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Having lived my entire life “out West” where hay was something you drove a long ways to buy (and paid a premium price for) it is still a novelty to me to live here in the South where we have our very own hay field! We’ve had a lot of hot and humid days already this summer and the hay has been growing right before our eyes!
Because we compost and recycle, our household generates little trash. My compost bin is great; my plants love the “garden gold” produced! However, living in New England, we weren’t composting year round. What to do? Compost inside…with vermicomposting! It’s really worthwhile, and simple to do.
My faithful garden companion, Max and I.
Dear Sisters,
Whew doggies. Spring is such a glorious season in New England. Why, it’s enough to make a farmgirl feel born again! The weather is perfect for completing late-spring garden chores and planting some pretty, perky bedding annuals for a bold, burst of color. My daughter and I made an UN-planned trip to a new nursery today and got carried away with the beautiful blooms. Continue reading
Hello Farmgirls! Whew—what a busy time of the year with gardens going in, kids finishing up school, and “dewinterizing” and “re-summerizing” our homes. I had a couple weeks there where I was juggling three jobs between teaching, nannying and farming (all part time, but still a lot for this “stay at home” mama). With my mind and body set in overdrive I’ve found it hard to find one thing to write about well. I could write about this! or how about that? Or there’s that other thing that I’ve been keeping in my back pocket in case of writer’s block!
Luckily, we just started our two week summer vacation in the lovely midwest. I’m sitting in my in-law’s living room eating delicious homemade treats, and I just woke up from a mid-morning nap. Life is good.
However, I still can’t focus on one thing. Continue reading
When you move from one place to another, you really have no idea how it is going to go. Good, bad, or ugly. Have you ever done it? It’s kinda scary and exciting and wonderful and sad and happy all rolled into one.
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Good morning friends! I’m so happy to introduce you to Dennison’s Family Farm and my new friend Wayve (don’t you love that name?) Dennison. Guess how I met Wayve? Through this Farmgirl blog of MaryJanes! She was reading along one day wondering what part of Tennessee I lived in, then after realizing it looked close to home, she emailed me and asked where I live… and here I am. On a tour of their family strawberry farm!
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Good morning friends! I’m so happy to introduce you to Dennison’s Family Farm and my new friend Wayve (don’t you love that name?) Dennison. Guess how I met Wayve? Through this Farmgirl blog of MaryJanes! She was reading along one day wondering what part of Tennessee I lived in, then after realizing it looked close to home, she emailed me and asked where I live… and here I am. On a tour of their family strawberry farm!
Continue reading
With spring’s late arrival, I guessed we would bounce directly into summer-like weather! I went from having my wood stove ablaze to turning on the A/C – which we don’t usually touch until July – in a span of just days. I’m not complaining, I love the warmth! In addition to gardening and all the good things that come with warmer weather, we crave ice cream! My family loves it…and I’ve always dreamed of making ice cream at home. But would a vintage ice cream maker I purchased work or be a disaster?
Eagle Scout, Zachary Bosworth
Dear sisters,
As moms, we log a lot of miles with our children. Starting from day one we manage, mark and track hundreds of important events in our children’s lives. We love, nurture, nudge and nourish. Encourage, excite, and inspire. Sometimes, we have to push, pull and prod them along when they drift off course. But that’s all part of the amazing journey of motherhood. We recently celebrated our sons Court of Honor Eagle Scout Ceremony. It was proud day for all of us and one for the Mother’s Log for sure. Please join us in honoring our young man, Zachary and his good friend and fellow Eagle Scout, Brendan! Continue reading
Eagle Scout, Zachary Bosworth
Dear sisters,
As moms, we log a lot of miles with our children. Starting from day one we manage, mark and track hundreds of important events in our children’s lives. We love, nurture, nudge and nourish. Encourage, excite, and inspire. Sometimes, we have to push, pull and prod them along when they drift off course. But that’s all part of the amazing journey of motherhood. We recently celebrated our sons Court of Honor Eagle Scout Ceremony. It was proud day for all of us and one for the Mother’s Log for sure. Please join us in honoring our young man, Zachary and his good friend and fellow Eagle Scout, Brendan! Continue reading
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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