Speaking of Antiquing – August 2018

Before you go camping this summer, stop in to Pickety Place, pick up some vintage items and then go “old school” camping.

Take a 3 or 5-gallon crock instead of a cooler to keep your items cold. It might be heavy, but if you are near a very cold mountain stream, you could put the crock down in the shallows and fill it with your perishables. Put a lid on it and hold it down with a rock. The pottery of the crock will absorb the cold from the water and keep your milk as cold as in your refrigerator.

A vintage water cooler with a metal shell and a ceramic liner will keep liquids cold also, and this too can be set into a creek or stream. The thick ceramic lining is like a crock, in that it will hold the cold longer than a plastic cooler.

Cooking over an open fire with a cast iron frying pan is camping pleasure. You can fit a fish and potatoes in the same pan. We have several long-handled, steel frying pans in various sizes that will work just as well. Don’t forget the beauty of a Dutch oven with a good-fitting lid. In one you can make peach cobbler in just over an hour.

No point in forgetting the coffee; we have a few old graniteware or copper pots that give new meaning to “cowboy coffee.” Choose one of the old percolator types for a strong brew. A sturdy cast iron tea pot will keep hot water at the ready.

For tableware, you will find colorful enamelware plates, bowls, spoons, cups, and an old pitcher or two.

Large enamelware bowls are always needed. Use one for a dish pan, another for a salad bowl, vegetable bowl or whatever. There is a large galvanized tub for washing the kids.

If you look up, hanging from the beams, I am sure you will find an old lantern that works quite well. There are also some old brass candle holders that have seen many a dark night.

Don’t forget the tablecloth, a good red checked one will work just fine, but then there are the florals and damask also… you decide.

We have some old salt and pepper shakers, some old Tupperware catsup bottles, a butter keeper, and egg keepers, too.

There are plenty of manual egg beaters to choose from, old kitchen utensils, buckets and strainers. There is even an old egg-gathering type wire basket to put your fruit in.

Your vintage camp will be fully-equipped if you spend some time gathering.

I’ll bet you will even be able to find an old camp toaster, or a basket popcorn maker that you shake in the flames.

Find a cozy old quilt or two and cozy up by the camp fire and read an old novel that was published before you were born.