Springtime … early summer on the High Plains will have one of two effects on you. Wyoming’s bountiful beauty may inspire words of admiration or you’ll feel quietly awed and perfectly content to remain in that state … completely surrounded by the renewal of life in every direction you look. (Above: Newborn Pronghorn Antelope)
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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”.
What a beautiful place to call home. I live on the east coast and I am contented here but my heart pulls for the west – I love it out there. Thanks for sharing the pictures, they are absolutely amazing!
My goodness Shery!
I am just in awe of the beauty you have shared through your photography and the soulful message along with it. They are all inspiring but I have three favorites that speak straight to my western girl heart. The Lilac spilling over the " chippy " picket fence most certainly does bring a sense of contentment. As I gaze at your western sky on fire I can feel the intense western heat seep into my bones and I can smell the sage as if I’m standing right in it. Once again through your blog, I have been teleported back to my home of 40 years in Northern Nevada.
I can feel that ‘wide-open anything is possible’ feeling one can only really know if they have lived it. I know it well!
It’s a blessing you found your way back home where your roots run deep. There really is No Place Like Home.
This desert rose has been transplanted in New England for 9 years. I’ve traded in my dry, cracked hands for softer skin provided by all the moisture in the air here, and I brought along my can-do western spirit. I needed it to get myself firmly planted in a hurry. I consider myself blessed. I have traveled our great country as well, with only a handful of states left to see and have had the good fortune to live in two amazing places the West and the East. I embrace the gifts this side of the U.S. has to offer and I have found they are plentiful if I keep my eyes and heart wide open.
I live within minutes of the Atlantic Ocean which is my western replacement for " wide open spaces ". When I feel the need to see beyond the tree-tops I can head to the beach or our summer cottage for a quick dose of awe inspiring beauty and some much needed refreshment. Salt air and an ocean breeze will clear out the cobwebs in much the same way as a ride in the wide open out west. The sunsets here are equally breath taking as those out west. I feel lucky to know them both well. I truly feel as if I have two homes.
I’m so very grateful for your Ranch Farmgirl blog too.
Just another outstanding post Shery. Thank you!
I’m with ya…100% Put down some roots and bloom where you’re planted! You’ll just feel better!
Deb~
p.s. The new born antelope? A miracle to behold!
Purple flowers thriving on a windswept rock? Now that’s persistance! It’s what we all need with a healthy dose of love and a little luck tossed our way to make a good life any where!
WOW! Just wow….
Your photos and commentary made my heart sing. I live in Colorado Springs, where the Plains meet the Rockies, and I get up every morning thanking God for all I see. In the Prairie there is s sublime beauty all its own, if only people will see. Thanks so very much for sharing. You made my day!
What a beautiful visit with you! It is the next best thing to actually being there!!!!!
I loved the photos. You take beautiful pictures..and these are all from your perspective. In Oregon there are places that take my breath away, too. It’s home and I love it here. 🙂 🙂 Have a beautiful weekend 🙂 🙂 🙂
I would love to live where you live, I can tell that good karma surrounds you and your family with love.
Keep sharing and writing and taking pictures, you have a gift.
WOW! Those are the only words to express my delight as you share your world with me. A brand new antelope, fantastic flowers and bird’s nests. Your fantastic photography , and your beautiful horse. I love to ride and did a lot of it while in the Black Hills. I love to dream with you. Thanks, Bonnie
Thank you for the beautiful photos. My husband and I have gone to Wyoming for Vacation for over 40 years and only been able to live around Greybull for 3 years, then back to the Minn, Nebr, KS, Iowa strip of the Midwest. We long to retire in Wyoming and enjoy all those seasons too. Thank you again for the beauty of the clouds and flowers. I have sat many a time just feeling the Big Sky out there. For those who have never experienced it, I would recommend a road trip to wide open spaces and prairie anywhere in the Great Plains. The feeling is unbelievable. Happy Summer.
You are very blessed! You live in such a beautiful place. I must visit there sometime. Your pictures inspire me and I do feel a beautiful sense of wonder and joy as I look at them. Thank you so much for sharing your world with us.
Shery…..Thank you for sharing your home with us. It is the simple things in life that takes my breath away. I hope to one day visit your world because that is where I truly feel I belong. Many blessing to you always……Beverly
P.S. Please give that best darned horse in the world a hug and kiss for me! Thanks…….:-))))!
Thank You Shery! I know you hear this all the time, You have a way with words and pics. I feel like I’m there, really. What you share is so much appreciated. I live in Ca. near the Delta, not far from a lot of what you hear on the news. You remind me that there is a thriving, beautiful and busy place. If I look a little closer I can find beauty and life here too.
I have a better heart today, because of you. God Bless & Again Thanks
Wow! What beautiful pictures! Thank you for sharing them!
I would thing looking out over your prairie would give you something of the same feeling hubs and I get when we sit on the beach looking across Lake Michigan or Lake Superior. That is where we take our breaks from our normal chores and work. Although I wish it was out my back door as yours is. Lovely pictures. Thank you for sharing!
Shery, I, too, am back East now but there is a piece of me that will always yearn for those wonderful Wyoming spaces. I visit often, but as we, and Dorothy, know so well–there’s no place like home!! Inhale the sage for me, ijs
Incredible! Bravo! Thank you!
Such a beautiful homage to spring time on the Prairie. Loved the color blocks and the new born antelope. I’ll be visiting Montana, North Dakota and Utah the next couple of weeks. My camera is at the ready!
Shery
Wonderful pics…I can’t wait to get together with my farmgirls and caught up on what I’ve missed:)…oh and I brought a little something back for all of you from trip to IL. See you soon!
Absolutely Beautiful! I so want to travel westward one day. I love my home and I too have ventured but always seem to find my may back. I get overwhelmed with the work sometimes, but then I take a moment and remember it will all get done eventually it always does. But with farming you are never really done, just going on to the next cycle with the next season.
A couple of gals wrote to me privately about good trail-riding horses for sale and about interesting places in Wyoming to see on their way to Yellowstone.
As to the first question. I would have emailed you privately, but that needs to be included in your comment or all I get is a name with no way to contact folks. The answer at this time is No, I don’t. That kind of horse is always in demand, even in a depressed economy and in ranching circles too. They’re just not an easy item to find – as evidenced by your veterinarian’s quest.
Ok, if you’re coming to Wyoming from the east and making your way to Yellowstone, here are stops I suggest: Devils Tower which is just inside the SD/WY border and close to I-90. It just takes half a day and then you can be on your way again. Take in Cody and Sheridan. Sheridan, WY has the largest saddle museum IN THE WORLD in the King Saddlery downtown. Sheridan is a very hip, but all western town. Chic and true to it’s roots. Cody – the Wild Bill Cody museum is a MUST. Original Remingtons! You’ll not see a finer museum of old west items anywhere in the known universe. Have lunch downtown at the old hotel.
The rest of Wyoming is an exercise in patience for those who need to go from one little town to the next. But, for those who hunger for wide open spaces, enjoy the many hours it’ll take you to drive across this BIG state. Most folks aren’t used to UNcongested country and it can take some getting used to. Let your soul stretch out in Big, Wonderful Wyoming. It’s one of the last great places on Earth. shery
Hi Shery. My family and I just drove through your area Monday on our way home to Coeur d’Alene after a long, but wonderful trip to the East Coast. I was taken with the beauty of the Black Hills and grasslands right now. It was so green and full of wildflowers! It was fun seeing so many Antelope. What a great picture of the newborn…thanks for sharing.
Surrounded by such beauty Shery … I love the pictures. It is like taking a little mini vacation. Thanks for sharing them.
Wow.
No words come to mind that would capture the beauty in your photos.
The photos took my breath away…Spectacular!