10/02/2026
How The Salty Barn Came to Be
The Salty Barn didn't happen overnight.
Truthfully, I've been working toward this for close to ten years.
It started in a much different place. I was freshly out of a stem cell transplant, raising my boys, helping my parents, and trying to figure out how to bring in a little extra income while living with the ups and downs that came with rebuilding my life and my health.
I started crafting.
Then I started selling things.
And somewhere along the way, Mom's fossils, minerals, crystals, shells, and other treasures from her adventures became part of the picture too.
What started as "Maybe I can make a little money doing this" slowly became something much bigger.
There were good years and really hard years. There were times when I thought I had finally found my footing, only to have life knock me sideways again. There were projects started, ideas put on hold, and plenty of figuring things out as I went.
But I never completely let go of the idea.
And now, after all these years, I'm finally at a place where I feel ready to confidently launch **The Salty Barn**.
The Barn is about craft consignment, but it's also about craft supplies, natural materials, unfinished projects, completed creations, and giving people a place to find something that sparks an idea.
And there's another part of this story that means just as much to me.
My mom has spent more than 20 years traveling, exploring, collecting fossils, minerals, crystals, and other pieces of Earth's history. Those adventures were part of her own retirement plan, and now I'm helping bring that plan into The Salty Barn so she can continue enjoying her adventures while her collection continues to support her.
In so many ways, she's helped me through the years.
Now it's my turn to help her.
And I want my boys to be part of it too.
My hope is that, as The Salty Barn grows, they'll have the opportunity to work alongside meānot just to help with the work, but to actually learn what it takes to run a business. Inventory. Pricing. Customer service. Money. Marketing. Problem solving. The good days, the frustrating days, and everything in between.
Because sometimes the best education is getting your hands dirty and figuring it out together.
And then there's the community.
I don't want The Salty Barn to simply be a place where things are bought and sold. I want it to become a place that gives back. A place where we can support local organizations through donation drives, help connect people with resources, create opportunities for other makers, and hopefully give people a reason to stop in, look around, talk to one another, and feel like they belong.
We're still very much at the beginning.
The shelves aren't full yet. The plans will probably change a hundred times. We're going to make mistakes. We're going to learn.
But that's okay.
Because this isn't just about opening a business.
It's about taking nearly ten years of ideas, setbacks, creativity, family, hard work, and a whole lot of stubborn determinationāand finally building something from it.
We're only at the beginning of a barn raising.
And I have a feeling this little Barn might grow into something that changes our little corner of the world.
Welcome to The Salty Barn.
Come see what we're building.
Send a message to learn more
