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“
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
”
~ Mark TwainDebbie Bosworth
is a certified farmgirl at heart. She’s happily married to her beach bum Yankee husband of 20 years. She went from career gal to being a creative homeschooling mom for two of her biggest blessings and hasn’t looked back since. Debbie left her lifelong home in the high desert of Northern Nevada 10 years ago and washed up on the shore of America’s hometown, Plymouth, MA, where she and her family are now firmly planted. They spend part of each summer in a tiny, off–grid beach cottage named “The Sea Horse.”
“I found a piece of my farmgirl heart when I discovered MaryJanesFarm. Suddenly, everything I loved just made more sense! I enjoy unwinding at the beach, writing, gardening, and turning yard-sale furniture into ‘Painted Ladies’ I’m passionate about living a creative life and encouraging others to ‘make each day their masterpiece.’”
Column contents © Deb Bosworth. All rights reserved.
Being a farmgirl is not
about where you live,
but how you live.Rebekah Teal
is a “MaryJane Farmgirl” who lives in a large metropolitan area. She is a lawyer who has worked in both criminal defense and prosecution. She has been a judge, a business woman and a stay-at-home mom. In addition to her law degree, she has a Masters of Theological Studies.
“Mustering up the courage to do the things you dream about,” she says, “is the essence of being a MaryJane Farmgirl.” Learning to live more organically and closer to nature is Rebekah’s current pursuit. She finds strength and encouragement through MaryJane’s writings, life, and products. And MaryJane’s Farmgirl Connection provides her a wealth of knowledge from true-blue farmgirls.
Column contents © Rebekah Teal. All rights reserved.
“
Keep close to Nature’s heart … and break clear away once in awhile to climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods, to wash your spirit clean.
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~ John MuirCathi Belcher
an old-fashioned farmgirl with a pioneer spirit, lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. As a “lifelong learner” in the “Live-Free-or-Die” state, she fiercely values self-reliance, independence, freedom, and fresh mountain air. Married to her childhood sweetheart of 40+ years (a few of them “uphill climbs”), she’s had plenty of time to reinvent herself. From museum curator, restaurant owner, homeschool mom/conference speaker, to post-and-beam house builder and entrepreneur, she’s also a multi-media artist, with an obsession for off-grid living and alternative housing. Cathi owns and operates a 32-room mountain lodge. Her specialty has evolved to include “hermit hospitality” at her rustic cabin in the mountains, where she offers weekend workshops of special interest to women.
“Mountains speak to my soul, and farming is an important part of my heritage. I want to pass on my love of these things to others through my writing. Living in the mountains has its own particular challenges, but I delight in turning them into opportunities from which we can all learn and grow.”
Column contents © Cathi Belcher. All rights reserved.
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Wherever you go, no matter the weather, always bring your own sunshine.
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~ Anthony J. D’AngeloDori Troutman
Dori Troutman is the daughter of second generation cattle ranchers in New Mexico. She grew up working and playing on the ranch that her grandparents homesteaded in 1928. That ranch, with the old adobe home, is still in the family today. Dori and her husband always yearned for a ranch of their own. That dream came true when they retired to the beautiful green rolling hills of Tennessee. Truly a cattleman’s paradise!
Dori loves all things farmgirl and actually has known no other life but that. She loves to cook, craft, garden, and help with any and all things on their cattle farm.
Column contents © Dori Troutman. All rights reserved.
Shery Jespersen
Previous Ranch Farmgirl,
Oct 2009 – Nov 2013Wyoming cattle rancher and outpost writer (rider), shares the “view from her saddle.” Shery is a leather and lace cowgirl-farmgirl who’s been horse-crazy all of her life. Her other interests include “junktiques,” arts and crafts, glamping, collecting antique china, and cultivating mirth.
Mary Murray
describes herself as a goat charmer, chicken whisperer, bee maven, and farmers’ market baker renovating an 1864 farmhouse on an Ohio farm. With a degree in Design, Mary says small-town auctions and country road barn sales "always make my heart skip a beat thinking about what I could create or design out of what I’ve seen.”
Rooted in the countryside, she likes simple things and old ways … gardening, preserving the harvest, cooking, baking, and all things home. While you might find her selling baked goods from the farm’s milkhouse, teaching herself to play the fiddle, or sprucing up a vintage camper named Maizy, you will always find her in an apron!
Mary says, “I’m happiest with the simple country pleasures … an old farmhouse, too many animals, a crackling fire, books to read, and the sound of laughter … these make life just perfect.”
Column contents © Mary Murray. All rights reserved.
Farmgirl
is a condition
of the heart.Alexandra Wilson
is a budding rural farmgirl living in Palmer, the agricultural seat of Alaska. Alex is a graduate student at Alaska Pacific University pursuing an M.S. in Outdoor and Environmental Education. She lives and works on the university’s 700 acre environmental education center, Spring Creek Farm. When Alex has time outside of school, she loves to rock climb, repurpose found objects, cross-country ski on the hay fields, travel, practice yoga, and cook with new-fangled ingredients.
Alex grew up near the Twin Cities and went to college in Madison, Wisconsin—both places where perfectly painted barns and rolling green farmland are just a short drive away. After college, she taught at a rural middle school in South Korea where she biked past verdant rice paddies and old women selling home-grown produce from sidewalk stoops. She was introduced to MaryJanesFarm after returning, and found in it what she’d been searching for—a group of incredible women living their lives in ways that benefit their families, their communities, and the greater environment. What an amazing group of farmgirls to be a part of!
Column contents © Alexandra Wilson. All rights reserved.
Libbie Zenger
Previous Rural Farmgirl,
June 2010 – Jan 2012Libbie’s a small town farmgirl who lives in the high-desert Sevier Valley of Central Utah on a 140-year-old farm with her husband and two darling little farmboys—as well as 30 ewes; 60 new little lambs; a handful of rams; a lovely milk cow, Evelynn; an old horse, Doc; two dogs; a bunch o’ chickens; and two kitties.
René Groom
Previous Rural Farmgirl,
April 2009 – May 2010René lives in Washington state’s wine country. She grew up in the dry-land wheat fields of E. Washington, where learning to drive the family truck and tractors, and “snipe hunting,” were rites of passage. She has dirt under her nails and in her veins. In true farmgirl fashion, there is no place on Earth she would rather be than on the farm.
Farmgirl spirit can take root anywhere—dirt or no dirt.
Nicole Christensen
Suburban Farmgirl Nicole Christensen calls herself a “vintage enthusiast”. Born and raised in Texas, she has lived most of her life in the picturesque New England suburbs of Connecticut, just a stone’s throw from New York State. An Advanced Master Gardener, she has gardened since childhood, in several states and across numerous planting zones. In addition, she teaches knitting classes, loves to preserve, and raises backyard chickens.
Married over thirty years to her Danish-born sweetheart, Nicole has worked in various fields, been a world-traveler, an entrepreneur and a homemaker, but considers being mom to her now-adult daughter her greatest accomplishment. Loving all things creative, Nicole considers her life’s motto to be “Bloom where you are planted”.
Column contents © Nicole Christensen. All rights reserved.
Paula Spencer
Previous Suburban Farmgirl,
October 2009 – October 2010Paula is a mom of four and a journalist who’s partial to writing about common sense and women’s interests. She’s lived in five great farm states (Michigan, Iowa, New York, Tennessee, and now North Carolina), though never on a farm. She’s nevertheless inordinately fond of heirloom tomatoes, fine stitching, early mornings, and making pies. And sock monkeys.
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Archives
Welcome, Libbie!
I can’t wait to read more…
Genevieve
It is great to meet you Libbie Zenger of central Utah! The reason I bother to pop over here and read is because the ones that answer seem to be "real" people-just the kind I like! I’m an original West Virginia farmgirl, imported into Ohio and turned career girl, now retired and still looking for a patch of dirt to plant things (veggie and flowers).
Hi Libby thank you for sharing your farmgirl information. I am Farm Girl # 227.
Although not a farmer I live in Rural Virginia.
Looking forward to your blog. Pat
Hi,
Loved to see a different view of Utah, than my own from SLC’s westside "barrio" area. Thank you for the lovely "view" of you and yours. I am a farm girl stuck in the city, trying to live "country" the best I can. Nice to meet you!
Hi Libbie,
julie jo here 30 years old, living the farm dreams here on the northern tip of California in Fort Dick, where the giant redwoods meet the ocean and so does the Smith River. Anyhow, I’m looking forward to hearing more of your farm into the future, as I bet we share lot’s in common, and love to hear how others "get er done".
Evelynn looks a lot like our last milk cow "CoCo" we got her from friends who said she just didn’t match their herd so we got her out of the big open grazing fields and slowly started to work with her so we were both comfortable milking. However this was our very first milk cow and we were learning a ton while doing, and of course we made mistakes, and in the end we gave her back to the open country as we were given an already "tame" gentle and sweet milk cow by the name Bessie, you can see her on our web site listed above. She recently freshened, gave birth to "Lucy aka. Mi Mi" and I am loving the cream in my morning coffee and home made cheeses, and our pigs are also loving the milk too. I am waiting for the rain to stop and the sun to heat up our temps and then it will be home made ice cream time too.
Anyhow, again look forward for more to come,
in the mean time, be well.
Welcome Libbie! It’s nice to meet you and hear all about your farm and family. I look forward to reading the topics you will be writing about. It’s gonna be fun!!!
God Bless you!
CJ . . aka "ceejay48"
Welcome Libbie! I know you will meet a lot of new friends on your blog — sounds like you are one busy lady! I don’t live on a farm, and didn’t grow up on one, but oh I wish I would have! My parents had one of those clotheslines in their back yard when I was young and I remember her hanging up the wash with the wind whipping around her. I even liked hanging them up and I was a youngster! My brother and I especially liked making up running games centered on these two poles. What good memories! Of course the wonderful smell of the clean air is priceless. Have a great day!
Welcome to the Bloggie Libbie…!
I’m happy to see the Rural Bloggie will continue, and look forward to your Posts.
GodSpeed to Y’all…!
Gary
in Tampa
Hello and I just want to say I am in love with your lifestyle so far. It’s a dream I have had and still have. Your blog has lifted my spirit and I look forward to seeing your next post and living the life through you.
It’s great to meet you Libbie! I enjoyed what you shared about your farmlife and I can’t wait to hear more! Looking forward to more of your blogs! Blessings!
HI Libby…I’m very happy to meet you. My name is Heather 🙂 I really enjoyed learning about your family and your home 🙂 I would love to live in an old farmhouse someday.
The laundry line…I live in an apartment complex and we’re not allowed to have them. HOWEVER, I work around that by hanging my cltohes on a portable clothes rack and placing that right in front of my sliding door..that’s okay as long as inside 🙂 🙂 🙂 In the summertime, I love to take advantage of the natural sunlight/heat to dry my clothes 🙂
I’m looking forward to reading more of your posts 🙂 Have a great weekend.
Greetings from Oregon, Heather 🙂
Greetings from NEbraska. So nice to meet you and look forward to getting to know you more and more. always nice to meet a fellow farm sister.
Welcome! You have arrived on my computer in our old stone house which has been in the family since the mid 1700’s- my daughter is generation #8! The history here is amazing- I know you understand! We raise Hereford cattle, have 6 chickens, 7 horses and three donkeys. Life is wonderful as a farmgirl! Cant wait to read more from you- your boys sound fantastic, and Evelynn too! Welcome to the family of MaryJanes Farm! -Meredith
Wow! I feel like I already know you (and our cow Evelyn!) through our mutual friend, Aunt Jenny!!!
I’m "suzy in ‘bama" but Aunt Jenny is probably the best friend I’ve ever had although states and physical miles separate us!!!
It is so exciting to see you here with your precious little boys and I’ll be looking forward to more of your writings here!!!
I’m a writer too, having "retired" from more than 30 years as an investigative/crime reporter and now write only argricultural and homesteading articles! So it’s SO NICE to read about you and all you’re doing there on your beautiful farm in Utah!
I’ll be looking forward to the emails notifying me that more of your blogs are coming my way!!!
Hello Libbie!
So great to read about your farm and your life. I just read my husband the bit about your boys going out to play "sticks and rocks". He laughed because our kids used to do things like that all the time. You’re right, there isn’t much better than mud, sticks, rocks and water! 🙂 I look forward to reading your posts in the future. Would love to hear more about your life with Evelynn. I would love to have a milk cow like I did when growing up!
Take care!
Welcome, Libbie! What a lovely post. Your photos are really nice – I look forward to more of them! I especially admire the one of your meditative best friend, the clothesline. I can almost smell the fresh air on the clean laundry as it blows in a slight breeze. With those two beautiful boys and summer’s muddy chores, I can imagine those four lines have stories to tell through you! May your musings on this blog flow as easily as a wispy cloud in a Utah sunset.. warm wishes, MissC
I’m sending out a big farmgirl welcome Libbie!
Thanks for sharing a little of your Rural life with us! All of your critters are adorable… INCLUDING those two little farmboy’s of yours!
Deb~
Welcome, glad to meet you, my name is Kim. I lived in Utah for a few years in the early 2000’s. I am now living in Michigan it the rual are we call "the thumb" of Michigan. I live out in the country and enjoy it.
I so enjoyed reading your blog, what a wonderful family & life!!
Welcome aboard! I love seeing another Utah farmgirl here. I work on a farm – Wheeler Farm (a working historical farm) in Salt Lake County. Although I’m only a bookkeeper (and former kids’ summer camp counselor) I love everything about the farm – my "home away from home" that is one short block away. We have cows (a wonderful Jersey and several Holsteins), lambs, pigs, horses, chickens, ducks & geese, turkeys, goats and donkeys. There’s always alot of work here for all of us, and our farmgirls muck stalls, drive tractors, exercise the horses, haul hay, hoe the gardens, etc! At home I garden, embroider, sew, cook and…. well, just the usual stuff. 🙂 BTW, do you make cheese from Evelynn’s milk? Look forward to reading more from you! Hugs, Cathy in Murray, UT
Nice meeting you and look forward to your inviting blog postings in the future…I’m on my way now to check out your farm…Very much enjoyed reading this article, thank you!!
Hello Libbie, Looking forward to seeing pics…enjoyed your article…Have a Great Day!
Hi Libby.. welcome to the "Rural Farmgirl Club"… you’ll find, that there are many of us. I enjoyed so much "meeting" your "Crew".. thanks for taking the time to introduce us all to all those you love…I look forward to reading more. Welcome!!!
Dear Libbie, Welcome aboard! Read your story about your home and felt so happy that you are living there! "this is the place" really can have a deep meaning when we finally get there. Look forward to your postings!
Welcome, Libbie! So glad to meet you…lookin’ forward to learning more with you!
I really loved reading about your Farm, and your Boys. I remember my days on the Farm, where I grew up, you brought back so many memories for me. I would love to move back to the Farm, but alas, things didn’t turn out that way. I have enjoyed reading and living it again through your writings.
Thank You.
I enjoyed reading your blog about your family, farm house, animals and even hanging the wash. I grew up on a farm in Iowa, and then we moved to AZ when I was 13. My sisters and I would always find something to do outside like your boys. We would make our own games and would build forts out in the grove of trees. We burned our own garbage and had a special place to put tin cans, etc. When I wanted to be by myself, I could always go out and take walks in the cornfield and find peace and quiet from my 3 sisters. My dad had a herd of cows(don’t remember how many but LOTS) that he milked by himself every morning but my sisters and I were his hired hands in the evenings, either throwing hay down to the cows or washing the cows teats and putting on the milking machines, emptying them into the cans and rolling them to the tank room. Dad would have to dump them since the cans were too heavy. I learned to drive a John Deere tractor at age 12. I would never give up the special memories of growing up on a farm.I could go on but then I’d have my own blog. Till you post again….
Oh Libbie!! How fun to see YOU here. I am so excited that even though you are only an hour away I will be able to keep up with you and those cute boys better!! And Evelyn has grown up to be just lovely! I sure hope Mona’s calf this year will be just as sweet. (still waiting)
I got an email from my dear friend Suzy in Alabama telling me that you were the new rural farmgirl blog..how fun!!!
HOpe to be able to see you in person sometime soon…I miss you!!! Have a wonderful weekend..isn’t this summer weather (finally) great?????
love, Jenny
Welcome, Libbie! Thanks for introducing us to yourself, your kiddos, and the lovely Evelynn! Looking forward to meeting all the members of your farm 🙂
I feel the same way about my clothesline…just love summertime and hanging out my laundry. Is there anything better than crawling into bed at the end of a long day, onto sheets that smell like spring air?? Ahhhh!
Till later-
Carrie M
Libbie, Wow, a rural farm girl…with chickens, milk cow, and two great little boys. My boys are grown now. I love living on my family owned farm and I love ‘Mary Jane’…I am glad to see a ‘rural farmgirl’ blog….good luck…can’t wait to read more!
i’m so excited to read your blog!! i know what you mean about the toys…..mud is soooo much better!! I love my clothesline also. we don’t live out in the country yet, but are working towards it…..and i can’t wait! can’t wait for your next blog!
Welcome, Miss Libbie. I’m looking forward to hearing your tales and observations. I’m already in love with your beautiful cow.
hello there from Florida! It is very nice to meet you and I look forward to reading about you and your family. Your boys are adorable and I guess I’m partial to children of that age becuase I have a 7 and a 3 year old; both girls. Your comment about the whites made me laugh because I too LOVE to hang whites on the line and just stand back and look at them. There is something so satisfying to see that bright white set against a backdrop of nature. Very relaxing indeed. You can let your mind relax and wander but still keep your hands busy… add in the background sounds of my girls laughing and playing hide and seek through the clothes and it is Heaven!
What a wonderful life, having a farm. Every time I get close to getting goats, my work schedule pulls me back. Someday soon, I hope.
What a fun way to meet you Libby! I adore how your farmhouse has been passed down through The WOMEN in your family and that you have the opportunity to live there now!
I adore your clothesline with whites and tons of clothespins.
Your farm your children are growing up on and playing with rocks if fabulous. Let them play outside with boys toys and their imagination FOREVER! I hope we get to meet Maybeline and see your wavey glass door soon.
Smiles, Cyndi
G’day Libbie!
I’m so looking forward to hearing more about the farmgirl life in your little corner of the world. Welcome, welcome!
Shery J ~ the MJF ranchy farmgirl
Hi Libbie,I love your Blog.It is so down to earth and fun.We live on a small farm.We love it.Your sons are so cute.I have a 5 yr old grandson and I want to teach him all about animals and outdoors.
Take care Carol
Hello Libbie, I enjoyed your story. I can’t wait to hear more. I’d love to have a milk cow someday. I envey you, still having your family farm. I think it is neat to say you have your great great grandfather’s home he built. There is just something special I think, about that. Have a great day:) p.s. I love to hang out clothes also!
I am so pleased to meet you vicariously through this site. I have recently moved from Southern California to a small town, Powhatan, Virginia. My children are grown ups now, so my new found rural experience is mostly just my husband and myself. We so wanted to get away from the crowds and all. I just love it here…except for the CLAY soil! Too bad I don’t have those beautiful little farm boys to play with my clay.
Welcome! I’m looking forward to your posts.
Hello Libbie,
It is great to meet you and I’m looking forward to learning more about you, your family, and the farm. We have a few things in common because I too have a Jersey cow named Buttercup due to calve in August. I also have 2 boys and a wire clothes line that sees alot of use. Your farmhouse must be out of this world and with it being family it is a treasure.
Fellow farmgirl
Ardell Hofer
Hey, FarmGirl! I already feel a connection to you…My Great Grandfathers name is William Arthur Respess and I have a dear Aunt Jenny too! Love reading about your little boys…I have 2 sons and a daughter. My "little" boys are now 33 and 31, daughter is 29. I miss those years terribly! We had such fun farming and sadly, had to give it up in 1985. Terrble years for farmers. So, happily, I get to read about yours. Carry on, FarmGirl. 🙂
So glad to meet you! I’m not a farm girl (yet?), but love knowing there are many of you still living and loving this way of life. I look forward to getting to know you better. Your family is beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Libbie,
Really glad to meet you! Loved meeting you, your boys, and your beautiful cow, Evelynn. Can’t wait to read more.
A farm girl from Wisconsin.
Hey there, Libbie!
I absolutely love Jersey cows- the sweetest of all with those big brown eyes. Welcome, welcome- I look forward to (re)living vicariously through your blog posts. I am stuck in suburban Portland, OR- but dream of one day moving back to farmland.
Looking forward to learning more about you-
Hi Libbie, Noce to meet you. I love hearing about your farm, and all about your family. I have a garden and I call that my farm and I am a farmgirl at heart. I like to sew and cook and can and freeze, all the stuff that farm girls do. I have dreamed of being a farmers wife and living on a farm. Any I love the farmgirl connection and all that we do. I am farm sister #1020 and am enjoying every minute of it. Keep up the good work. Love it, Juanita
Welcome Libbie.
I enjoyed reading your story.
We live on a small farm in Massachusetts with 2 horses, angora rabbits, ducks, chickens, kittens and a bulldog.
Looking forward to reading your posts !
Happy day!
Hi,Welcome,I am a farmgirl too!Good luck in your ventures!Carol Branum,Lamar MO.
Hi Libbie! It is so nice to meet you, your boys, and hear about your farm life. Isn’t it amazing how sharing the farm stories "cultivate" the desires and dreams of others for living the farm life?? I know it helps to kindle the dreams as well as rekindles the memories in me. My mom was a true farmgirl in heart and I am so thankful that she placed those in me. So I am looking forward to hearing and sharing more of the farm. Welcome!!!!
It’s nice to meet you Mom, wife, clothes-washer, dish doer and cleaner-uper. I have two boys two and although they are grown I love to see younger families and their enthusiasm for life. Welcome aboard Libby from Bonnie, farmgirl #298