After a couple of months of being so wrapped up in what’s going on INSIDE the farmhouse with my family, I was amazed, AMAZED, when I went outside for a walk and noticed that the entire yard had gone to the birds…
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“
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
”
~ Mark TwainDebbie 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.’”
Column contents © Deb Bosworth. All rights reserved.
Being a farmgirl is not
about where you live,
but how you live.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.
Column contents © Rebekah Teal. All rights reserved.
“
Keep close to Nature’s heart … and break clear away once in awhile to climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods, to wash your spirit clean.
”
~ John MuirCathi 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.”
Column contents © Cathi Belcher. All rights reserved.
“
Wherever you go, no matter the weather, always bring your own sunshine.
”
~ Anthony J. D’AngeloDori 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.
Column contents © Dori Troutman. All rights reserved.
Shery Jespersen
Previous Ranch Farmgirl,
Oct 2009 – Nov 2013Wyoming cattle rancher and outpost writer (rider), shares the “view from her saddle.” Shery is a leather and lace cowgirl-farmgirl who’s been horse-crazy all of her life. Her other interests include “junktiques,” arts and crafts, glamping, collecting antique china, and cultivating mirth.
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.”
Column contents © Mary Murray. All rights reserved.
Farmgirl
is a condition
of the heart.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!
Column contents © Alexandra Wilson. All rights reserved.
Libbie Zenger
Previous Rural Farmgirl,
June 2010 – Jan 2012Libbie’s a small town farmgirl who lives in the high-desert Sevier Valley of Central Utah on a 140-year-old farm with her husband and two darling little farmboys—as well as 30 ewes; 60 new little lambs; a handful of rams; a lovely milk cow, Evelynn; an old horse, Doc; two dogs; a bunch o’ chickens; and two kitties.
René Groom
Previous Rural Farmgirl,
April 2009 – May 2010René lives in Washington state’s wine country. She grew up in the dry-land wheat fields of E. Washington, where learning to drive the family truck and tractors, and “snipe hunting,” were rites of passage. She has dirt under her nails and in her veins. In true farmgirl fashion, there is no place on Earth she would rather be than on the farm.
Farmgirl spirit can take root anywhere—dirt or no dirt.
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”.
Column contents © Nicole Christensen. All rights reserved.
Paula Spencer
Previous Suburban Farmgirl,
October 2009 – October 2010Paula is a mom of four and a journalist who’s partial to writing about common sense and women’s interests. She’s lived in five great farm states (Michigan, Iowa, New York, Tennessee, and now North Carolina), though never on a farm. She’s nevertheless inordinately fond of heirloom tomatoes, fine stitching, early mornings, and making pies. And sock monkeys.
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Archives
What awesome birds of prey! We do have bald eagles in our area in Michigan but I have only seen one ever. We do have very large hawks that fly over often and turkey vultures so I have to keep the chickens in the run unless I am out and about. Thanks for sharing!
Oh, Libbie, that’s wonderful! I just posted on my blog on Friday about a bald eagle sighting here in Colorado. I saw him again on Saturday too! Must be that time of year. I’ve also been seeing a lot of Northern Flickers in our yard and a Belted Kingfisher nearby. Thank you so much for sharing about your birds. I’m so happy to know that they have a safe home at your house. 🙂
How wonderful Libbie! I love the symbolism of the Eagle and family guarding your home! Very powerful indeed…We haven’t had any out of the ordinary nature sightings near or around our home lately… but we’ve been enjoying the birds coming to the feeder that hangs right out in front of my kitchen window. We’ve had so much snow in New England and the birds even come to the feeder when the flurries are flying! Yesterday we took a long warm walk by the Cape Cod Canal.. It was heaven… the smell of the ocean, sea birds all about, and the warm ( 40 degree) sun shining down on calm waters was all we needed to recharge our batteries from a little too much inside time!
Take good care of all of yours inside and out!
Beach Blessings,
Deb
How wonderful to see & hear about those eagles. I was driving east to a friend’s ranch here in Montana when I spotted about 8 bald eagles in the old cottonwoods down by the river. Of course, I had to be driving and couldn’t get a picture! Then again, two on the ground and two, a golden and a bald doing acrobatics in the air. Wow, what a beautiful sight to see. We are so lucky because there are people who never get to see such sights in the entire lives.
Hello Libbie!
What a wonderful experience to see such a magnificent bird in your own tree! I saw a bald eagle a couple of months ago near our farm here in Kansas…my husband has never seen one in the wild here before. I’m from British Columbia and we have many of them. One spring in BC the radio station reported that people were phoning in reporting that there were over 20 bald eagles hanging around an opening in the ice near the road so we drove over to take a look. By the time we got there there was only one but he was in a tree just above us. He spread his wings and flew off and we were all amazed at how HUGE he was! You just don’t realize what majestic creatures they are until you see them up close. You certainly got a double dose of excitement with seeing the two owls in the evening…what a great day you had! I hope you have a wonderful day…keep warm and stay safe.
Maura 🙂
I love the Bald Eagles and Great-horned Owls. We have seen the eagles flying behind great flocks of wild geese, keeping their numbers in check during spring migrations. The owls used to nest in the lower creekbeds near where we lived back in central TX. I sometimes hear them at night now here in E TN and we have some beautiful White-breasted Nuthatches along with the other backyard birds that come to our feeders. We do love our little bit of nature. I think we all need that in our lives… what a nice reminder that we are creatures of Mother Earth.
It’s unusual to sight an eagle here in Western Pa, I would love to see one in my backyard. But, unbelievably, as I opened the basement door a few weeks ago something flew past my legs. I thought it was another starling that got into the house somehow. I walked to the kitchen and there sitting on an old ladder hanging from the ceiling was an American Screech Owl! After getting pics(so people would believe me!) I chased him down and caught him and released him outside. Amazing.
Hi Libbie,
What a wonderful treat for you to see the beautiful birds up close. We have a greathorned owl living in our neighbord here in Colorado, and he is beautiful. He can also send shivers down yourback if you happen outside about dusk and he is sitting in the tree above you and desides do his hooohooo thing. Thanks for sharing the pictures.
I have a pair of owls that hunt in my neighborhood. Yep, neighborhood. Huntsville AL in the ‘burbs and we have owls, hawks, turkey vultures and lots of other birds. They make me amazed at how well nature can adapt to any situation.
Beautiful!!! Thank you so much for sharing. Now if spring would hurry and get here.
Isn’t it wonderful! we saw our first local eagles last fall. they are about 10 minutes from where we live in Akron, OH. Mom & Dad eagles with two young. a boy & a girl. we just drove over there this weekend to see if we could spot them working on their nest. it is my understanding they come back to the same nest each year. Ohio’s eagle population is growing. So happy for you to have both eagles and owls. Keep us posted. It’s a wonderful thing to see something so majestic and pure and i love hearing (and seeing) other peoples encounters…Janet
Wow, they are so very beautiful! What a blessing to be able to see all of those birds in one day. God’s creation is marvelous. A few weeks ago I was out at sunset on a trail ride on my horse, blue, and just as we were coming up out of the creek-bed I heard an owl. It flew up in front of us so close that I couldn’t believe it had actually been there. It’s wing-span was incredible! And then I saw it in a cotton-wood tree, with it’s mate, watching us from their steely eyes. Wow! Again, our Creator is an amazing artist.
Thanks so much for sharing, I love reading your blog! Blessings on you and your family…..Breanna 🙂
You are so lucky! I just love to see those "big guys" out and about.
Just keep your lamby babes under cover & I don’t think you’ll have to worry. Good Luck!
Wow..what great birds to have in your back yard! I saw my first bald eagle just this month in N.C. near the Hickory area. (southern foot hills). I also love feeding birds in my backyard. Especially this cold winter. My little dog Mamie’s job is to chase the squirrels and cats away from the feeders!
Libbie,
Thanks for sharing the photos and your observations. Isn’t it a wonderful thing to have such beautiful birds as residents? Here in central PA we are also blessed to have eagles, horned owl, that sound so neat chordling back and forth on these frigid nights, as well as falcons and ospreys. We live out just far enough and fairly close to a river that they all visit all year. How blessed I feel when I can watch and listen to them. The family of hawks live in the top of a dead tree on the fence row and the chicken fuss every time they fly over. I love it!
thank you for sharing I love when I see a rare bird in my backyard lately it has just been wild turkeys and deers in the pasture. But I did see some robins isn’t that they sign of spring.The lambs might draw some attention. Have a wonderful day and keep us up with your world makes me feel like we are friends.
We live in Southern California but are blessed to live in the outer most part of Los Angeles, in a little town between Palmdale and Santa Clarita for any of you that know this area. I drive A LOT, as anyone in SoCal does. I have a favorite sighting on my drive to school and back of a family of red tailed hawks, flying and circling and diving. It always lifts my spirits when ever I see them which is just about daily. Also, I see Gray Fox and Coyotes because I have to watch for them so I don’t hit them. They dash in front of the car, in front of me, just at an easy, comfortable clip as though they have no worries. We too are minus the mice we usually see. Thank you, wild animals, for keeping the rodents in check! We heard an Owl on our fireplace in our bedroom late at night, it is such a wonderful sound and always makes us share a smile when we hear them. But the most amazing thing our family has seen in SoCal is a bobcat. He sat on a low wall outside in the garden which was just past our sliding door from our kitchen table. We were eating dinner and I think, maybe what we were having, must have caught his attention, because he sat and watch us the entire meal, though I don’t remember eating much. It spurred a lively discussing and we just watched him watching us. It was great for young children to see that, up close and personal, and still be safe. Wish we have thought to grab the camera but no one wanted to move.
Great way to lift your spirits anytime. But 2 different kinds in one day what a blessing. I get giddy when the hummingbirds come back to my little kitchen porch. We have an owl who comes by for a couple nights a couple a times a year. Love to hear him or her but would love it more to get a peek. Thanks for sharing and by the way how was the walk?
I would love to see eagles at our home here in Texas. We do have beautiful redtail hawks here. We have plans to put up an owl house for next year.
Libbie,
How awesome to see those majestic birds all in one day! A couple of weeks ago, I heard some crows making all kinds of noise in my back yard. I looked out the window and to my amazement I saw what all the fuss was about. The biggest hawk I have ever seen sitting on my garden shed. He did not seemed to notice the 6 big black crows that were dive-bombing him. He just sat there ignoring them long enough for me to get my camera out. He even stretched out his wings for me. I got a picture of him, just before he took off. I was inspired for the next few days!
Eagle medicine is powerful, I’m sure you know that. The Lakota believe that seeing an eagle with it’s mate is a message from an ancestor. Which one of your ancestors would want to send you a bit of love, protection and positive power? More than one, I’d bet!
Love and light to you
My-more-than-sister
Missing you so so much
Kate
Wow! Awesome pictures! How exciting to see those birds. Amazing to see them all in one place like that, you lucky girl! – Your fellow blogger, Nicole
how great is it that so many like-minded women have a place to share an experience like yours.i suppose there are some who would consider all the oohing and aahing over such simple things as "birds" kinda silly..NOT ME! i totally get it.there is a mating pair of pileated woodpeckers living on our place here in northern lower michigan.they are frequent visitors to the suet feeders in the winter and they,too,are magnificent birds.thanks everyone for sharing!
how great is it that so many like-minded women have a place to share an experience like yours.i suppose there are some who would consider all the oohing and aahing over such simple things as "birds" kinda silly..NOT ME! i totally get it.there is a mating pair of pileated woodpeckers living on our place here in northern lower michigan.they are frequent visitors to the suet feeders in the winter and they,too,are magnificent birds.thanks everyone for sharing!
Loved your eagles! I always like to sit in the morning and watch the birds at our birdfeeders ….. in the Spring we always see different ones passing by and over the years I am sure they just know a good stop for breakfast! I also look forward to the first glimps of pelicans in the pond by our home. Love to you and your family.