I got an email from my husband the other day.
It had five words in it. Just five. And a picture.
“City Farmgirl be real farmgirl. oxo” (five words)
(We use that “be” thing a lot with each other, just so you know. Like, “I be in love with you.” Or “I be so happy.” Don’t ask me why; it’s just something we’ve always done.)
Here’s the picture he sent.
What is it?
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”.
I loved your blog, it made me smile.
Lucky, lucky you, I love your stories of you new life on the farm and all your
pictures too.
There is nothing like wood heat, your chimney is fixable with a little work,
and you will be cozy soon.
My Montana friend told me that when she was little got out of school, and could see smoke coming out of her chimney, she knew her mom was home waiting for her after school and all was right in her little world!
We are blessed to have a sawmill in a little town next to us called Goodman, Mo, that gives away their smaller chunks of wood, so we load up and use them for my old cookstove so I can bake and simmer soups all winter long the old fashioned way!
Happy Fall, and Hugs to All!……….Diana in the Ozarks!
I love this! I am a townie, I get my farmgirl fill by veg gardening & my cats and dogs are my "flock". I have a friend with Alpacas and have been know to visit at feeding time just to spend time with them. I come when it is shearing day, vacinations, toe nail clipping, 1 birth and lead training( for shows). I love it, although I dont live on a farm I get the farm girl experience anyway I can. Good for you "tobbacco stacker" and soon-to-be "potato digger". I hope your chimney thing works out…that’s the one thing I lack is a woodstove or fireplace. ttfn Nan
Thank you. Thank you for saying I’m a farmgirl. And making me laugh. I love your adventures on your new farm. Thanks for the pics, too. OMG frost already! I’m watching the night temps here on the Oregon Coast dropping into the 40s already. It’s only September. I have perennials in pots that need to be planted here at my new place. And garlic and make to plant in my new lasagna beds.
Dear Rebekah,
I enjoyed learning about the tobacco harvest — wow, that is a huge field to have been HAND harvested. What I enjoyed most was this: you’re hangin’ with and getting to know your new neighbors (and they you) in the best possible way: sharing work, helping out. Making friends of neighbors are the stitches toward making your house & your farm your HOME! I was in your shoes 19 years ago. You be bonding 😉
Breaking a shovel whilst digging for food is fer-sure, absotively, posilutely a farmgirl thang! 🙂 Those dang taters can be elusive prey. So, put on your Elmer Fudd hat and on your next hunt, be vewy vewy quiet.
Rebekah,
Your zest for adventure is so cool. Horses, new floors, tobacco harvesting, what next?!!. You BE inspiring us all. (5 words)
I can smell the wood smoke now. Have a wonderful fall season. Marji
Rebekah,
Thanks for the update on your new farm. How fun it is following your new adventures. I had to laugh at your longing for your first wood fire in your new home. I had that same longing 19 years ago when we brought our home in Northern California.
About 10 years ago I answered the phone to my neighbor/friend saying "Remember when heating with wood was quaint?" That just about says it all.
Guess what we got this summer? Yep, you guessed it (or maybe you didn’t). Two new heater/air conditioners. The kind that the front sticks out into the house, and the "guts" remain outside the house. Heating your house by pushing a button? I can’t imagine, but my husbands back will thank him profusely in the coming winters.
Hugs,
Deb
I have been a farmgirl for 49 of my 61 yrs , and I cannot help but chuckle with the words of Rebecka, telling of the potaoe dig … I’ve had similar experiences with the "spuds" only 15 yrs ago, except did not break the shovel. And the part about some weed root really tickled me !!!! Also, about 15 yrs ago, I planted some seeds of asparagus, & a few days later, some green items began to spurt from the soil. In the days aheaad, I carefully weeded around these spurts, & they grew taller & taller with each passing day. One day, a friend stopped by, & while she was here, we went out to explore my garden, & when I pointed out to her my very first try at asparagus, she smiled & waited for the punchline to my joke, which you know by now, there was no punchline. Then she broke out in a sweet laughter, & told me those were a pretty common weed in these parts. I was stunned ! We still can have a good chuckle over that memory !!!
Love it! I have been a farm girl since the day I was born! Lived on a farm, moved to town, moved to the city and here I am in the middle of the woods. Around here we mound up around the potato plant to produce more potatoes so maybe you need to look for mounds of dirt with a some green growing out of them? Happy spud hunting!