“Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits.”
Been doing a lot of sittin’ since my surgery. A. LOT. And a lot of sittin’ and thinkin’ too.
I have never before in my life experienced anything like this. Where I’m just stuck. Still.
But what it has done is given me time for all this sittin’. And thinkin’. And I have indeed thunk.
And also done other things with an apostrophe at the end instead of a “g” while I’m sittin’.
It must have been 20 years ago when I first heard from an orthopedic surgeon that my feet and ankles were toast. As I usually do when I hear news that I don’t actually WANT to hear, I put on my rose colored glasses and plopped my head up in the clouds and just kept trucking.
I know what you think.
A blog post about summertime must be about tomato juice dripping down your chin, fresh corn on the cob, and lightning bugs. That would be a lovely post, wouldn’t it?
But that is not this one.
It took me awhile to jump on the bandwagon, but I finally did. Glamping.
I pulled out my Glamping with MaryJane book and studied every page. Again.
MaryJane’s Glamping book is THE book. A classic! It is full of great advice and lots of inspiration.
I can’t believe this will be the 3rd YOU Challenge!! If you did it before, then you know how this works. If not, I’ll tell you all you need to know. The most important thing is that you make decision, right now, right this very minute, to do this for YOU. You, My Friend, deserve it. You need it. It is time to give yourself a little loving, a little attention, a little pick-me-up.
And you know what it is?
And so another springtime begins.
Yipppeeeee! I love winter, but I love spring too!
And March 21 means—SPRING IS HERE!
For me, spring means: Continue reading
Boots! Who doesn’t love ’em? Let’s hear about your favorite pair! What were they made for?
What, you want to see my favorite pair? Okay, be ready to be wowed.
I.LOVE.SNOW.
My DEEP feelings for SNOW go way back. In fact, I don’t remember ever NOT being enamored with Snow. I’ve loved Snow forever.
Of course, growing up in Georgia, and living there most of my life, I didn’t KNOW Snow personally, but I fell in love any way. I suspect it is kinda like online dating? We have never met in person until I moved to this farm, but I loved SNOW before we met.
However.
Life on a mountain farm in “real” snow is way different than life in a house in Metro-Atlanta with a few flurries.
What do you think about the winter so far, Mr. Mustache Cat?
Yeah, me too. Wet and warm. Feels like summer to me!
I’d build a fire inside but it is too warm. So I’m sitting out beside a bonfire I’ve been trying to start for an hour. Where there is smoke there is fire? Not so here. So far, all I’ve got is smoke. I’m here to have quiet so I can “find” my theme for the new year and contemplate the 3 things I always like to think about when one year becomes another. I hear chickens squawking and glance over at the chicken house and run. The Mustache Cat, the feral cat, the one who now lives in my house and yard and is no longer wild, is up on top of the chicken house. I think I saw him licking his lips. I will be right back…
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.
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!
calls herself a knitter, jam-maker, and vintage enthusiast who "never met an antique sewing machine she didn't like." Born and raised in the great state of Texas, she now resides in suburban New England in picturesque Connecticut, just a stone’s throw from New York state.
Married for over twenty years to her Danish-born sweetheart, Nicole has worked in various fields and has been a world-traveler, entrepreneur, and homemaker, but considers being a mom her greatest accomplishment of all. In addition to blogging, she also teaches knitting professionally and is a Certified Master Gardener. Loving all things creative and domestic, Nicole considers her life’s motto to be “bloom where you are planted.”
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