The Rural Voice, 1989-12, Page 37"still has more craftmanship in it., all
the way through," says Ross.
Also throughout the shop are
crafts, including Mennonite quilts, a
pine pig, needlepoint pictures, and a
panorama -painted cross -cut saw.
Many of the crafts are local and some
Joan makes herself.
As the Johnsons have discovered,
this is not an inexpensive undertaking.
Besides the cost of the shed and the
obvious investment in merchandise,
there's insurance, advertising, and
additional property taxes.
But the biggest investment of all
is time. Almost every weekend and
many evenings, Ross or Joan or both
are away "sale-ing", as their youngest
daughter Gwen, 15, puts it.
You can spend all day at a sale and
come home with nothing more than a
towel rack, Joan says. But a sale is
also a good place to see what sells and
for how much, and even to meet pros-
pective customers.
Then there are the antiques them-
selves. The often need to be cleaned,
repaired, and refinished.
And Ross and Joan accomplish all
this while staying involved in a variety
of community and family activities
and running a large feedlot and hog
operation.
The Johnsons don't pretend that
opening an antique store has made
them instant experts. A few years ago,
Ross didn't know what flo-blue china
was. Now he collects it. They also
admit that they are occasionally fooled
— especially in bad light — into mis-
taking something new for something
old.
"Trends" in antiques come and go.
Right now, the Johnsons say, glass -
fronted china cabinets, granite ware,
Hoosier cabinets, and ice boxes are in
big demand.
Despite the number of hours they
put into it, the antique shop is still
only a part-time business. They're
open weekends and holidays but the
rest of the week is by "appointment or
chance." And Ross, in particular, gets
frustrated when customer traffic is
slow.
But they also realize that they're a
bit off the beaten track and that it will
take time and even more hard work to
build the reputation and success they
hope for.0
JACK RIDDELL, MPP, HURON
Parliamentary
Assistant to the
otiMinister of
Natural Resources
AGRI DIVISION
PERFORMANCE LEADERS IN FARM AUTOMATION
We service what we sell
Special thanks to our customers
and warmest wishes
for a prosperous New Year.
J
,(� w BC
`�' SYSTEMS DEALER
SCALE DIVISION
THE ANSWER TO LOWLABOUR MULTIPLE FEEDING
WAS RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSES ALL THE TIME ... GRAIN WBRAIN
AND IT ISN'T COMPUTERIZED!
It took a dairyman to Invent such a perfect feeder.
We call this exciting new Starline® feeder 'Grain Brain-rm because it 'thinks for itself'. Here's how it works:
When you do your regular feeding, you also fill your 'Grain Brain' 'Thf multifeeders. Grain Brain does the
rest. At the time you have preset into Grain Braine, the multifeeders drop feed for each cow's next feeding.
That means you go from two or three -time to four or six -time -per -day feeding with no extra labour! Grain
Brain is simple, easy to operate, reliable and capable of paying for itself in less than a year. We're anxious
to tell you the whole story, so call us at Elmira Agri Systems soon. By the way, 'Grain Brain -n.1 was invented
by a Minnesota dairyman for his own barn. Now a lot of his neighbours have one, too.
BUTLER ...the better way
Strong
replacements
Ring -Oft.
performer
R.R. 4., Elmira 519-669-1655 Hanover 519-364-5226
DECEMBER 1989 35