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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.
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~ 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.
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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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I agree it is a sad time of year. I don’t like the next season at all except I am plan on getting new quilting projects done and a newly decorated sewing room. That keeps me going thru the bitter midwest winter. Then before you know it, it is Spring.
I so agree with your sentiments! Love your blog!
I’m the same way. I will miss my vegetable garden and my flowers. I could garden all year long. But living in Indiana we have the seasons that change. Yes my pantry looks wonderful all full of the yummy food that we grew. Will taste so good this winter! As always enjoyed your writings. God Bless
Excellent idea for a Winter Garden Rene’…!
I shall try it when I move Home to Tennessee next year…
meanwhile…
I shall send this link to my Friend Trudi in Canada, as she will enjoy having a Garden in the Winter.
Thanks, and…
GodSpeed to Y’all…!
Gary
in Tampa
I have wanted to have a cold frame for winter for some time now, but I keep procrastinating. I like your thinking though and may get one going after your description of the frame and the winter goodies I can reap. My Mom is canning and drying for the winter and I get to enjoy to share in her bounty, but I live 335 miles from her, so I can’t go to the yard when the urge hits me. I miss not having a garden.
Rene: In Minnesota, saying goodbye to the garden usually means saying goodbye to green. Everything dies, the leaves fall and the snow and cold comes. The only bright side when the holidays are over is that winter is the perfect time to snuggle in and make quilts. But we always look forward to green again in the spring.
Gee, I thought I was the only one who felt this way! You, though, are much more disciplined at keeping records. I will just give in to the frenzy next spring and buy and plant.
I will definitely miss the warm rich taste of a just picked tomato! You are right. The imposters in the market just won’t cut it. Here’s looking to spring!
While it’s sad to say good’bye to the garden, I also love being able to tidy it up and put it to rest. I too am looking forward to the rest, and the planning of next years plot! It gives me great comfort to have my freezers and pantry full, knowing that provisions are stored for the winter ahead. Thanks for sharing!! Holly
I so understand–had my first, for real garden this year and I am no spring chicken. I also just discovered MaryJane mag and uprooted, what I always suspected and dreamed of, I too am a "Farmgirl". Now I will venture into the world of canning or preserving next year and can not wait. Montana is my home, so I am saying good bye to all those plants too. What a wonderful time I have had and much I will miss the gardent this winter. But how excited I am for the times to come and the chance to learn how deep my "Farmgirl" roots really are. (It really is fun to read and participate in the blogging world, just discovered this too.) Thanks
Rene
I enjoyed your article and even have an appointment to change my hair to winter colors tomorrow. I will share the cold frame idea with some friends. Like you, me and many of my friends don’t yet have a greenhouse.
Gee, I really enjoyed that read about saying goodbyes. I never knew other people thought that way also…My pansies keep saying "not yet please", and my kale and swiss chard say, "will you harvest me for New Year’s Eve as you’ve done a few years in the past?" .. Time will tell. Although I live in Ohio, I am a true deep-south gal in heart and mind…Change of subject:
When do we get to see pics of the new haircolor that I heard mentioned?
Such sweet words for the plants that have given so much to provide for the cold months ahead! Someday I will be a good gardener like you, but for now its just a few tomato plants and zucchini who love you and produce no matter how much of a novice you are!!! Hardly any sun in our back yard — do we drastically trim our big fir tree to let in more light or be creative and plant raised gardens wherever the sun shines?? I think the latter — I’m planning ahead on how to fix this dilemma. You write so poetically Rene — such a treat to read each week!
Thank You SOOO much!
Good fall to you Rene,
AAAAHHHH yes, it’s time to put our freind to bed for the winter.It’s been a VERY fruitful year for the whole garden excepy my zucchini,HA- go figure. I had to get them from girl freinds much to their humor.
The last couple of years my husband decided he liked gardening, actually the weeding.HA- what a sweetie.He could never figure why I put all the effort into it when I can just go to the store. Silly town boy.After 17 years of this attitude , HE SAW THE LIGHT. OOOOOHHHH God is good.
I love your blog. A good winter to you.
Marrina
I too share the sadness, but I also enjoy saving the seeds for next year’s offspring!
The leaves are changing, apples & cinnamon are calling, and I think a nice cup of tea, with a fire going, and my crochet hook is all I need. Fall is my favorite time to be home with all the comforts. We all need to be thinking of the holidays that are right around the corner….so much to do, so little time……before we know it… spring planting time will be here!
If I could just figure out how to add more hours to each day, and at least two extra days a week…maybe I could get it all done!
I just got a craving for persimmon cookies…mmmm!
Happy Autumn to all!
LisaLu
I am newly aware of maryjanesfarm as my friend of 32 years(can it be?) just gave it to me as a birthday(yes, another one!) gift. What a pleasant surprise! I have lived in a rural area all my life and have by turns taken pleasure in gardening, yard work, crafts, etc. I am always amazed by God’s natural color palette in the spring and fall. Here in the Ohio valley we are at peak conditions for viewing the fall leaves. The crisp temperatures bring favorite pumpkin recipes to mind along with memories of my Mom. Thank you for reminding me of all the best things!
Hi Rene, I too would like a greenhouse. My dad had 2.One was small to start the seeds while it was yet winter. One was big for transplanting/and selling from. The small one was attached to our house in an L-cove in the corner by my bedroom and our livingroom. I’d watch daddy watering his seedlings and he’d squirt me with the waterhose sometimes.Those times are deeply special to me now since we lost Daddy this past Feb. I too would like to build a cold frame. Do you have instructions on here someplace? Thanks! I really enjoy your Blog! Oh ya, I’d like to see(ahem) your new "Doo" too!
Hey Rene-
I am saying the same sad goodbyes, here in New York. We’ve picked all the tomatoes and melons and peppers. The garden is mostly bare except for some beets that are holding on. We’ve had a week of hard frost in our area that has only slightly scorched us here on our south-facint hill, but the cold is on it’s way.
However, we are comforted here by the brilliant colors of fall, something that makes us want to hop in our cars and take a ride just to breath the fresh air and take in the scenery! When I was in Washington for farm fair, a young man at the hotel said that he had heard that northeasterners do such things and he had always thought that was a "fable"…I assured him that we really DO go out "leaf-peeking," and we get a lot of leaf-peeking realated tourism, to boot!!
Where did you get the plans for your cold frame?? I want to build one, even have the windows, but I was unsuccessful last time. Nothing grew!! I have lovely south sun, too
Love to all the Prosser ladies!
carrie
PS…read your "When Pigs Fly" just before I read this one and am soooooo sorry that is what you had! Your description makes me terrified…enough to maybe go get a shot which I’ve never considered before! Glad you are better
Carrie,
Fall decided to show up here in the last few days as well.. I was afraid we were going straight from Summer to Winter, so I too am enjoying the fall colors. I found great cold frame ideas through goggle. If you are too cold, try digging up the dirt and laying down some plastic inside the frame on the bottom and sides. Poke some holes for water drainage in the bottom and add some rocks for drainage… then fill the dirt back in…. The plastic adds an additional layer of insulation, also re-putty your windows so that cold air is limited. Let me know how it goes…. We so loved meeting you at farmfair and of course have made you an honorary prosserfarmgirl…..
I go through the same thing every year! I hate to take in my garden for the winter, but I do enjoy the break from yardwork and gardening to enjoy indoor activities, such as cooking and craftwork.
Rene, Oh so true.But, since this was my 1st garden in many years (we won’t go into HOW MANY!)I actually enjoyed putting my garden to bed for the winter as it is my very first year ever having a compost box. So, I am looking forward to using all that good compost in the spring. I haven’t yet built a cold box (Linda will encourage one soon I am sure) I won’t have any fresh from my garden veggies. But, I did freeze and dry so I am ahead of last year and the many years before. Thank you for all you teach and share with others. You have a generous and giving soul.See you later friend. Debbie
Hi Rene`, I really enjoyed this article and without you knowing it, I’ve been given new hope! We live on the windswept plains which is NOT a place for a garden. Your old window is an idea I NEEDED. Now to find some! My husband is bringing home an old leaky stock tank for a ‘raised bed’ and now I get to add a new form of ‘window box’. Thank you for the inspiration. Shery Jespersen
I really enjoyed the article, and made me think of hot beds again to keep cutting my mustard greens longer and arugla. Thanks for taking me to the garden again. Here in Indiana it is getting pretty cold in the middle of Nov.
Thanks.