A Tennessee ” RANCH ” Farmgirl

Dear Sisters,

Is there anything better than the fullness of mid-summer? It’s the height of the season and Farmers Markets and home gardens are in full swing as fruits, veggies, herbs, honey,and flowers come into season blessing our bellies, tables and our need for visual beauty beyond measure. I for one, am feeling the fullness of all things FARM FRESH this summer and I hope you are too! But, I’m not the only one who is filling up on the beauty of summers bounty and sharing it! One day last week I was hiding out inside ( keeping cool in the AC ) and poking around on pinterest looking for pins to add to my Simply Red Board when I stumbled on the ca u test Farm Stand evah! Well, you know me… I just HAD to find out who the talented farm-girl genius was behind this way too cute farm stand ( which I am completely and utterly obsessed with )! I’m happy to report I found her ( through the help of another farmgirl friend on Facebook) and I can’t wait for you to meet her too! I fell head over heals in love with both of her blogs, The Red Feedsack and her Flower Farm blog, Farm Fresh. Dori’s love of life and passion for the farmgirl lifestyle simply vibrates off the pages of her beautiful blogs where she shares her life as a Tennessee Farmgirl.

Come on in and get the full Farmgirl Profile on blogger, home builder, flower farmer, cattle rancher, photographer and seamstress extraordinaire, Dori Troutman.

Dori with her grand-girls.

FARMGIRL PROFILE: Dori Troutman ( in her own words )

My husband and I retired from southern Utah to the hills of middle Tennessee about 3 years ago. We had dreamed for many years of retiring to the farm that we had purchased almost 7 years earlier. Our farm is beautiful with rolling hills, woods, and pasture land. We have a hilltop home site that looks out over the entire valley and we spent the first year and a half building our farm-house on that spot! For many reasons we chose to build the house ourselves. There were only a few things we contracted out, and only a few times that we had help from others. Mainly we did it completely just the two of us. It was a huge undertaking and we worked 40 – 50 hours a week for about 18 months. When we were moved in and got past the exhaustion, I realized that if a person can build a home they can do anything!

We love our farm. We raise grass-fed cattle and this year we are excited because the steers that we will be selling to our customers are the first ones to be born and raised here on the farm. We have grown our herd from 12 momma cows to about 40 head! We love our cows and the baby calves bring us such an incredible amount of joy. People ask how we can raise them from birth and then sell them for meat. We are honest when we say that it isn’t easy to part with them. But we give them the very best care while we have them and recognize that their purpose is to provide the absolute best meat for a family.

At this time the only other animals we have on the farm are our horse, Promise, and our dog, Belle. Both of whom moved with us from Utah. We intend to have chickens that we will raise as layers but we’ve had to take things one step at a time and there is no hen-house built yet! My daughter and her little family have hens and they keep us provided with fresh eggs!

I was raised with ranching in my blood. My parents are second generation ranchers in New Mexico and so the life of a farm girl is all that I have known. My mother could always do anything she set her heart to and so I grew up learning a variety of things. I am not afraid of hard physical work, but I absolutely love to sit in my craft room and create. I enjoy cooking and baking and one of my favorite things to do is have company for a weekend and cook every special thing I can think of! I love to sew and quilt. I have two precious grand-daughters that live just minutes from us so I have the privilege of sewing for them often. They think I can sew anything!

I love gardening and look forward every spring to a huge garden. I find such a huge sense of accomplishment in filling up my pantry with home canned goods for the winter. Obviously by the end of the season I’m more than ready to put up my gardening tools and close the gate! But when I am in the height of the season I’m at my happiest.

My daughter and I started an heirloom flower cutting business this year. We came up with the plan on a cold, February day and we never looked back once. My husband and son-in-law helped us by prepping the soil for our garden and retrofitting an old truck bed to the most darling farm stand you will see anywhere! (Smile!) We make beautiful bouquets that we place in mason jars and sell by the honor system in our stand. In just 3 weeks of business we are selling out daily and begging our flowers to keep blooming! Our goal was to enjoy the flowers, spend time together creating bouquets, and teach the little girls how to bring happiness to others with a simple bouquet of flowers! We have surpassed that goal and we have bigger plans for the future.

The thing I love the most about being a farm girl is the feeling of peace and contentment that it brings into my life. Working with my own hands and taking pride in the work I do, living a simpler life and creating and making things that bring a smile to the faces of those around me are the things that make me the happiest. I’ve never wanted to be anything else and I’m so thankful for the influence of a mother and grandmother that taught me that being a farm girl is the best kind of girl to be!

See? I told ya you’d love her!!! Be sure to go and visit both of Dori’s beautiful blogs. There’s no end to the good cheer and farmgirl inspiration she’s cultivating!

Until our next shoreline visit~ Grab all of summer you can get your hands on!

Beach Blessings and much love,

Sister Deb, # 1199