015: The Farm Chicks with Serena Thompson

Podcast 015 | The Farm Chicks with Serena Thompson
On this episode, Jeanne interviews Serena Thompson, stay-at-home mom turned creator of
nationally loved bucket-list event The Farm Chicks Vintage and Handmade Fair.

2:45 “We started in my neighbor’s barn…and it just exploded.”

4:53 “I did have vision of what it could be, what I dreamed of it being, and my only north star
at that point was Emma Lee Turney who founded the Round Top Antiques Fair, she was such a
pioneer and just doing beautiful things.”

6:09 “She told me to call myself a producer or a promoter. And I thought. ‘I like that.” She
was saying ‘You’re a businesswoman, so you should call yourself one.”

8:10 “I think that so many of us who are creative are yearning for more than just creating
something in our garages. There’s a special feeling about being able to connect with others
who have a creative vision and embracing each other and being appreciated…”

10:34 “My biggest joy is seeing these artists be embraced.”

14:44 “What I’m looking for is always a new spark, I don’t want it to be like anything else. This
is once a year, and I want it to be special.”

19:47 “First and foremost, it is important to have a vision of what it is you want to create…you
start from that, and it’s really important to stay authentic to that.”

26:06 “I think people trying to create something now, since there’s so many markets that exist,
I think it’s just really important to be yourself, not to try to be anybody else…find your niche, find
what’s special to you, and say yes to that.”

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 American Indians.  I was named Serena Melegra Ume De La Luz – Serena, after the name of the daughter of my mom’s mentor, a member of the Klamath River Indians Tribe.  Melegra was chosen for its meaning which is miracle.  And Ume was a name spontaneously chosen by my dad, moments after he delivered me in an abandoned dirt-floored cabin in the woods where they had temporarily parked our gypsy wagon home.  She’s part you, part me, he told my mom.

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, we've raised four children, and my dreams have come true.  Along the way, I founded The Farm Chicks Fair and have written two books: The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen and The Farm Chicks Christmas.  I document my life as an entrepreneur, wife, mom, author, and Contributing Editor for Country Living Magazine on social media (Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefarmchicks/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefarmchicks/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/serenathompson/ ) and share more about my life and my story from time to time, on my blog, www.thefarmchicks.com

You can find information on The Farm Chicks Fair on the website here: https://thefarmchicks.com/fc-vintage-fair/

Jeanne Oliver

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Become the artist you dream to be. Creativity is Calling at jeanneoliver.com.

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