When the journey in our family gypsy wagon came to an end, we settled down in a little shack on the Klamath River in Northern California in a place called Croy Gulch. The gulch was hot and dry and suffering from several years of drought. Rattle snakes ruled the land, poison oak thrived, and we and our bare feet weren’t the least bit intimidated. We were strong and independent kids.
Shortly after we arrived, I decided to take ownership of the Gypsy Wagon and make it my own “room”. And each night, after dinner, I loved leaving our family’s little shack with my life-sized homemade doll, Mr. Howdy Doody in tow, and making my way to my gypsy wagon where I’d settle into my cozy calico bed and read by kerosene lantern. Life was good.
Good until the middle of my second grade year, when an executive at Magic Mountain theme park (now known as Six Flags) noticed my gypsy wagon in the pages of the book, Shelter, where it had been featured, along with a story about our family. He imagined it’d make a great feature in the park, in an artsy area called Spillikin Corners. Somehow, he tracked us down and made an offer to buy it. No way!, I thought. Was he crazy?! But just like that, my gypsy wagon was gone and I was left with a broken heart.
I’ll never forget the day the picture was taken with my family around the wagon and me in the cab and how I was feeling at the time. It was the last time I ever sat in my gypsy wagon.
Eventually my dad built another wagon and we moved away from Croy Gulch. And my sadness slowly wore away as I discovered home really was anywhere my heart was and really, what I made of my life, not where I made my bed.
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...
COPYRIGHT 2026
THE FARM CHICKS
P.O. BOX 9866
SPOKANE, WA 99209
COPYRIGHT 2026
THE FARM CHICKS
P.O. BOX 9866
SPOKANE, WA 99209