Living in Connecticut, I don’t see relatives as often as I’d like. For my daughter’s Spring Break, my hubby suggested she and I spend a week with my family. Take a “Farmgirl” trip with me as we head to the Great State of Texas!
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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”.
Like always your visit was so short lived. As always your visit brought back so many memories. I hope your trip did the same for you and Audrey. Never say you can’t go home, as time stands still at Ouail Run-you can. Hope you enjoyed your trip. As the sign says YOU’ALL COME BACK!
Love, Dad
Thanks Daddy. And thanks for all of your wonderful hospitality. We had so much fun. Audrey and I are still talking about it. It was a perfect trip. Be back as soon as we can. Miss you so much!
I love you! -Nicole
Like many of the Texas sayings….you can take the girl out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the girl…that’s very evident from the story.
My favorite acronym is "GRITS". Girls Raised In The South!!! We are proud of that title at any age. To me: a well rounded person, knows and loves the arts, fashion, technology and so much more, but they live to be out in the country to reconnect to themselves and what is real. Nicole, you have done this so well and it shows in your daughter. Keep up the good work with her and yourself no matter what tries to slow you down, she will thank you later in her life.
The visit was short but a lot of good memories were made and a lot of good memories were revisited as it should be. I"m sure not much has changed from your childhood but your perspective. We love doing things around the farm for the wildlife and for mother nature. It’s not work it’s a labor of love given with no strings and it is returned in so many ways to us. I have learned so much from neighbors/friends and you! I am so grateful for the sharing of thoughts and ideas.
So keep telling the stories so our childrens’ children will have a connection to their past and understand why they love the great outdoors so much!
Thanks, Karen! Didn’t we have a blast? Such a sweet comment you made here, means a lot. And you should be proud of your flowers and garden at home – looks great! Love y’all! Thanks for the recipe – best coleslaw I ever ate. (It was her grandmother’s and mother’s and handed down. Those are the best!) -Nicole
I too am from Texas but have lived in Washington state for the past 21 years. But Texas is HOME. I don’t get back there as often as I would like either. When I do, the time just flies by. Texas and Washington are very different but but both are beautiful in their special way. Texas people and the food are the best. Thanks for sharing your trip home with me.
Thanks, Debbie! Hope you enjoyed it. I’ve never been to Washington state yet, but have a friend there who says it is a nice place to live and visit. Thanks for reading and commenting! -Nicole
I remember when they brought my grandma’s cook stove to my house for me to have. I told my husband that couldn’t possibly be my grandma’s stove because it was a lot bigger. He assured me it was. What a wonderful place and visit. Good for you and your family!
Claudia, what a great story! Thanks so much for sharing it here. It’s funny how we remember things from the perspective of how we were as a child. I remember the rock fences at the Farm being so much taller, too, and they aren’t very tall at all! -Nicole
Thanks for sharing a little bit of TEXAS! 🙂 I am from Germany, and will always be German, no matter how long I live here :). I was laughing, whenever I go home, or tell stories, it centers around food. Looks like you and your daughter had a wonderful time, something you will probably have to repeat often now that she has a taste!
Greetings,
Heike
FarmGirl #2245
Heike,
Thanks for commenting! My husband is from Denmark, and the same holds true for him – stories and visits center around food most often! Thanks for reading and commenting. By the way, some of the best German food I ever ate was up near the Texas Hill Country in a town we’d visit, Fredericksburg, Texas. We used to stop and eat at a German restaurant there. Thanks for commenting! Farmgirl hugs, Nicole
There’s nothing quite like the Texas country with the mix of trees, cactus, and wildflowers (like the Indian Blankets you show in the picture), not to mention beautiful rocks and fossils! Sounds like you had a great visit and hit all the high points. Y’all come back soon! MB
Thanks, MaryBeth! Like Dorothy says, ‘There’s no place like home…" -Nicole
Wow! Thanks for a trip back to Hill Country. My husband is a relative of Sam Houston and our son lives in Austin. Hill Country is my favorite! We see why you love it. Thanks for sharing your pictures.
Hi Bonnie! How cool is that, your husband being related to Sam Houston! I hope you get to visit Austin often. It’s so pretty there. Quail Run is close, and I am familiar with all the towns around there. Maybe next trip I will have more time and can go visit some of the areas, although, we didn’t want to leave the ranch once we got there! Thanks for commenting. Take care, Nicole
Howdy! Well you weren’t too far from me. I’m out in Montgomery Texas just north west of Houston. Yes, there is nothing like Texas. I call it home as well. Glad you got to come for visit and get your fill of good southern cookin! Most my immediate family all live within an hour of me, so that is nice. Enjoyed your article and pictures!
Rachelle, I was close! Missing Texas today, we have wet, grey and chilly weather. Course, come July it’ll be paradise here in CT, too. Yes, there is nothin’ like southern cooking, for sure! Have a chopped beef sandwich for me, will you? Thanks for reading and commenting, glad you stopped by the blog! -Nicole
What a wonderful "going back home" story! And better yet, you got to share it with your daughter. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Carol, thanks for reading and commenting! -Nicole
Your descriptive writing took me back home again! I’m living in the Willamette Valley of Oregon now but grew up in Austin. Most of my family now lives in Cedar Creek, not far from Quail Run! The pictures looked so comfortingly familiar. Thank you!
Oh, Eileen, my pleasure! Oregon is another state I’ve only read but have yet to visit. Glad you enjoyed the blog. Thanks for commenting! -Nicole
I grew up in Connecticut and am now in the Midwest. Lake County Indiana is a lot like CT, hilly, green and with a ton of older buildings. I’m not very homesick, which is good because I have no family there to visit now.
Loved the GRITS.
I did not know that about that area (the Midwest). I have yet to visit that way, but want to someday. Thanks for commenting, Kristy! -Nicole
Thanks for the visit to Texas. We moved from there a month ago and I am still very homesick. Did you ever see the bumper sticker "I’m not from Texas, but I got here as fast as I could"? That’s me. Originally from Indiana, we moved back after many, many years. But somehow , Texas is home. We too had great German food in Fredericksburg many times. I’m thinking I’ll have to make a visit soon.
Karin, I love the bumper sticker saying! Never heard that one before – made me smile. Thanks for commenting. Hope you get to visit Frederiksburg soon. -Nicole
LOVED all the great photos. Thank you for taking us along. How thrilling for your daughter to spy a great arrowhead. That really is a rare find nowadays!! She’ll cherish it forever and it will be a tangible symbol of a trip she’ll remember all the days of her life.
Thanks, Shery! You’re right… I still can’t believe she found that arrowhead! No one has found one in years. The whole trip was such a memorable one. Farmgirl hugs, Nicole
I am glad that you and Audrey got to spend some time in Texas with your dad! You packed a lot of fun activities in a short period of time. Audrey will have some great memories of her grandfather!