Dog days make us all sleepy enough to take some zzzz’s in the most unlikely of places, like in a backpack.
We are in the thick of the dog days of summer. This is different in Alaska than it was growing up in the Midwest. In Alaska, it is “hot” when it’s over seventy degrees. For some reason it feels WAY hotter! Maybe it’s because of the angle of the sun?
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”.
Hi Alex,
I just can’t get enough of that darling Ava. I’m thinking maybe I need a new grand-baby! 🙂
Loved your post. I’ve sure been feeling the dog days here too. My daughter and I have been swamped in our flower farming business and some days I’m just utterly exhausted. But it’s funny how I always say at night, “But it’s a good tired”… that’s the farmgirl spirit right?!
When I saw the picture of Ava and the Fireweed my heart started racing… some of my sweetest memories are my little ones on our yearly summer visit to see their cousins in Alaska. I have so many pictures of them in the Fireweed! Someday I’ll get back there. And when I do? I’m meeting YOU for lunch!
Hugs,
Dori
A new grand baby might be the ticket! You are absolutely right about it being a good tired–It’s the kind of tired that brings the best sleep, too. A combo of physically exhausted and mentally satisfied.
How amazing would lunch in Alaska be?! I hope someday is sooner rather than later. Best to you and yours.
Ava sure is busy. She even looked like she was walking o. Water.
Dog days of summer….are be cause you worked the land like a dog….always trying to stay cool and not itch…. bugs were constant battle for dogs…its that THEIR tails were always swishing away the flys or mosquitos….I. the summer.the humidity always brought the we worst out in the summer. My summer flew by so quickly because my dog and I have been very Busy ….
As my dog has been chasing racoons, birds and squirrels. She caught a female robin and was….
Flogged by the male mate of the robin she chased……who chased her. My fog nearly caught a. Black baby squirrel who bounced off mydogs back and and scurried up the tree to get away from it!. Yes a frantic. Summer….filled with many antics of A frustrated dog! It was hilarious to. Spy on my busy dog. Wish I. Could post her dog days!
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I love the antics! My dog has been quite the huntress this summer as well. She finally gave up on most birds which is a relief to me, but she has taken on squirrels after nabbing her first ground squirrel out in the mountains. We were on this organized hike with a whole bunch of babies, toddlers and their parents, of course. I had even told them all before the hike that Moki chased the squirrels but had never caught one. Afterward, she proudly brought it up to me…it was quite embarrassing even though I know it’s just an instinct thing and totally normal.
I love that you spy on your busy dog and share it with us! They can be such silly creatures.
I work in higher ed, with student with disabilities. This time of year is a HUGE ramp-up to the start of classes in a week, and I’m busier than I can even say! Also, it’s time to do big harvesting here in Colorado, and even though it’s in the 90’s, it’s already in the 50’s at night, so winter is coming and all my summer veggies will be gone. And it is so dry, I’m spending much of my free time watering to keep everything alive. Not my favorite time of year, for the busy-ness, and for the heat. I don’t do heat well (and I came from the Midwest originally, only in Colorado the last four years). I’m looking forward to fall, and winter. It is my quiet, less-busy time. As for the freezer, it’s almost full, and that’s just with this year’s harvests! Going to be canning a bunch, as soon as I get my outdoor kitchen set up!
I so loved your posting!! Ava is sooooo wonderful to see. Yeah dog days are hitting me too but picking up peaches and pears today – grown on the Western slope of Colorado and have a lug of cucs to can so still being busy. Hope Colorado treats/treated you well, we’ve had a lot of storms this year. Best get myself away from the computer and get busy. God bless.
Thanks so much for the wonderful astronomy lesson! I hear about dog days every year, and was told that it runs from July 3rd to August 11th. The farmers say that if it rains the first day of dog days, it will rain a little every day for the length of dog days. I pay attention to that…..and it didn’t happen this year [either].
Your little girl is precious. I love that she is stylin’ at an early age. Shows her strong character. You are a great mom to let her show her creativity!