mason jar pay attention to the glass quality, closure, jar shape, color, logo, brand name, and base/mold/production marks.
  • Ball Mason jars were popular in eastern USA.
  • Kerr Mason jars were popular in western USA.
  • The brands Ball, Kerr and Golden Harvest Mason jars are all manufactured by the same company since 2022.
  • MARK YOUR CALENDAR: National Mason Jar Day is November 30th.

I think John Mason’s descendants should be proud that today we use their namesake “Mason” jars for endless purposes.

Until next time…

We aren’t just a market, we are Rustic Country Market Living.

Inspiring Home Life ♥️,

THE RELENTLESS REDECORATOR

Backyard Wood Fired (Pizza) Oven

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We love pizza!!! Especially NY style pizza. In fact, we took our grandsons on a Pizza Tasting Adventure a few years ago. We visited 4 build your own pizza restaurants. We watched them build and cook our pizza, which created an inspiration in us to do it at home.

We decided we wanted a wood fired outdoor brick oven, so we started to research how to build one. There’s a lot of oven options out there. Gas, wood, metal, brick, premade, or build. We decided to buy a DIY wood fired pizza oven kit from The Fire Brick Co.. The company is located in Australia. We purchased their D105 Oven Kit. Their attention to detail and support was phenomenal.

The process of building your own pizza oven is time consuming. If you prefer instant gratification, you may want to purchase a ready made metal one. We wanted one that looked authentic and we could use over and over again. We wanted to be able to see into the oven from our hot tub we installed in fall of 2022, creating a resort like atmosphere in our backyard.

  • Leveling the ground.
  • The foundation.
  • Mixing the cement the old school way.
  • Letting it sit.
  • The oven kit arrived!
  • Moving the kit onto our trailer.
  • Parking the kit in our front yard.
  • Concrete.
  • Making the concrete block support walls.
  • Pouring the upper base.
  • Leveling.
  • Letting it sit.

July, 2023: Foundation & Base

We started to build the oven in our backyard in July, 2023. After we decided on which company to buy from, the next decision was yard location. We wanted it located near our back patio. We had to prep the ground before the kit arrived. The process of building it required a lot of concrete and rebar.

Point # 1: We recommend you have construction skills (or a friend with construction skills) to built a DIY wood fired pizza oven.

  • Adding color to the cinderblock base.
  • Future sidewalls.
  • Cover
  • Embellishing the front of the oven.
  • We will have a view from our hot tub.
  • Putting on the insulation.
  • It’s basically a stucco like finish.
  • Smoothing the dome.

August, 2023: The Dome

It’s been over 1 month into this project. It took 2 weeks to complete the brick dome. Then we had to build a cover over it to protect it from the elements so it would not crack. That took 1 day.

Once the cover was done, the next steps were putting the insulation over the dome, finishing the front edge, and attaching the chimney so we could test the oven. That took 12 days.

Pizza tools arrived! A must have!!
First Fire.

September, 2023: First Fire

A little over 2 months into this project we were able to build 4 major firings in our oven AFTER allowing proper curing time as per the instructions.

October, 2023: Final Touches

All that was left was painting the dome (had to pick out the perfect paint color) and adding side walls to the covering. Total project time was a little over 3 months.

Not just a Pizza Oven!

The key to good pizza is the crust, the sauce and the CHEESE! We needed to find a good recipe for pizza dough/crust and sauce. The sauce was easy, but finding a perfect dough/crust we like was trial and error. We finally settled on a quick, thin crust recipe. You can view some of our pizza crust ideas on Pinterest board named: Roll it and pat it, and mark it with a P. (For Pizza Dough & ME!)

In addition to making pizza in our oven, we’ve grilled steaks, baked meatloaf, baked lasagna in an iron baking dish, smoked peppers & tomatoes for our homemade salsa. The oven stays warm over night, so we can easily use it the following day.

I gotta ask: “What would you cook in a wood fired oven?”

The Relentless Redecorator

We love our wood fired oven. I kinda wish we had one inside our house! And yes, we have to stock up on the proper wood to cook with. Our #1 choice: Oak.

We aren’t just a market, we are Rustic Country Market Living.

Inspiring Home Life ♥️,

THE RELENTLESS REDECORATOR

Introducing Our Rustic Country Market Guest Room…

Published on by byjoellaLeave a comment

2020 was the year of transition and challenges for us, and I’m NOT just talking about the pandemic.

My motto for 2020, was “Perfect Vision.” It was my last year working for the federal government in real property contracting. I was so excited! Due to the pandemic, I teleworked from home from March until I retired in December, 2020.

One of our 2020 goals was to relocate out of the Phoenix metro area to a small town, recreational area after I retired. We were going to downsize, but the only house we found that would work for us was a larger, 1986 house that had a lot of (undisclosed) deferred maintenance (AKA: fixer upper). After we moved everything out of our Phoenix metro house and we listed it for sale. It sold BEFORE it hit the market for more than the appraised price.

VISION: Future Guest Room…

We decided to convert the second master (primary) bedroom into a Guest Room to list on Airbnb, and to use when family and friends visit. The process of remodeling this room was an adventure in itself. Truth is, the whole house has had its share of issues: electrical, plumbing, lighting, flooring, insulation, windows, appliances, etc. At the rate we are fixing things, we practically have a new house.

  • The carpet, windows & blinds needed to be replaced.
  • The ceiling fan was defective. The blades were loose!
  • Note there’s no blades on the ceiling fan.
  • Needed to finish the wood stove area.
  • Original walk in closet, future breakfast room. Kept the 2nd closet at the other end of the room.
  • Bathroom was dated. No GFI. The tile was very slippery when wet!
  • Replacing the old door to the back storage room, our future mud room. The original door wasn’t an exterior door and the steps were dangerous.
  • Removed this door to our pantry. (There was a 2nd door on the other side.)
  • Huge, dated, jetted tub, didn’t work well. Used a lot of water!

What we did to create our Rustic Country Market Guest Room:

  • Converted the exterior storage room into a separate, exterior entrance/mud room.
  • Converted the extra walk in closet into a breakfast room.
  • Created an entry between the mud room to the breakfast room.
  • Removed the closet door that was for the walk in closet, now breakfast room.
  • Removed dated, nonfunctioning window blinds.
  • Replaced the carpet with vinyl, plank flooring.
  • Removed and sheet rocked over a second door to our walk in pantry.
  • Replaced all the windows.
  • Total renovation of the bathroom. Removed an old jetted tub.
  • Painted the walls and trim.
  • Replaced all the light fixtures.
  • Corrected electrical issues and added a GFI to the bathroom.
  • Added a carbon monoxide detector & a fire extinguisher.
  • Replaced the exterior deck & stairs.
  • Furnished and decorated the room.

Plans Changed…

Instead of using the room for an Airbnb, we moved my 80+ year old mother into the room for 3 years. The room started to be too much for her to care for, so we moved her into our smaller, back guest room, and proceeded to move forward with setting up the room as an Airbnb.

Our Airbnb Guest Room…

Kept the original bay window seat.
Includes a desk and wine chiller to the left.
The door to our pantry was originally behind the headboard.
Total bathroom remodel.
This was the original walk in closet.
This was the original outdoor storage room.
Our Guest Room after pictures.

I’ve added the following info pages related to our Rustic Country Market Guest Room:

Our hope is that guests come as strangers and leave as friends.

If you’d like to book a stay at our Rustic Country Market Guest Room: Visit our Airbnb Guest Room page.

We aren’t just a market, we are Rustic Country Market Living.

Inspiring Home Life ♥️,

THE RELENTLESS REDECORATOR