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“I remember well when I met her, hung in a showcase upside down. Right then and there I had to get her, from that old shop in Brussels town.” – Jeannine Deckers
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Debbie 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.’”
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.
Cathi 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.”
Dori 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.
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.”
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!
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”.
Shery,
Simply said, Thank you….
And may every moment be a new and beautiful memory…..
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Very beautiful and inspirational writing. I have been thinking lately how many memories pass through our minds each day and we never stop and just think about them. All the details, the smells, sounds, feelings that accompany our memories. It has made me very happy to take the time and just contemplate the awesome times of my life.
I would encourage all my Farm girl sisters to do this. It will bring happiness untold to each of you!
Blessings to all of you!
My favorite "thing" is holding my four year old grandson’s hand when we go for a walk. You see, he thinks he is too big to hold my hand, so when he does, it is so precious!
My other treasured favorite is our north-woods cabin. We had to tear down the old one this year and are now building a new one. Bittersweet.
Favorite things – I too like kittens and puppies and my horses even if I don’t ride like I use too, just sitting at my kitchen table or on the back porch swing watching them out in the pasture is a favorite thing. Also memories of my childhood with family at my grandma’s house, a smile comes to my face. And reading what you wrote made me smile and remember. Thank you for letting me share some of your favorite things and to make me think of mine.
A few of my favorite things:
West wind in spring
The color red
My son snuggling in my lap
Reading aloud
Freshly baked bread
Starting seeds indoors in the middle of winter
The list could go on and on… 🙂
Shery, Hey there farmgirl friend. Loved this post. My favorite things – time with my grandchildren, time to spend creating, Ladybug, playing cribbage with the hubs, my new love of chickens, gardening in the spring, the list is long. Your sister is a jewelry artist – the bracelet is lovely. We must be kindred spirits, I love these songs from The Sound of Music. I always cry through Edelweiss and I have stamped some of the words from My Favorite Things on an old printers drawer that I use for a shadow box. If I copied it correctly you can see it here on my blog. http://brtowsleyblogs.blogspot.com/2009/10/two-projects-one-new-other-old.html You may have to copy and past it to your browser. You have inspired me to make a list and I might actually blog about it. Have a wonderful weekend!
Shery, What can I say, I have tried to write and tell you, the words wouldn’t come. How wonderful you have put this into words. I like the Sound of Music too. Charlie and I watch it often, It is his favorite too. I have many favorite things and it would take a while to write, I love much of the same as you. Great reading, Thanks Farm sister.
Juanita farmsister #1020
Dearest friend,
You probably know a lot of my favorite things. But, here are a few you might not know. The first and foremost is the love I share with my granddaughters. They are each so special and I see the love I feel for them reflected in their eyes each time I see them and I know how fortunate I am to have them within minutes. I love the sound of my children saying "Hi, Mom." when they call just to share some excitement of the day. I love the compassion of my daughter in being a hospice nurse and the woman she has become.
I love the scent of spring…the beauty of the new leaves opening up, the sound of a breeze in the pines and the water in a rocky creek. The beauty of color of fall and the starkness of the trees in a beautiful snow, a pine bough heavy with snow.
Something fairly new added to my list is the joy and companionship of my farmgirl friends. The sparkle in your eye when amused and Jennies huge laugh, Michele’s soft smile and kindness and Anita’s all-encompassing love of life and her ability to live the way she chooses. You have all enriched my life beyond anything I could have imagined. And I know you all would be there in a second if needed, as you all proved after last week’s surgery. I am blessed and thank you for inspiring me to think about these things!
Wow! I so love reading your blogs. You speak to my heart and inspire me. Thank you for sharing a part of yourself with us. You have made me smile and got me thinking about my favorite things. Spending time with my grandchildren is number one. Other things I love are beautiful gardens, the first fall rain, smell of fresh baked bread, wind blowing through the trees, birdsong, herbs, old things, old movies, the song of crickets and tree frogs, a lovely spring day, the sound of a bubbling creek or rain on a tin roof, bluegrass music, hanging sheets on the line and so much more. You are right, thinking of my favorite things has brought some sunshine to these dark winter days. Thank you. Blessings!
Shery,
I am always so inspired by your words which obviously "pour forth from your very soul". Your blogs are definitely one of my favorite things! Thanks, as always, for sharing. As you say, you never know how shining your own Inner Light will touch someone else’s heart. Keep shining, Shery!!
In Loving Kindred Spirit,
Ruth
Wonderful post. Some of my favorite things are:
listening to our rooster crow
getting hair-do’s from my 9 year old
hearing my kids succeed in any adventure in their lives
surprises in the mail
enjoying the bounty from our gardens (flower, veggie, and herb)
listening to my father talk about our family history
reading family history e-mails from extended family members
the smell of laundry after it’s dried on the clothesline
the view from my front porch in the warmer weather months
the sight of the first snowfall
listening to Christian music
the smell of coffee brewing
the sound and smell of rain
the full length hippie skirt my mother surprised me with in the mail years ago
the sound and smell of fall leaves
camping with my family
cooking meals over the campfire
…………living simply.
Dear Shery,
Thank you for sharing your favorite things and many blessings in such detail. Winter is the season for living slower, feeling more and counting blessings old and new… I count you and this blog space among my many favorite things! Here’s mine: My family is my number one blessing and it is with them that I get to experience so many of my favorite things. Home schooling, beach time, family games, sharing homemade meals, growing food, listening and playing music together, caring for our pets and sharing in our successes and failures too. I cherish the memories we are making day to day. Boiled down, I love to hear my daughter play her composition’s on the piano, I know I am witnessing pure creation when she writes and composes and I feel blessed that it is my ears that get to do the listening… the same is true when our son plays something on his guitar…I try to stay in tune with the creating that happens around and inside of me most of the time. It’s all so miraculous! Like you… I treasure old things and simple ideals, but I also love a chance to turn an old so and so into a new treasure for today’s use. Gardens in springtime and throughout the season are a constant source of inspiration to me! How does all that growing happen in such a short span of time? Horses, dogs, chickens, cats and birds are my very favorite animals. The sound of peepers in springtime, the call of the mourning dove, the smell of pine, sage, beach roses and low tide all bring cherished memories from days gone by and those ahead too. As I write here I realize I could go on and on so I’ll stop and enjoy these renewed blessings that are bubbling to the surface because of your lovely writing today!
Thank you again for your timely words and such beautiful photos too!
Farmgirl hugs!
Deb
Beautiful way to start my day….
Shery,
"…. peace can be lost more easily than we think. Under certain circumstances, the grasp we have on a steadfast "knowing" where we’re to go can loosen and our strength fades. People can lose their lives in an instant, but they don’t lose their way in a moment. It happens gradually, making it all the more important to keep your lamp light burning and watch where you’re going. Guard your heart, your spirit and your mind."
One of my new "Favorite Things" this past year is your blog:) Your quote above moved me this morning…it is so true as our life journey continues to remember this very truth. I am learning to guard my peace and in doing so I know I must guard my thoughts and my spoken words as well, not so much for what others may think of me but for what I think of myself.
Although our lives are very different and we live far away, I find a very definite "kindred spirit" within your words. I describe my decorating style "Campy Cottage"….when you said "camp cottage", my heart jumped, most do not get that description, it seems too large of a contrast for most. Guitars…love them, my son is very gifted in guitar and I am blessed by his gift. Red and White enamelware makes my heart skip a beat.
I am not one to leave comments very often on blogs, but felt I must today. Hope you find my words in the light they are intended….as gratitude.
Breathing in my favorite things today,
Raynita
Lovely article. Just a very few of my favorite things ~ the smell of baking, kittens, yarn, my favorite sherpa boots, wide open land interspersed with hills and trees and a creek, farm animals, a home of my own–no mortgage, healthy family, no neighbors, books…I could go on but I will stop here. Thanks for inspiring me to take a moment to reflect on the favorite things in my life.
Melissa
farmgirl #2143
Hi Shery.Thank you for reading my blog, glad that you enjoyed it, themofarmersdaughter.blogspot.com, have a great day,carol
Shery…WOW! And a few of MY favorite things are:
a cabin at the base of the Big Horn Mts. where I raised my children. Sitting at the table next to the east facing window in the very early morn…one at a time, they come out to join me quietly for hot chocolate…my quiet time replaced with the treasures of my heart. And, my grandmothers’ hands…thin-skinned and so soft to my little girl touch…now my grandson touches mine in the same way…gently. And, snowflakes on my tongue and sledding…even grandmas love sledding. And, spring, and summer, and fall and winter…and…life well lived, bumps and all. Thank you, dear friend, for this one. perfect.
Hey Farm Gal Pal! I love reading your blogs and all the comments because it’s like reliving our Farmgirls fun all over again! I just want to tell you my favorite things are very simple: family and friends! Without them to share things with, nothing else matters. One day a long time ago you asked me my favorite thing to collect and I said friends! It still is and I feel truly blessed to have all my Farmgirl sisters as such great friends! I love you all! Jennie
I’m new to all of this,sure enjoy reading all of these:)
Rhonda