Goin' Pickin'

It was a rainy Saturday morning, and Cori Falkner really wanted to stay in bed. But she and her mom had an appointment to go "pickin'."

Falkner, who is proprietor of the Flying Pig in Prairie Grove, was inspired by the TV show "American Pickers" and by her mom, who was a picker before pickers were cool.

"She and her best friend have been 'junkin,' so to speak, since the late '70s," she says. "When I was young, I got dragged around with her and her friend -- and I didn't always want to go -- but now look where I'm at! I think subconsciously I was learning what's good ...

"When I went with her, everyone was big into Depression glass and things like that," Falkner continues. "But it's kind of transitioned into more primitive stuff -- old tin cans, signs -- and it's kind of an adrenaline rush if I know I'm going somewhere that has a lot of things. What if you find that needle in a haystack you've been looking for?"

That Saturday ramble took Falkner to "out in the middle of nowhere," somewhere around Goshen. The seller was getting ready for an estate sale, but she knew Falkner's artistry as an "upcycler" and wanted to give her first pick.

"It was a little red barn, just full of primitives," Falkner remembers, smiling. "I found a little table from 1910 or 1920, and it's one of my favorite pieces I've ever done -- just a sweet little table."

Many picking adventures come with spiders and/or snakes -- "which are my two biggest fears," Falkner says. "After the first one or two times, you put on your muck boots and long pants and bring your flashlight. You have to assess the situation, and if you're going to have to crawl around, put on your mask and gloves!"

Falkner says she also has to assess what it's going to take to "bring a piece back to life."

"It's something I put a lot of passion in to," says the artist, who has a bachelor's degree in art from the University of Arkansas. "A piece can take anywhere from two weeks to a month to complete."

That said, Falkner is ready for her next adventure. She'll be one of the vendors at Junk Yard Dog's Junk Fest, raising money this weekend for the Friends of the Prairie Grove Pound.

"We've done this for the pound for the last four or five years," says spokeswoman Sharon Glover, "and I've always just taken all the donations and fluffed them and painted them! This is the first year we've had vendors."

Glover says there will be 251/2 vendors -- counting one junior vendor, an 11-year-old, who makes dog toys and a 5-year-old who will have a lemonade stand. Money from booth fees and a concession stand called The Chow Hound will go straight to the no-kill shelter.

Joining Falkner as a first-year vendor will be Jessica Eck, who calls her part-time business Ozark Apothecary. From Lincoln, she started making lotions, hand creams, salves and soaps four years ago to calm her "chronically dry" skin.

"A lot of commercial lotions have a lot of additives for feel, but they don't do anything for hydration or skin health," she says. She is completely self-taught, she says, although she wishes she'd been able to take classes close to home and is thinking about teaching some.

"I consider myself very lucky to be in a place that values the 'made local' mentality," she says, explaining she's just converted to local beeswax and is delighted. "I could never have made a job out of crafting in northeast Arkansas."

Glover says she feels lucky, too. Because the shelter is funded by the Friends of the Prairie Grove Pound, the $30,000 to $30,000 a year it costs in care for the animals has to be raised by the organization. And she says thanks to "near constant" fundraising, she knows animal lovers will make sure that happens.

NAN What's Up on 09/02/2016