warning: this post contains only words, no photos. You see, I didn’t take my phone; I took my eyes and head. I’m such a radical. E-radical. Eradical. And it was dark, so…
“Happiness is a form of courage”
Holbrook Jackson
My dog, Blue, woke me up at 3:48 this morning.
He wanted to go out.
So I went with him outside into the dark night.
FARM night is much different from CITY night.
FARM night is much different from SUBURBAN night.
How do I know it is May?
In my meadow, the yellow dots of yesterday have transformed into fluffy cotton balls sitting on top of straws. Tomorrow they will be in various stages of disarray, like my hair.
In my pond, the chaotic anthem of peeping fills the spring night with noise. The silent nights of winter are over. Holy nights are year-round.
On the street corner in town, the strawberry man has set up rows and rows of farm baskets, strawberries toppling over the sides. He tells me he drove to the South Carolina flat lands last night, to a farm, just to share these large, sweet, fresh lovelies with us mountain folk. (okay, so yes, he was also selling those No-Bake Chocolate Cookies I love so much. Got a bag. And okay, yes, fresh cheddar cheese curds too. How could I resist?)
On a neighboring farm, the baby cows born in late fall have left their mothers, forced to a new life of independence on a different farm. I hear the mothers’ wailing for days, until they accept the stark reality of life as a mother cow. Or maybe they forget why they were lamenting. I wonder what the memory power of a cow is.
Just a few weeks ago we got hit with more snow. My garlic, having just popped up from its winter slumber to see the light, was unimpressed. My chickens agreed with the garlic: they had a meeting and boycotted the out-of-doors this snowy day.)
And then. The sunniness of this past weekend gave us all confidence that winter had moved out. I dragged my potted fig plant outside, the one I’ve been babying all winter in my garage. I made a fatal decision to leave it out last night. We were hit with a freeze and heavy, thick frost. RIP fig dreams.
And I write this blog post OUTSIDE, for the very first time in months and months. HELLO, MAY!
May makes me…
happy. hopeful. revitalized. alive.
It has always been so, but I find it to be even MORE so where I live now. I think it is because of the real winters here. Winter is harsh and snowy and cold and blustery. Back in Atlanta, the seasons are all blend-y. Winter there is not much different from spring and fall. (well, except for summer, which is not blend-y at all. Georgia summers are “hotter than Satan’s house cat.”)
But May. Oh May. You usher in loveliness.
AND YOU ALSO usher in the special time of the YOU Challenge. It is our 5th year! whaaaaaaat? Yep!
So let’s grab our shoes and put a song in you heart. Let’s go strolling together every day in merry, merry month of May. You, My Friend, are the You in YOU Challenge. Not your family, not your co-workers, not your church family, not anybody else. Just you. This month is dedicated to you, at least for a few minutes each day.
I know at first just the thought of taking time for yourself gives you a twitch in your eye. I mean, how can everyone get by if you take 30 minutes a day for you; hey, they’ll live. They’ll do fine. And that twitch will be gone by the end of the month. Your head will be clearer. You’ll breathe in more oxygen with each breath you take. You’ll feel better, physically and emotionally. And it’s so easy. Just go outside and put one foot in front of the other. The combination of fresh air, movement, and togetherness is magical. Doing something for yourself, declaring that you are worth it, is a transformational thing.
The original challenge was this: each and every day in May, lace up your walking shoes and head outside, no matter what. No. Matter. What.
Then, it evolved for some folks into doing something other than walking for themselves, swimming, biking, journaling, drawing, etc.
One year we added drinking lemon water in the morning before our coffee. That was refreshing and hydrating, so that’s a permanent part of it now.
And share. If you share your journey, you’ll bless us all.
And we all want to see where you walk! Take photos! And we want to hear how your walk was! And how you are feeling! Or if you are choosing to do something besides walking for you, we want to hear about that too.
So. You in????
May Day, May 1st, is the day we begin, but you can join in any time. When you read this post, make an agreement with yourself to do something for YOU. We have a Facebook group (Here’s the link. It’s private, you have to request to join.) where we post pics and chat up a storm. We encourage each other and enjoy our time together. So much fun. And so inspiring and encouraging. JOIN US!
I’ve particularly excited this year. I have been looking forward to it! In joyful anticipation, I got home this evening and mowed the overgrown path on my farm that I like to walk. It takes me through the rows of Christmas trees and out into the horse pasture. Whew, my winter months were full of heavy lifting; it has taken a toll on my soul. Of course, I say that every year: oh I’ve never needed this more; oh, this came just in time; oh, this and that.
But it is true every single year. I need this month of May challenge with my sisters. Shall we, Dear Ones? Let’s!
Want more info on the YOU Challenge? Check out these posts.
Here’s the original post from 2014.
Here’s the post from 2015. (boy, I miss those trail shoes. Got my money out of those babies.)
So, come along!
Until next time, Friends, savor the flavor of life!
Lots of love, Rebekah, City Farmgirl in the Country
P.S.
“Life’s a trippy thing.”
I heard this song for the very first time today. It’s weird and perky and fantastic. Frank and Nancy Sinatra. Here’s a link. It’s sure to make you smile.
AND THE WINNER IS JULIA! CONGRATULATIONS!
(sorry to be posting later than promised, but I couldn’t access the website earlier.)
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I know I’ve gushed about MaryJane Butters many, many times through-out the many, many years I’ve been here. I know I go all fan-girl when I talk about MaryJane. She is the original, the authentic, the one and only. Many moons ago when I discovered her writings, she changed my world, rocked my view, made my head explode with inspiration. (I thought, “I want ME some of THAT!”) Many moons later, she still does. Constantly.
Now it is time for you to fan-girl, to gush.
Leave a comment below about how MaryJane herself, MaryJanesFarm, the Farmgirl movement, or other farmgirls have positively impacted you, and you’ll be entered in a drawing for one of the new MaryJane Butters books. Amazon will ship it straight to your doorstep! You’ve got one week to enter. Only one entry per person.
Old Man Winter is getting ready to pack up his bags and head out. I realized that this morning when I saw two Canada Geese at my small pond. The 12-month resident, the Egret, was there as well.
My horses were keeping their distance. It takes my horses a while every year to get used to small, noisy, bossy geese when they return from their winter vacation elsewhere. The geese, with their aggressive charging and honking, run my horses away from the pond.
Three great, magnificent, powerful horses bullied by geese. There’s a lesson in there somewhere.
**EDIT Friends, Cowboy Dan died. My heart is broken. Thank you for your words of hope and thoughts and prayers.
Did you just sing that jingle in your head when you read the title? I sure did when I typed it.
“The incredible, edible egg!”
My chickens have come out of their winter non-laying phase and have started to gift me with eggs again. I’m always looking for new ways to cook them. What’s your favorite? Any go-to, easy recipes you can share?
Where do you go in your mind? When you need a moment of peace or comfort or happiness or clarity, what scene does your mind’s eye play for you? Even as adults, our imaginations can help us–if we exercise it.
Hold up. Wait a second. I have an announcement to make. A big one.
The other day, out of nowhere, the famous and feral mustache cat jumped on my lap! I couldn’t believe it. I know many of you told me it was only a matter of time, but I couldn’t imagine that cat would ever trust humans enough.
He didn’t stay long. Just testing it out. Look at his little face, so uncomfortable.
Autumn pulls me in.
In fall, my trips to town that should take 30 minutes become 45. Or more.
I roll down the windows, turn on the heater, and crank up the music. My old friends, James Taylor and Johnny Cash, and my new friends, The Avett Brothers, ride with me as I take back roads and side roads and dirt roads and curvy roads through the mountain countryside.
Last May when we came to the end of the YOU CHALLENGE, many folks asked for another round later in the year. The YOU CHALLENGE is such a special time of fellowship, encouragement, sharing, and walking together every day. So here we are! It’s time for our Rock-tober Challenge. This one is a little bit different than our spring challenge.
For October, you are challenged to do something THAT IS GOOD FOR YOU, THAT YOU ENJOY for 30 minutes every single day of the month. That’s 31 days.
We’re not just going to welcome autumn, or enjoy autumn, we’re going to ROCK autumn.
Texas, our hearts and minds and prayers are on you…we are with you and for you.
If my math is correct (and it may or may not be, quite frankly), I’ll be in 49th grade this year. (I entered 12th grade in fall 1980, so…)
Anyway, I haven’t received a syllabus yet, so I guess I have to write my own at this point. Let’s see. What exactly should one learn in the 49th grade? Continue reading
“Hey! How do you spell the JOE-ER in bon-joe-er?”
I was shopping in a boutique in a small village in the South of France when I heard a deep voice with a VERY southern accent ask this question. I smiled when I heard his accent. I was happy to hear any English at all, but southern English–my English? Woohoo! Where door is pronounced dough-er. And bonjour is pronounced bon-joe-er. My people! Continue reading
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.”
