I guess you can call me sentimental, keeping cards and letters, remembering gifts I’ve received and who sent them, and remembering special dates. This week, I am celebrating an anniversary. However, it’s not what you may think….
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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”.
Nicole, your story brought me to tears – there is indeed something special about that dog’s heart. They know you like no-one else! Congratulations on your anniversary, and may you have many, many happy more.
What a wonderful story to start my day! I also have a PERFECT dog named Blue. My husband called me from a job site and said ‘Do you still want a puppy???’ When I bounded out to open the van door, I saw a large dog, complete with huge ears and feet, curled up on my husband’s coat. It seems Blue had been surviving on grasshoppers and mice…He was about 4 months old and 37# of bones. The plot thickens when we found out that he is a wolf hybrid! He is also a perfect match for us! He loves the outdoors and is never ‘needy’. In short, the best fit for us…
Oh Nicole — thank you for adopting a shelter dog (and not thinking they are ‘broken’ because they are in a shelter)! I truly believe that you get the dog you need rather than the dog you may think you want. Each of them have their gifts & lessons for us and our lives are enriched with their companionship — you have the perfect examples of that! – From the dog mom of three shelter dogs who have taught me patience, to live in the moment, to play like crazy and to rest when it’s needed!
I too love animals and right now our home is blessed with 3 dogs (SMALL,Jack Russell/Cairn Terrier mix; MEDIUM, Cockapoo; and LARGE Chocolate Lab) and 1 cat. The lab came to us right after Christmas last year after someone dumped her. When we took her to the vet to be checked out and get her shots, she was diagnosed with Heartworms. The vet told us we had some decisons to make. My eight year old daughter spoke before I did and said "WHATEVER IT TAKES". She saved that dog that day! She is approximately 3 years old per the vet and she has some training and had been spayed prior to coming to us. She is my wild child too, but we love her and she makes my daughter and I feel safe. The cockapoo was adopted through a foundation and the Jack Russell/Cairn terrier was found from an individual on Craig’s list. The day after we got her the owner told us somebody poisoned the remaining dogs the next day. The cat is also from an individual giving them away. All of our pets are spayed or neutered and part of our family. Some consider our pets lucky to have us, but my daughter and I consider ourselves the lucky ones.
What a beautiful girl she is.I am a grandmother to several furbabies as well as regular babies. They really do become part of the family. After my cat of 18 years had to be put down due to cancer I wasn’t sure I would be able to do it again. With all of the furbabies from my daughters ( 1 morkie, 1 white german shepherd,1 orange kitty, 1 black and white kitty and one really huge long haired cat named Freak who thinks he’s a dog), I’m starting to think I may want another. Or two or three. They are like potato chips , it’s hard to stop at one. Happy Anniversary and I hope there are many more to come
Oh, How I loved this article. I too have rescue dogs. My dear Annie girl was in a horrible puppy mill and left to fin for herself as she was a mistake, they said. Ugg ! She came to live with us 3 years ago and had many issues. But she loves me completely and was there when my husband passed away in July . I have 3 other dogs all rescues, but Annie has really grown and changed. My furbabies miss their Daddy as do I. We mourn and are learning to go on without him. I’m so grateful for my babies and so blessed in reading your article!
Thanks so much… hugs from one of your MJF sisters… Kristy aka eggfarmgirl
Happy Anniversary to your family and Bonnie. I too am an animal lover. I must admit I do humanize my pets, against the professionals warnings not to. At the moment I only have four dogs. Taylor, a husky/australian shepard mix, Moondoggie, a Jack Russel Terrier, Coco Channel, a hmmmmm…some kind of terier/chihuahua mix, and Zorro, an Queensland heeler. Shadow passed away on my son’s 21st birthday, and Duncan, my daughter’s beloved cat passed away this past September also. Those were the last two animals that we had as a "family". Reminders of my children’s youth and the happy times they brought us. I still get tears in my eyes as I remember them. Shadow did not know he was a huge lab mix that weighed over 100 pounds and prounced around like a jackrabbit; he lived with us 14 years and the doctors told us he would not live past 7 because he was too big. Duncan, doctors told us would not live past 8 years, but passed away faithful to the end at the age of 17. He was the exact replica of Garfield. I know I talk about my pets as if they were my blood, but it is so hard not to when they go through more with you than any human does. Life is not complete without a pet, at least for me. Enjoy Bonnie for many more years to come! Thank you for you post.
Carolina
What a lovely story. Thank you for this; I also believe rescue dogs are best!
We’ve had two rescue dogs, and they have been the best dogs ever. We felt we were meant to have them, as if someone said, okay here are your people, to take you home. Our first dog had many health issues, but we quietly paid the vet bills, as he was a member of our family and that’s just what you do.
Nice story. Next week is the eleventh anniversary of when I adopted my male cat Pumpkin. I adopted Cara Marie 6 months later. They are the best company possible. They act like my children when they were little so it’s impossible not to humanize them. She hates it when he puts his paw on her head, you can tell he does it on purpose to make her upset. She asks for food for him when he’s hungry or to have his hair combed since I make him wait (he likes to eat every four hours). I fell in love with him when I first saw him but she actually sneaked out of the room where they had her in and had my daughter follow her to the adoption room. I wasn’t planning on another cat but I couldn’t resist. Happy anniversary.
Nicole,
what a fabulous dog Bonnie is. She has it in the eyes :). I had a husky/shepard, Caesar, who was my first child. 17 years we spent together :). A few months before he passed, we got Rex, our giant, furry, rambunctious GS. We rescued him from a backyard breeder, and I often said he was sent to "test my patience" :). I did not think we would survive the first year. But we did, and he is the perfect dog for us, and I think we were meant for each other. He is my son’s brother from another mother, that’s for sure, lol.
Happy Anniversary Nicole! She is a beautiful dog inside and out.
We celebrated our " little boys " second birthday in September.
He came to us because our daughter had a passion for dogs…I grew up with all things furry, too and it seems like my father was always bringing home stray dogs, but my hubby’s side of the family wasn’t so critter inclined when he was a boy despite that he always wanted a puppy of his own. It took a bit of doing ( begging, talking, more begging, promises of constant care and love from our daughter, more begging ) until I finally caved in and began researching breeds. We fell in love with Corgi’s, found a wonderful breeder and Max came home to be with us two years ago on December 7th. She trained us well and indeed we have a loving, well trained dog now. She also warned us about humanizing him but we call him our " little boy", and we refer to ourselves as mama and papa when we talk to him…He even has papa time in my husbands lap! He’s the perfect fit for our family and we are all crazy about him, but guess who is especially fond of him?
We all say he’s the best Christmas present ever.
Thanks for sharing your heartwarming story….
Deb
Nicole,
I have 4 furbabies, cats. Which one would I part with, you might ask. Not a one. They all mean something to me. My late husband picked the oldest one out. My niece gave me the second one just after my husband died. A library patron gave me one after my first cat disappeared for three months. That left me with 1 cat. So I readily accepted another one. Then my Lord Albert came back and did not tell me where he had been, three cats. I have a liking for black cats. One showed up at my sister-in-laws, guess what? Yes, now I have 4 cats. Love them all. Gets kind of uncomfortable at night when all 4 hop in my twin bed with me. But I love everyone of them. Why pay a lot for animals when they can be had free, either from a human society or strays. Have a good day.
Nicole,
Great story and what a great dog. It’s amazing how we love these animals unconditionally and they do the same as well. Rescue animals are the best like you said. They know they are truly loved and you truly want them.
Keep the great stories coming…. Happy Holidays!
Very well written, Nicole. So very happy for you.
…beautiful story. I totally understand!
Love your story about Bonnie! I haven’t had a pet for quite awhile and have been thinking of going to the shelter to find a friend and your story makes me want to even more! Thank you for sharing with us!