This hoosier cabinet is now living in my dining room. I had been looking for something like this for awhile, and this one found me by way of Craig's List. It was a lot cheaper than similar ones I'd seen in antique shops and it fits in the space, so I was excited to bring it home. Imagine my delight at finding a note from the previous owner in it, saying that she acquired it while living in Wichita Falls, Texas! She said it was used as a display piece in a gift shop where she worked and that it was the only piece of furniture there to survive the big tornado of 1979. Little did she know that I grew up just an hour from that city, and I knew people who lost their homes in that storm. And now, here I sit admiring the "new to me" cabinet that survived the big one.
I liked the cabinet to begin with - I like having furniture that has a history. I like imagining the pioneer woman who used the grinder in the cabinet to make flour so she could bake bread on a wood stove. I like thinking about how she might have stored the food she put by to feed her family in it. It might have made a trip in a covered wagon, or lived in a soddy. And now I know in addition to being a useful piece of furniture for a few generations, it made the same trek I did from Texas to Oregon. AND it survived some seriously stormy weather to get here - I like having a survivor in the house. And I'm looking forward to adding to its stories!
