Dear sisters,
Welcome to the beach! My handsome Yankee and I have been busy with some fun and necessary cottage updates we’re anxious to share with you! Now that beach season is F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. here we can relax and enjoy the rest of the summer project free, for the most part. Continue reading
Hey Farmgirl Friends!
It’s been a busy and eventful month up here in Alaska. The farming season is in full swing. It’s the time of year when pretty much everything that can happen on the farm is happening (or at least supposed to be…). We are transplanting seedlings, seeding greens and roots, harvesting, sowing a few more trays of starts, pulling spent crops, amending new rows, irrigating, putting up and taking down row cover, pruning, suckering, weeding (Oh, the weeds…), fearing the ever growing slug population, moving chickens around in their tractors, opening and closing all of the structures, going to market, running the farm stand and divvying out CSA shares. Phew!
You look radishing!
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Happy Summer to all my Farmgirl Sisters!
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I think it is safe to say that my daughter and I are thick into flower season! Every day when we meet in the flower garden to work in our flowers we talk about how lucky we are and how much we love it. And we also talk about the work involved and the balancing act that we juggle every day when we place the flowers on our cart and then walk away from it. The demand for our flowers is great, we sell out fast, and we get a lot of messages from people wondering if we could make one more bouquet! It takes a lot of will power to just sweetly tell people there will more bouquets the next day at 9:00! (We do bend the rules sometimes though!)
I’ve always loved dolls. I know plenty of grownups with a doll or two (or an entire collection, from Barbie to American Girl and everything in between). While I loved my dolls, I spent much of my childhood playing with my dollhouse.You’re never too old to enjoy miniature scale dollhouses! There’s an entire world of serious adult (women and men) miniature collectors. I’ve recently discovered it’s a great big miniature world out there…
My best childhood Christmas was circa 1977. My dad had a “workshop” in the backyard. Daddy was a traveling salesman; woodworking was a hobby. I’d happily play outside, frequently popping in to see what Daddy was creating. One day, I was no longer allowed in the workshop, the doors locked. Being a curious elf, I tried peeking, but to no avail! I didn’t know what was being built, and curiosity was killing me!
That Christmas Eve, I was so excited I couldn’t sleep! With tree lights twinkling in the living room, a shadow was cast on my bedroom wall: the silhouette of a dollhouse!
Daddy built an amazing dollhouse: a saltbox with shutters on the windows, a hand-carved chimney and porch lights repurposed from cufflinks. Mama bought beautiful, handmade realistic furniture to go inside, and a family of German-made dolls.
On special occasions my parents would take me to “World Toy and Gift Shop”, a toy store in the Houston “Village”. My dad shopped there when HE was a kid. The store was amazing – much of it “old stock”- with a miniature section like no other. My parents were thrifty, but when it came to toys, I had the best.
My dollhouse, circa 1977
My dollhouse had tiny, choke-worthy pieces a small child wouldn’t be allowed to play with nowadays, but I learned to take care and cherish it. Sadly, when we moved in the late 80s, my dollhouse got lost! I only have the one old photo, with my teenage brother making a funny face through the window (cracks me up to this day).
As an adult, I never forgot my dollhouse. For years, I’d search eBay thinking, maybe someday, like a needle in a haystack I’d catch it for sale.
This is the first dollhouse I have seen that reminds me of the one my dad built.
Recently a vintage dollhouse popped up on a Facebook tag sale that looked similar to mine, and my family thought it’d be a great Mother’s Day gift. I’m amazed how much it reminds me of MY old dollhouse, learning from the seller that the original owner was my age and that her father built it circa 1977! As a bonus, it came with several boxes of furniture and accessories, some the same pieces I had as a child! It’s like it was meant to be.
Sewing the little pillows to the right scale and knitting small blankets and throws wasn’t easy.
Miniature scale can be 1:48 (¼”), 1:24 (½”) or 1:12 (1 inch) scale (like mine). Larger scale, or “play scale” is 1:6. It’s relaxing and fun setting up the dollhouse, now sitting in our living room. I especially love MAKING miniatures!
“Printies” are sites with miniature printables you can print. I’ve printed out posters and photos, and made books, comics and jar labels. I’ve made hat, match, food and cleaning supply boxes. Open desk drawers and there’s bills, letters and even a mini passport! A few of my favorite “printies” sites are printmini.com and jennifersprintables.com.
I’ve created dish towels and curtains from ribbon and scrap fabric, making curtain rods from barbeque skewers and beads.
The circa 1977 dollhouse was electrified when we got it, but too scary to plug in. I find that LED lights work great and are easy to move around. I use a tin of candle sticky wax to attach to walls and ceiling.
Old rags became towels. I made a shower curtain from fabric and the wire egg holder from a box of Easter egg dye. A thimble became a waste paper basket. I’ve filled jars with real flour and bath salts, and there’s actual soap in the soap dishes.
The master bedroom was fun to set up. I knitted the rug and bedding using size “1” needles.
The porcelain kitten in the little girl’s room was mine as a child, and part of my original dollhouse.
The boys’ attic playroom. I created a half wall by repurposing scrapwood from a home repair project.
Every home needs storage!
I love the “sewing room” the most, because I was inspired by my own sewing room in my real house.
I made many of my own minis for my sewing room, including patterns stuffed with real pattern paper, and a felt tomato pincushion using felt glued around a pencil eraser.
I’ve repaired old, broken furniture and and made new bedding and pillows. I’ve taken mass produced items and “dressed them up”. I’ve knitted and crocheted throw rugs, blankets, doilies, and winter wear for the coat rack using the tiniest needles and yarn, usually while drinking my morning coffee.
The dollhouse, miniature, and diorama hobby is going strong. The Facebook group, “World of Dollhouses and Miniatures”, has over 13,000 members! My mini’s theme is 1930/40-something, and while cute, it’s “rough” compared to some of the amazing work of some! I think ours looks pretty good, considering we only started working on it in May.
“Miniature Conventions” take place around the world. In June, my daughter and I attended the Molly Cromwell Dollhouse Miniatures Festival in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. We were amazed at the jaw-dropping detail! All the artisans showed immense talent, but our favorite booth was that of Lisa Meyer and Stephanie Watt, known as “Mini Maniacs Miniatures”!
Mini Maniacs Miniatures (“MiniswithMusic” on Etsy) has everything 1:12 scale to decorate for Christmas – realistic tabletop trees, decorated mantels, wreaths, and dreamy Christmas trees (complete with lights). There’s “mystical” items, too- miniatures can be any theme, (think “Harry Potter”, for example). Their detailed work also includes one-of-a-kind vignettes and music boxes featuring miniatures.
Stephanie and Lisa, two very creative and talented ladies, with some of their miniature creations
Lisa, Production and Recruitment Coordinator for the Deparment of Music (as well as a professional singer and choral conductor), and Stephanie, a concert pianist and full Professor and Director of Theory and Piano Studies in the Department of Music, became friends after meeting at Long Island University, where they both work. Lisa loved dollhouses as a child. She got started creating miniatures in 2006 while making a gift for her mother, after finding that the pieces she was in search of were too expensive or not available. By 2011, miniatures was a serious passion for Lisa and the Etsy shop was born.
Lisa loves how the world of miniatures has limitless possibilities, able to transport the beholder to any time or place. She finds all mediums can be used, including wood, fabric, and paint. Both Lisa and Stefanie have won awards for their miniature work. Lisa’s creation, a wizard’s castle, won second place in November 2017 at the Philadelphia Miniatures Show!
Inside the wizard’s castle
Photo courtesy of Lisa Meyer
Lisa and her award-winning castle.
Photo courtesy Lisa Meyer
My teen daughter and I have enjoyed decorating and picking pieces for our mini-home at craft stores, Etsy and at a delightful miniature store in our state, Whimsies Dollhouse Shop!
We can keep adding to the house, looking forward to decorating it for the seasons, too!
Hope you enjoyed this peek at the world of miniatures! Leave me a comment here so I know you stopped by. Wishing everyone a Happy Fourth of July!
*Here’s a video if you’d like to see the dollhouse in greater detail:
Until Next Time…Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
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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