127 preserves, tips and next year!

(a post-127 surprise...hells yes!!!)

One thing that i didn't cover too much but we bought a lot of was preserves. Pretty much every time we saw them we bought. Here's a list of some of the things we are going to be eating once at home:

•  pickled tomatoes, crab apple jelly, blackberry jam, green tomato ketchup, elderberry jelly, red peach jam, half sour pickles, grape-muscadine jelly, Tennessee moonshine jelly, key lime jelly and sweet potato butter...lots of inspiration.

(i also managed to score a number of old school preserving books and one on smoking seafood Florida Cracker style!)

Tips for the 127 Yard Sale (if you go to previous years HERE and HERE you can get all of the tips for the sale, but as far as new ones):

1. One thing that i found really useful on this trip was bringing your own canvas bags-we all have them I know but they will get a lot of use out here. Plastic bags are heavily used in the area so if you want to eliminate waste, for sure bring your own.
2. Saturday was incredibly HOT, more than the other days and what really helped was putting a thin towel in our ice chest that morning and using when it became unbearable-that and freezing a bottle of water in your hotel the night before is a great tip for those who really cannot deal with the heat to well.
3. NOTES: this is what i am starting to do NOW. Take notes of where exactly you found your favorite vendor (town, park, etc) and what kinds of things you found there-this will help you fine-tune your shopping and cover more ground.
4. Know where the banks are!: we were starting to run out of cash (most people DO NOT accept checks and yeah right on cards) and Wells Fargo (one of my banks) was nowhere in the area...be prepared.
5. Set a realistic budget: i went over, i admit and i should have prepared for more, the more i do this trip the more i can get a handle of how much i actually want to do.  I will be honest with you, prepare on spending $100 a day (i did not do this)...but for your first time this is perfect i think...of course more is better but do you have the room to carry it all back??  think about that too!
6. CAST IRON SURPRISE: if you take I-40 from Nashville to Memphis you will cross the Lodge Cast Iron factory store-hells yes!  I know you probably have just went through 200 miles of vintage cast iron madness but if you are looking for new, you have to stop here!  Located in a South Pittsburg about an hour outside of Nashville, the factory store has this backroom where they have "mistake pieces" or not absolutely perfect quality-WELCOME TO THE GOLD MINE! there is a ton  of stuff for basically wholesale (but minus the super expensive shipping). Picked up some Christmas gifts, a wok, grill for our stove...about 15 pieces for less than $150!

(very overwhelmed)

So do you want to do the yard sale, but really would rather spend the $$ going on a tropical vacation and not treasuring hunting in a wet sauna??  don't have the patience to drive across the country just to drive on a hwy for a few hundred miles just to drive back home?? too busy in August to make the sale but want some unique items for you home, business or gift???

We will be doing this trip for as long as I can and would be happy to do some personal shopping for you! If you would like for me to do shopping for you on 127 or another adventure that i go on, please email me at the following email address and i will send you over a form so that you get the items you have always wanted-just for you!...i will even pick you up some cast iron if you need me to (because i am for sure going back there again).
delilahsnell1@gmail.com