It was the first weekend of December and things were busy at the property just off Miller Road in Valley Center. Holiday music and the sound of food truck generators filled the air.
Hundreds of people had come from all over Southern California and beyond to experience Brick N Barn — although some people believe it should be known by another name.
“Some people were like, 'You should call it the Betty Crocker Estate,'" said Marlise Kast-Myers, co-owner of Brick N Barn.
Why "the Betty Crocker Estate?"
Because one of its previous residents, Agnes White, was one of the radio voices of "Betty Crocker," a fictional character created about a century ago to dole out baking advice.
But Kast-Myers said when she and her husband bought the place five years ago, she wanted it to have a whole identity separate from Agnes or Betty Crocker.
"It’s a bonus, but once you come here you’re finding an experience, a community," Kast-Myers said.
Creating that experience took a lot of work. When they bought the property, it was in bad shape.
“Everything was dead. We hauled away over 20 tons of garbage, a lot of green waste. The pool was broken, the barn was leaking, we had a rat infestation," Kast-Myers said. "There was just a lot of love that the place needed.”
And a lot of love is what it got — in the form of money spent and sweat equity invested. Fortunately, Kast-Myers' husband Benjamin Myers is one of those people who can build, fix and improve all sorts of things.
"Gardens, chicken coops, repairing roofs, putting in sprinkler lines, the whole front yard, he did all the landscaping on that, which we call Central Park. He built all the stalls for the vendors that come once a month," Kast-Myers said.
Those vendors include all sorts of arts and crafts. There’s an apothecary, and plenty of temptations for the tummy — homemade jams and jellies, fresh-baked bread and other baked goodies.
“A lot of people that have never been here before just can’t believe that they’ve never heard about it before," said Harold Cook, manager of Brick N Barn.
“I think it’s really like community. People love to come and hang out. We have customers that come every month, and they’ll come early, get a coffee, shop a little, they’ll come out front, they’ll sit and chat and then they’ll eat lunch and then they’ll shop some more," Cook said.
Much of that shopping happens inside the barn. People were packed in, strolling the aisles, discovering all sorts of seasonal delights, things you probably wouldn’t see anywhere else. But next month, all the holiday merchandise will be gone, replaced with new treasures the vendors will find in their "off" weeks.
“If everything looked exactly the same with a few new things in it, the motivation to come would not be the same," Cook explained. "A lot of our customers think we have three weeks off, or four weeks off, and we’re here every week putting it together for them."
Bob McNeil, 90, presides over one of the outside stalls. Unlike the bakery, or the plush toys being knit while you watch, you never know what you’re going to find at McNeil's place.
“It’s the hunt, being out there — estate sales, pawn shops, yard sales. It’s just exciting, it’s the buying," McNeil said.
And the selling, lots of selling. A line stretched out of the barn for hours, made up of people just waiting to pay for their items.
Outside, around the back of the barn, you find something quite unexpected, unless you’re an archaeologist or historian. They are grinding stones, once used by Kumeyaay women to grind things like corn into meal. Kast-Myers said they are all over the property, and today they serve a very different purpose.
“They double now today as little bird fountains for our birds," she said with a giggle.
A lot of birds call this their home: peacocks who wander down to see what’s going on with all the humans, a flock of guinea hens, a pair of turkeys and various other fowl.
Apart from the Brick N Barn experience, there’s something else very special on this nine-acre plot of land: the main house, which began its life in 1883 as the Clark House. But by 1941 Agnes White and her family had moved there, and she did the Betty Crocker radio cooking show from the house’s kitchen.
Kast-Myers said she and her husband have restored the place, but not renovated it.
Carpet was ripped up, on the stairs revealing a secret drawer. The two bathrooms were modernized. A speaker sitting in a bathtub played "new age" music, meant for people outside getting a massage or spa treatment next to the pool.
But the main thing here, at least from the Betty Crocker years, is the kitchen.
“So this spot right here is where Agnes White did her cooking show on the air," Kast-Myers said, motioning to one end of the kitchen next to a window.
A period photo shows White in front of a microphone of that era, talking about recipes, answering listeners questions.
The house is not open to the public. It is, after all, where Kast-Myers and her husband live.
But there is so much to see and experience here in this place of warmth, of community.
Visit Brick N Barn's website for more information.
