Growing up, we never had typical halloween costumes. Maybe because we were a hippy family who stood out from the pack anyway. No costumes required. But I was a child of the Seventies and had seen Star Wars. So, I donned my coolest paisley sundress, threw on my tennies, gave myself a pulled-up hair-do, and became Princess Leia.
And boy oh boy, did we ever look forward to trick or treating! Our mom didn’t often allow sugar or cocoa in our home, it was honey and carob for us. So, Halloween was a very big deal. One weekend, when we were in the process of moving from our rickety little house on the river to our new property in the mountains, my siblings and I went to stay with Little Larry. Little Larry was one of a huge group of characters who were friends with our parents, and it was the hippy way to have some sort of a different name. Names like Mangey Mountain Mike, Ishanovi, Snake, Cat, and my best friend who I grew up with, Shotgunn. Anyway, it was just before Halloween, and after picking us up, Little Larry announced that he was taking us to Thrifty’s to get a bag of candy each. EACH! After a huge amount of indecision, my brother chose Hersheys, my sister Butterfinger, and I chose Starbursts. And we immediately set in on devouring our big bags.
Little Larry lived in a tiny little travel trailer on our property, with a little propane tank that, turns out, had a leak. So, we spent the night gorging on candy and breathing propane-filled air. When our parents came to pick us up, we were all incredibly sick. “It’s the refined sugar!” my mom exclaimed in despair and we believed her. That stuff is terrible, I thought and swore off Starbursts forever.
IT'S ME, SERENA!
I bounced through the first years of my life in a hippie gypsy wagon, hand-built by my father, wandering the back roads of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. My family eventually settled into a tiny cabin in the woods on property that was once inhabited by Native American Indians.
I spent my childhood days searching for arrowheads, teaching myself to sew on a treadle sewing machine and to bake in a wood-burning stove, with no running water, refrigeration, or electricity in our home. My family lived frugally and early on, inspired by my parent’s thriftiness and style, I gained a knack for thrifty creativity and turning ordinary objects into something useful. And I dreamed of the home I would create for my own family someday.
Now I’m married to my husband, Colin, and our children are all grown. After 24 years of producing The Farm Chicks Vintage & Handmade Fair, I'm spending time visiting other markets around the world. You can watch episodes of Serena Goes to Market here.
I share more about my life story from time to time, here on my blog. You can also find me on Instagram, and Facebook.
MORE POSTS LIKE THIS
My Early Years of Isolation
I used to joke with Colin that I could make soup from stones, and in the early days of our marriage while we he was building his career and I was leaving mine to become a stay-at-home mom, that soup-from-stones thriftiness helped to get us through. The ability of mine...
Portugal, My Heart
Colin and I arrived in Portugal today, beginning a journey that has a lot of meaning and is sort of like a new beginning to me. Having been born to parents who seemed to be searching for something in life that was beyond anything I understood, there were a lot of...
My Pastry Chef Dream
The day after The Farm Chicks Fairlast June, I was sitting through orientation for culinary school, about to embark on a longheld dream of mine to become a pastry chef that began taking shape when I was a little girl. In many ways, the timing wasn't great while we...