Sweet Summer Time

Summer is the time for all sorts of fun, cook outs, camping, swimming, fishing, vacation and more.  Summer means long sunny days and warm nights, it is like the fun never stops! At Louisville Farm Tables we love summer! It is the perfect time of year to have some friends over and enjoy a meal around a farm table, but the best part of summer is not the warm weather or all the fun summer activities, it is the people who you are blessed enough to share all those memories with. Friends and family is what makes summer, summer and it is what makes Louisville Farm Tables. The table is the place at the end of a day on the lake you get to sit with those closest and enjoy a laugh. It is the place that you share a meal and strengthen your bonds. Take a minute from your summer fun and reflect on all those who make your summer so sweet. For me I have to say I am thankful for my uncle who takes the time out of his weekend to go fishing with his nephew. Who doesn't get rattled when plans do not go according to plan and doesn't mind taking instruction on fly fishing from a younger man. See family and friends teach us something about sacrifice, patience and humility. With  family and friends you are in the making for a sweet summer time. 

Tell about us about your summer time and the people who make it sweet. 

Uncle Paul with his first rainbow trout on the fly. 

Perfect Winter Cocktail

We do not know how it is in the rest of the country is but here in the boarder land between north and south it has been a good taste of what grandpa would call "normal school walking weather" with a cold to match Luke Skywalker's time with the wampa. Chilly times like this give us a unique opportunity to gather around the table after a full day of sledding and enjoy the laughter of friends and family, transporting us to a time when we crossed our fingers and prayed for the magical announcement of a snow day. 

As we found ourselves on the set of Frozen we called upon the expertise of our local alchemist, Eron Plevan in hopes of creating a winter concoction to shake the frost from the bones and ward off a case of the shivers. Now... like any bit of magic, Kentucky Straight Bourbon can go a long way to rid you of the chills and raise the spirits but it can also so have dreaded consequences so don't go getting out of hand and do a two step on your dinning room table. Now we can't say we didn't warn you, anyhow we wanted to share with you how to make the perfect winter cocktail. Here it is...

STEP 1:  You will need to make yourself a honey syrup using 2 cups of honey, 1 cup of water, 1 cup ginger and a bit of rosemary. 

STEP 2: Now that you have your homemade honey syrup. It's time to get the rest of your ingratiates and get started.

Now the fun part, time to mix! You'll need 1 ounce Old Forester Signature, 1/2 ounce of your honey syrup, 2-3 dashes of Angostura Bitters, 1/4 ounce of Campari and then float with Korbel Brut. YUM.

STEP 3: Now for the final touch! Add your garnish, a Maker's Mark or similar bourbon cherry and an orange peal with rosemary. To add a nice bit of citrus aroma swath the orange peal over the glass. 

STEP 4: Gather your friends and family and enjoy your winter concoction around the table. 

Also, feel free to try it on the rocks!

Thank you for stopping by. Enjoy your snow day responsibly!

-LFT

winter lookbook // part two

Winter LookBook // part one

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Merry Christmas!

We are so excited that the time to announce the winner of our farm table giveaway is finally here! We have been blown away by everyone's responses. You have all blessed us with a ton of love and encouragement and we wish we could give you all a farm table! 

Now the moment we've all been waiting for- time to pull one lucky name from the hat! And the winner is...

...Grace Julien, from Louisville, KY. Congratulations on your new farm table Grace! We hope this makes your Christmas a little brighter and that your new year is filled with sweet times with family and friends around your Louisville Farm Table (email us at info@louisvillefarmtables to claim your prize). 

Thank you so much to everyone who participated, we loved hearing your stories and your love for our tables. Stay tuned for more giveaways like this in the future. Merry Christmas and have a happy new year. God bless

The Perfect DIY Christmas Centerpiece

This holiday season will be filled with lots of time around our dining room table. We love spending time with family, eating lots of good food, and celebrating Jesus. It seems like Christmas comes and goes so quickly and by the time you’ve finished decorating, it’s almost time to pack it all up again. We wanted a beautiful centerpiece for our farm table, but knew we didn’t have a lot of time to come up with it. So this year we decided to make something quick and easy, and we want to share it with you guys too! Hopefully this can make your decorating just a little bit simpler! Try this little project out with someone you love and enjoy a nice candlelit dinner together around your table!

Things you’ll need:

• 12-18 white candlesticks
• Gold spray paint
• Cup
• 1 piece of wood of your choice (we used a 2x8 @ 3ft)
• Drill
• Drill Bit 7/8
• Pencil
• Hammer and/or file
• Old sock
• Old t-shirt
• Sand paper (60 and 220 grit)
• A handful of nails, screws, nuts, etc (for distressing the wood)
• Rubber Gloves
• Stain of your choice (we used Minwax English Chestnut)

Step 1: While holding spray paint 12-18 inches away, spray the bottom half of each candlestick while rotating. Set candle in cup to dry.

Step 2: Take your piece of wood and mark off 12-18 evenly spaced dots where you would like your candles.

Step 3: Using your drill and drill bit, drill about a 1-inch deep hole where you made your marks.

Step 4: Using your 60-grit sand paper sand out all the corners and edges of your wood (to distress).

Step 5: Using your hammer and/or file randomly hit and chip away at the edges of your wood until you achieve your desired distressed look.

Step 6: Fill sock with nails, screws, and nuts. Place your sock on random spots of your wood and hammer away! After your finished do a final sand with the 220-grit sand paper over the entire piece of wood.

Step 7: Using an old T-shirt apply stain to your wood making sure to get all of the dings and dints covered. One coat should be plenty.

Step 8: Once your board is dry you are ready for the candles. Heat up a cup of water until boiling and dip about a half an inch of the bottom of each candle into the water. Hold candle in the water for about 10 seconds to allow the wax to get soft. Immediately press your candle firmly into the hole. (This will allow your candle to stay up straight and in place)

Step 9: Light your candles and add greenery!

Step 10: Enjoy + have a Merry Christmas around your farm table!

Hope you find this a fun project! Don't forget to enter our Christmas table give away! Learn how to enter by reading last weeks blog post. 

Islands in a sea of corn

Sometimes you wake in a place so unfamiliar, so foreign to your natural habitat, that you wonder, “how in the hell did I get here?” This is the case for me this Thanksgiving morning. Though I know in a way where I am, because I planned with a friend to visit his family in Kalona, Iowa this holiday week. I in no real way know how in the hell I ended up in the farm land of Iowa nestled in a dated, but cozy home, in one of those many wooded draws that acts as an island of civilization in a vast rolling sea of corn. Never the less, this is where I find myself this morning and my mind keeps asking myself the question, “how did I get here?” Often times we never take the time to think about the many seemingly chance circumstances that guide our lives down the ever-flowing river of life. We often do not take the time to stop and remember that all of the venturing souls that we meet on the rivers journey are people with unique and beautiful stories, stories that deserve to be shared and heard. Even here, in the fly over, farmlands of Iowa there are beautiful sojourners nestled in every wooded island with hopes and dreams and today in some providential way our rivers have converged. This holiday season take time, as you sit around the table, to think about how you got where you are. Take time to remember all of those wonderful people who have in one way or another influenced your journey. And take the time to share with one another all that you are thankful for.

Today, I am thankful for my mother whose beautiful features I share and whose love has safeguarded me through many of life’s storms. I am thankful for my father, who taught me everything I know, well at least anything of any value. I am thankful for my brothers, who have my back despite the times I have failed to have theirs. I am thankful for my friends back home, who make my life rich with joy and laughter. And today I am thankful for islands in the sea of corn that have taught me to remember how I got here. 

A case of the hiccups

First, we just want to say thank you to all who have responded in some way, shape, or form about the launch of our new website. Your responses have been so encouraging and we are incredibly grateful!

With any site launch, there is the possibility for a few hiccups despite all the testing that takes place. And we experienced a case of the hiccups. So, if you happened to email us on our new email address (info@louisvillefarmtables.com), unfortunately we didn't receive it and it is lost somewhere in cyberspace, or on some far off planet. Our mommas taught us better manners than to ignore mail so please accept our sincere apologies if you sent us a message and haven't received a response. That being said, please contact us again now that we've got everything working properly.

On another note.... can you believe Thanksgiving is less than 1 week away? It feels like time has flown by! Will you be celebrating Thanksgiving with friends and family around a Louisville Farm Table? We sure hope so and if not you can always get one for the Christmas season! 

3...2...1... we're off! And we're shootin' for the moon!

Friends, Family, and Loyal Followers,

We are excited to announce that the time has finally come and the new Louisville Farm Tables website is LIVE. 

So what is new? Well, we are happy to tell ya! First, we totally redesigned the table from the ground up (no pun intended). We changed the way the apron of the table connects to the legs and went from a single taper leg to a double taper leg. For those of you who do not know what I'm talking about, it simply means we took a lot of time to provide you with a better built, more visually appealing product. Hold on though, it gets even better! We designed the legs to be detachable, which means we can now ship to all you wonderful people who do not live in Louisville, KY--well, that is kind of a lie. We still haven't figured out how to ship outside of the lower 48, but come on we can only do so much! Those are just some of the larger changes. I'll spare you details about the smaller changes because I'm sure ya'll would just be bored.

Well enough of my rambling, take your time and look around the site and start customizing your Louisville Farm Table now! Also, we'd love to hear your feedback about our new site!