Monthly Archives: October 2009

The Art of Bartering

Farmgirls have long known that bartering is an effective means to an end. Trading goods for fun or in business fosters pleasant relations, trust and a healthy kind of pride in offering up what you have to trade. Money isn’t necessary in a trading transaction.

Bartering was the norm long before money was invented…

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The Plot Thickens

[Previous Rural Farmgirl, April 2009 – May 2010]
Family has been on my mind a lot lately. Perhaps it is because my two oldest sons, who have been out of country, are home for their first visit in nearly a year. Maybe it is because the holiday season seems to be approaching like a runaway locomotive that no one can slow down. Or just maybe it is the farm tours and the pumpkin patches and apple cider festivals that I have attended on the last few weekends that have me feeling all warm, fuzzy, and reflective.

(Thomas now 22, Lucas 21)

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Searching for the Great Pumpkin

[Previous Suburban Farmgirl, October 2009 – October 2010]
I know it’s a bad week to admit I hate Halloween. But I do: I’m too shy for dressing up, too easily spooked by ghouls and goblins. Even the candy part I can do without. All that said, I *love* this time of year…it’s the season of Orange!
Pumpkins! Sweet potatoes! Chrysanthemums! Persimmons! (I just ate my first one, yum!) Falling orange leaves! And did I mention pumpkins?!
Orange has been “my” color as long as anyone who knows me can remember. Family photos going back to my third birthday feature an annual cake finished in orange icing. My bedroom walls were bright orange; I even had an orange-haired doll. I still gravitate to the color as a grown-up, whether in my favorite Patagonia fleece or the aforementioned mums. And nothing cheers me like seeing pumpkins on front porches, especially when they’re left uncarved.
Because I’ve seen so many, I’ve been a little slow to discover the black truth about this orange season…

Paula as a pumpkin

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More Precious Than Gold

[Previous Rural Farmgirl, April 2009 – May 2010]
Although there have been other places I have visited that have taken me back to days gone by, none compare to my recent trip to Idaho City, Idaho. The old timers there would tell you that the wealth traveled off the mountain during the gold mining days in the mid- to late 1800s. But as a self-proclaimed writer, I would argue that fact. For me, the wealth of that little mining town is in its residents, who not only keep the history alive in the care and keeping of the physical needs of their city but also in the telling of the stories.

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Grace Notes

[Previous Suburban Farmgirl, October 2009 – October 2010]

I’m tickled to join MaryJane’s roster of scribblers expanding the notion that farmgirl isn’t a just place on the map, but a place of the heart.

True confessions (as the title of this blog makes clear): I was born suburban and raised suburban. I detoured briefly to New York City (I’m a writer after all) but now I’m raising my kids suburban, too.

Despite all the cul de sacs, WalMarts, and store-bought tomatoes, something a little bit country has always two-stepped inside me.

Bonanza: Ponderosa Party Time

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Cowgirl Muse News

Like so many farmgirls, I experienced the feeling of “coming home” when I recently discovered the wonderful world of MaryJanesFarm. So many things I could relate to … then came the adjacent acreage in the area of “common ground.” Inspiration on many fronts quickly followed suit. MaryJane fast became this cowgirl-farmgirl’s muse. As you may know, the Muses were nine spirit sisters of Greek myth, each one presiding over and inspiring the arts and science. Musing is an extension of the word, referring to creative thought that may fuel great ideas or inspire poetic prose. In either case, I felt the word and its many applications fit my mission to a T.

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Good-bye Old Friend

[Previous Rural Farmgirl, April 2009 – May 2010]
I hate goodbyes, even the ones that are just for a little time. I have never been good at them; they seem so final. It is heartbreaking to have to part with anything or anyone that I really enjoy being with. So this past week, when I had to say good bye to some of my veggie gardens, it was a little sad. I always feel a little like a traitor when I have to go and yank the tomato plants out by their roots (these same plants that just weeks ago brought me so much joy) and to till under all the plants that have been so full of life. I cannot help but to think back to what seems like a few moments before, when I was planting the garden. Now, as the chilly air of fall blows up my spine, I have to say good-bye once again.

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When Pigs Fly

[Previous Rural Farmgirl, April 2009 – May 2010]
There I was, completely sprawled out on the sofa begging the gods of all things to please stop the room from spinning.

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