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Here we are just a twinkle away from Christmas day! Are you ready? I’m as ready as a busy farmgirl can be on the 23rd of December. There’s still a pie or two to bake and stockings to stuff, but that can wait. Today we are having a very special OPEN HOUSE just for you!
Please come in and join us for some Christmas Wishes and Dishes!
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”.
Your lighthouse ornament is adorable! The saltine toffee cookies look yummy. Is that what they eat out at sea? 😉 Wishing you the happiest of holidays~
What a wonderful place to be – I love touring others homes – thank you very much for sharing yours. I wish for you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you, and to all the Farm Girls, Ranch Girls, Country Girls, Prairie Girls, and Cowgirls that make up the sisterhood of rural women. Your beach house is so warm and welcoming! Christmas on a snowy beach sounds heavenly — and cold — but with warm hearts!
Love your house! Beautiful! I have a "thing" for Santa Clause and have a collection of all kinds and sizes! Also the same for snowmen.
And, I’m a toffee-loving freak, so I’m going to try that recipe. Looks and sounds yummy!
Thanks for sharing and sending you BIG, HUGE, ROCKY MOUNTAINS sized wishes for a MERRY CHRISTMAS from southwest Colorado!
Dear Sister Deb, You stoked the Christmas fire within. Loved the open house tour. Just an hour ago, I made a similar cracker cookie. Only 20 more things to make in preparation for both get togethers! But, its all in good fun. I have one more gift to make and wrap. This farmgirl bought her hubby a hay-rake for Xmas. Romantic aren’t I? From the plains of Wyo to the eastern shores and all other locales in this great CHRISTmas loving country…Much merry to all. shery j
Thank you for a lovely open house! I smelled the cider, smacked my lips at the toffee, giggled at all the innovative Santas, and enjoyed the heartfelt wishes of your aunt’s poem. Your chubby cardinal is a wonderful presence to watch over your holidays! May your days be merry and bright–and may all your beach Christmases be white!
Merry Christmas to all from North Carolina! We’ve got country barbeque ribs simming in the crock pot and a cranberry-walnut cake in the oven. Can hardly wait til Christmas eve supper with neighbors!
Blessings…..
Merry Christmas from the northeastern corner of Washington.
Thank you for sharing your home and your thoughts with us. It is like a visit from an old friend. I love the poem and think it would be a wonderful toast for our Christmas dinner… listen in as my family and friends gather around the table & I think you will feel a bit of your aunt’s presence in our midst. God bless and may New Year fill us with peace and gratitude for the gift of our Lord Jesus! Amen
This is absolutely beautiful!
Lovely! A belated Merry Christmas to you and yours!
WHERE did you get the adorable scallop shell lites? SO PRETTY!
We have a store called Christmas Tree Shops that sells them…Here’s the link!
http://www.christmastreeshops.com/
Just returned to school on 1-3 to get to view your lovely pictures. Are the red chairs all year, or just for Christmas? Love those!
We are rearranging at our house for the grandchildren getting old enough for bunk beds. Yes, we are bringing them out again. They are red metal that I didn’t like very much.
But after we added the Western Flyer Jumping horse and fire engine scooter, the room is shaping up.
Your red dining room is a great inspiration.
Until next time!
Linda
Hi Linda!,
Oh your grandchildren’s room sounds like great fun! My red chairs are year round!
I LOVE RED! Thanks for stopping by! Deb
Thank you so much for sharing your Christmas.
Thank you for the reminder as well.
Gwen