It had already been a long, hard week when my husband called me from his cell phone to tell me that he was sitting on the tractor we borrowed and it was stuck in mud. Could I come and help get him out? he asked. I laughed. Not because he was stuck, but because he actually thought I could be of some help in the situation.
Me? Help? Really?!! What in the world could I do? I wouldn’t know where to begin to get a tractor un-stuck.
Well, there was one thing to do: call a neighbor for help.
I keep finding myself showered with gifts.
Not the kind that come in a box, or wrapped up in bows.
But the other kind. You know, the kind that matters the most.
I keep finding myself showered with gifts.
Not the kind that come in a box, or wrapped up in bows.
But the other kind. You know, the kind that matters the most.
Oh yeah, I’ve got one, a secret. Do you?
Are you someone who can be trusted with secrets? I can. My lips are sealed tightly. My grandmother used to say, “Now, don’t you tell it…” (I hear her voice saying that now as I write it.) I learned not to. I did NOT tell it. Now that I think about it, it’s kinda funny that I blog because I’m actually a very private person. I think I feel safe because Farmgirls are such a sweet, supportive, loving group of women. Aren’t we!
But I don’t mind whispering my own secrets to you. My secret is one of the reasons I’ve been pulling out my hair the last six months. Continue reading
Someone stopped by the farm last evening, a neighbor’s cousin from out of town. We were all standing around chatting and he asked if we had visited some local attraction. And I said, “All we’ve done is work since we moved to this farm, but one day!” And he said something that went right through me and stuck to my heart and brain.
“I’ll let you in on a secret,” he leaned in to me. Then he said, “On a farm, the work is never done.”
My garden? Well, yes, Memorial Day came and went. You’re right, that definitely means that the long-awaited time FINALLY arrived to plant a garden in my NEW gardening zone. It’s much colder here than in ATL. Anyway, I have been impatiently awaiting the day after Memorial Day, when it is safe to plant here. I bought seeds, and planted seeds inside in Jiffy pots, and absolutely could not wait for the day AFTER Memorial Day to begin my gardening journey at this Farm.
Oh yes. I’ve dreamed of getting my hands into that old gardening soil, where the previous owners of this farm planted their kitchen garden for years and years. And years. I’m told it is the same place where their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents also planted their kitchen gardens. Last year was a gardening bust for me because I had taken down that line of 12 big white pines between the ancient gardening spot and the barn. And, as a result, there was the enormous mess of those 12 trees left laying right in my garden spot.
This year? most of that mess is gone. Not all, but most.
Springtime on the Farm
I was just about to plant my tomato seedlings last week when I struck up a conversation with an elderly man at the store. He said, “absolutely not, do not plant your tomatoes yet. You’ll be sorry.” You gotta be kidding me? It’s mid-May!
He was right. Here’s my lawn this morning. May 19th! Frost. I’m not complaining; I love the chilly mornings! On my birthday a few days ago, we had a fire going in the fireplace all day. I enjoyed it BIG time! I think mainly because it was so different from the birthday weather where I spent most of my life.
I’m so glad I chatted with that fellow. My tomatoes are still safe and sound inside.
I’ve always found that the first step is the hardest to take.
And so, I issued a challenge on FaceBook. And now I’m challenging you too.
Move yourself up on your priority list. Do something just for you.
Walk everyday for 31 days….for YOURSELF.
Last year was my first spring on the farm. It happened so fast. Brown and cold of winter turned into warm and green almost overnight. And then WHAM! Everything went out of control so quickly we never caught up. Ever.
I love winter, I do. The cold, the snow, the ice, the fires, the soup, the sweaters.
“Mustache” = “must ask” haha.
I’d like to introduce you to my new cat. Isn’t he stunning?
Well, maybe not “new.” I mean, I’ve had him for a month now.
Do you want to know how soft his fur is? Well, I don’t have any idea; I haven’t been able to touch him. He is wild.
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.’”
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.
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.”
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.
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.”
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!
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”.
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