Etsy Business Profile: forgottenPLUM

Today we're chatting with Jeanne from forgottenPLUM about her vintage shop on Etsy.

Tell us a bit about you and your shop.

My name is Jeanne Focht (pronounced Foke). My husband of 29 years gave me that difficult last name! We have lived in Nappanee, IN since 1986. It's a town of about 6,500 people at the crossroad of U.S. Highway 6 and State Road 19, in the heart of conservative, practical and hard work living/farming/RV manufacturing and the Amish. We are English, as the Amish call anyone not Amish. :) We have 3 grown married daughters. In the past 8 months we've married off the youngest and added two granddaughters to the family. We are in love with 8 month old Emerson and 2 month old Coralynn!

   Our backyard                                                                             With my grand daughters

Is there a story behind your shop name?

The name forgottenPLUM came from a brainstorming session to help my middle daughter start her own Etsy shop. At the time I was helping run another shop with a friend. All of us girls in the family enjoy antiques and vintage items and don't want to see them forgotten or discarded. We love hunting and finding the 'plum' or special treasure that needs re-discovered and re-used. The Etsy adventure seemed like a low-risk way to offer the things we love to others.

Vintage German dog figurine - Dog figurine - Vintage Terrier figurine

How did you end up selling vintage?

When Joslynn went on to being a new mom, I took over the shop. And I love it! I work part-time at our local high school, but would love to do Etsy full-time. I also have a booth at our local antique mall. I like rustic farmhouse items, '30s and '40s dishes, wooden boxes, pottery bowls, luggage. I also like simple cottage/garden decor. My husband has caught my obsession and now goes on junking trips with me. Amazing.

Vintage metal frames - Vintage wooden blocks - Vintage creamer and sugar set

When did you notice your love for vintage?

My grandmas and great grandmas fostered my love for vintage and antiques. My great grandma gave me old tea cups for birthday gifts when I was a kid. Kinda weird to get a tea cup when you're 10 years old for a birthday present. But I appreciate them as I've grown. I loved growing up in a farm family, loved the history of the land where we were raised, loved playing with my grandma's old dresses, loved looking at old photos and hearing the stories of their own childhoods. My parents and aunt and uncle still live in the houses that my ancestors built over 150 years ago. That's pretty cool.

Me and my sisters with grandma Sarah. I'm the one on the right... with the awesome bangs. LOL

Do you collect anything (vintage or not)?

Green is one of my favorite colors, so I'm very attracted to jadite and some of the green McCoy planters. I have a small collection of planters beginning with the McCoy frog and turtle from my grandma's auction years ago. My jadite collection is growing slowly. I'm very cheap! LOL And right now I'm very attracted to a set of luggage that I should be trying to sell!

Is there a special story about any of your sales?

I love hearing from buyers, telling how they plan to use the item they purchased from forgottenPLUM. Like the lady who bought an old wood recipe box stuffed full of vintage recipes, writing to tell me she just received it in the mail and was having a cup of tea as she sat down to read through them. Or the serviceman who bought a vintage copy of Wuthering Heights to give to his fiancé when he arrived back home. I just love when vintage and antique items get another life to live!

Vintage sewing supplies in tin - Belgium Art Deco tin - Antique container

Anything you would like to add?

When I'm not working Etsy, the booth, babysitting or visiting grandkids, or working my real job, I play piano for the high school choir functions and programs and also play piano/keyboards in the worship band at our church. My husband is the administrative pastor, one of 10 pastors on staff there. Its a big congregation that is known as the "miracle in the cornfield." There's no earthly explanation for the growth and expansion this congregation has experienced over the past several decades. We feel very blessed and grateful to be able to witness God's hand working in so many ways.