Since my last blog post, we’ve added a new member to our family! Come meet the little guy who’s captured our hearts, and has us wrapped around his tiny little paws!
-
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”.
OMG, Nicole, so CUTE – can’t wait to meet Pip in person!!! I was just thinking it was around this time of year a couple of summers ago when we met Mittens, right?!
Hi Ali! You are right…we adopted Mittens two summers ago. Can’t wait for all my farmgirl sisters to meet little Pip. Watch your email box…I will be sending a farmgirl Chapter get together email invite soon! Hugs to you, sweet friend, Nicole
AWWWWESOME!!! also love his name, he is one blessed pup.
Hi Joan, thanks! I think we are one blessed bunch of humans, too! He and Bonnie add so much to our family. It’s funny, it’s like Pip has been here forever. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Pip looks so happy and so do the rest of you, canines and humans alike! My sister has recently adopted Cinnamon, an 8-pound Chihuahua, who has been a favorite breed since she was a baby. Robin was raised with two Chihuahuas, two brothers, and though our parents named one Chi Chi, Robin was allowed to name the other: Humphrey. No one knows why but Humphrey was her dog for life. Congratulations on your rescue furkid!
Adrienne, How cute! I love the names and such a heartwarming tale. Tell your sister to give a big pat on the head from Pip and me! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Awwww! Thank you for adopting both of your dogs from PawSafe. Clearly they are two super lucky dogs. ~diane
Hi Diane, thanks to you and Pawsafe, and all of the Pawsafe volunteers again for all that you do. You’ve had such a big impact on our family, and many other families, too. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
awwww, congrats to Pip and your family! he is such a little cutie and so is Bonnie! love the picture of him in his little shirt too!
Thanks, Denise. He really is such a good boy. Funny, we never really thought about a chihuahua, but so glad we found him! He seems like he’s been here forever. I am so glad Bonnie loves him, too. They are so sweet together. Thanks for reading and commenting. Farmgirl hugs, Nicole
We have a chocolate Chihuahua with a cream mask that has the same quiet and cuddly personality. He’s kind of the “Anti-Chi” as far as stereotypes go. We rescued him as well and we could not imagine our lives without him.
Hi Cocoa! Your Chi sounds adorable! We feel the same about our Pip…he may be small, but he’s become a big part of our lives. Thanks for commenting. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
OMG – we also just adopted a 7 month old Dachshund/Chihauhua (??) mix. Her tails doesn’t stop wagging and the happy pee happens all the time! Hopefully she will grow out of this. We also got her from a local rescue “Perfect Pets Rescue” – an adoption fair in PetSmart Poughkeepsie, NY – (the only way to go to get a dog or cat), and we have named her Lily. I have been waiting for a long time to get a dog and this just happened. She is the best thing EVER!!!!!!! I especially love when she sleeps with my on the couch while watching TV at night. Good luck with Pip!
Diane
Hi Diane! Congratulations on your new fur-baby! She sounds so adorable, and I love her name. Enjoy every minute with her. Pip has us all in stitches, he has so much personality and when the two dogs are together, it is just magic! Give little Lily a big farmgirl hug from me! – Nicole