Hello Farmgirl Friends,
Autumn is taking its last breaths up here in the Alaskan north. The last three mornings have revealed frost on all surfaces–a frost that persists during the day if it never sees the sun. Trees are bare, birds are fattening up and quarreling at the feeder; sleeping in is becoming easier and easier as the sun rises later and later, day after day.
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”.
Love your posts and pictures from a Great Great Grandma in Washington state…..Happy Fall!!
Thanks, Laurel! Love your name 🙂
I really enjoyed reading your blog! Thank you for sharing beautiful pictures along w/ a well written article! What will you do w/ all of your cabbage? Do you make freezer coleslaw? soups? Thanks again!
Thanks, Barb! I probably won’t take much of the cabbage. I’ve never utilized cabbage much in my cooking, but I’ll use it for some slaw or soups or stir fry. It would be great to make saurkraut some day…but I’d need to dedicate myself to actually eating it! I’m terrible at eating fermented foods regularly.
That’s a lot of carrots and they sure look amazing and delicious! Something went wrong with my carrots this year and they didn’t make it. Luckily, my father-in-law shared some of his with us. I love the feeling of fall in the air and watching all the leaves change. But I am not quite ready for snow yet. Hopefully you have some snow by the next time we hear from you. Happy birthday to your sweet Moki.
Thanks, Krista! It is A LOT of carrots! If you were closer I’d know just where to point you for some carrots :). Our cool early summer and warmer later season left us with a late first harvest of them and subsequently too much after everything else was done! There is ample snow in the mountains so hopefully we can go play in it this coming weekend.
Love your posts. Made me chilly. It is 75 today in the Northern Shenandoah Valley, Va. but I am outside to the yard work. I will think of you and frosty days while I work in this strangely warm weather.
Thanks! It was an abnormally warm fall here, as well. It just started to really get chilly this last week. It actually snowed the other day…it wouldn’t even count as a dusting, but it was exciting!
Love your posting and my goodness your pictures make want to make a visit! Thanks for sharing in such a wonderful way. God bless.
Thanks, Joan! I have to thank my husband, Evan, for most of the good shots. He has a great eye!
Enjoyed this latest post. You have beautiful scenery to admire. Lovely place.
Marilyn
Thank you, Marilyn!
The walks you take there look strangely like the trails my family and I walk- but we live in PA!! I admit I love the smell of the fall air,too. Such beautiful produce! We had a wet summer here with many storms dumping at least 2 or 3 inches of rain at a time so we had many problems in our garden… and fields… and barns… so I’ll just admire your bounty! Here’s my favorite poem for fall and the end of the gardening season: I loved my garden, so here is my sad ballad:I nurtured it for months and ate it in one salad.-by Arnold Zarett
Ha! I love the poem. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Here in New York near the Great Lakes we are hanging on to summer a bit too long. But it won’t be long before the frost sticks to the ground except where the sun finds it and melts the grass. I love your poem also. I always read your blogs, keep up the good work.
Thank you, Joy! The frost is coming…
Happy Belated birthday Moki; Love his picture, beautiful dog. Alex, winter is coming, but slowly – we have some cool days now colder nights but still not the cold we used to have at this time of year. Weeds are dying YEA! Soon will dig up bulbs and transplant to new beds in new yard. May be able to move before Thanksgiving – Hope so! Or at least soon after. Love the poems, all of them. Used to write a few myself. Yes, snow for your next post. Loved the pictures too. Until next time,