Winter Storm Alfred reared its ugly head on October 29th, hitting Connecticut with one of the earliest snow storms anyone‘s ever seen. Nobody believed the forecast, and were we sorry! No one was prepared for what happened next. Have you ever been caught off guard by extreme weather?
Winter Storm Alfred dropped a blanket of snow within minutes of starting…
I’m off to our library today. My daughter’s key chain collection was featured in the glass showcases for October. Our library’s a treasured place, and for a small town, it’s a great meeting place full of books, activities, and museum-worthy treasures in cases illustrating the town’s history. Our townspeople are very proud of it. Stepping inside, I’m reminded of how reading has shaped who I am and where I’ve been.
We lost a member of the household today – the pet fish. Dealing with the loss of a pet is a rite of passage for a parent, unfortunately. It’s when your heart tugs at you, but you realize, “Yikes! I’m the adult here… I have to keep it together.” What do you do when your child’s heart is breaking?
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Have you ever entered a baking contest? I hadn’t, until recently. Grab some coffee (and maybe a slice of pie…you’ll crave it soon, for sure), and I’ll tell you about my recent pie-baking adventure.
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As a mom, my year isn’t a calendar year, but one that ends when lazy days of summer bid farewell. A new year starts with the return of fall. Even when my daughter grows up, I bet I’ll still feel that way. I still love the smell of new pencils, a fresh box of crayons, and the scent of new leather shoes! Back-to-school means a fresh start, more hectic schedules, and saying goodbye to long summer days of fun. Having grown up in a climate that is hot most of the time, I really appreciate the four seasons we have in Connecticut, savoring every minute of our short but beautiful summers. My daughter doesn’t attend camp, but has plenty to write about when her teacher asks “What did you do all summer?” Come sit a spell with me while I reminisce about what we did and share some fun ideas for entertaining young’uns.
I had planned on writing on a different topic today, but life took a turn that inspired me elsewhere. Are you a plan-ahead type of person? I would say I’m notorious at planning-ahead. Maybe it’s just my personality, or the fact I was a young Girl Scout, and the motto “Be Prepared” stuck. In any case, when we heard unwanted guest Hurricane Irene was heading our way, I got busy. But no matter how much preparation or weather reports you keep updated on, when it comes to Mother Nature, sometimes you don’t know what’s in store for you, and she reminds you of the most important life lesson.
Isn’t everything better when homemade? I think so. Some foods, I won’t even eat unless it’s homemade. Especially jam. Are you a regular “Jammer”, or is it something you’ve thought of, but never attempted? Well, come on in to my kitchen, as I make a batch!
Summer’s midway! While we’ve been busy doing some favorite summer activities, sometimes things don’t turn out as planned. Stopped at a light the other day, I noticed a bumper sticker, about the sport of golf. It read, “I hate golf, I hate golf, nice shot… I love golf!” Gardening can kinda be that way sometimes, too.
Are you passionate about a hobby or activity? One of my favorite hobbies is knitting, an activity that keeps my hands busy and my mind relaxed. I love teaching knitting classes for my town, and knitted items are one of my favorite gifts to give. I really got the “hang” of knitting when I was expecting my daughter, and had complications that required bedrest…torture for someone like me who has to always be doing something! Knitting makes me happy and centered…it’s my “yoga”. Picking out yarn…the textures, the colors, the smell of the fibers, makes me giddy! I love to head to my favorite yarn store, located in one of the most beautiful places in Connecticut…the historical and quaint town of Kent. Come visit this gem of a town with me!
When grocery shopping, I’ve gotten into the habit of bringing in my “green” shopping bags. I originally started using reusable ones when I first joined the Sisterhood, earning my first Merit badge by collecting the bags to go green. Easier to carry groceries in, the bags act as coupons as well, as the store deducts five cents off my total for each one. I’d amassed a collection of about twenty the past year. Most of them were “freebies” I received with purchases, or that I had paid a dollar or two for; none were homemade or that pretty. Imagine my surprise several weeks ago when someone stole them! What happened afterwards, surprised me even more.
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”.
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