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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.
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~ 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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Guns & Aprons

We had more fun than piglets in a “waller”. We dined on buttery-rich, home baked crackers (MaryJane’s recipe), organic “yard bird” salad, and for the crackers…homemade butter & herbed cream cheese. Homegrown and home-brewed Apple wine filled our glasses. We learned the basics of spinning wool, we swapped seeds and listened to Marty Robbins tunes played by the resident guitarist. And, on this same lovely evening in May, we shot paper daises full of holes! Who are we? We’re “Guns & Aprons” Farmgirls!
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I’m still chuckling over your bulls eye! You go girl! Woo hoo! I love this post because it is such a reminder that we all need our " gal pals"… Sisters to laugh with and just plain have fun with! Beautifully expressed here! The fun and friendship just pours out of these photos…
Wonderful and inspiring … as always 🙂
Thank you!Deb~
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Wonderful post and some great pictures to go with it. Guns and aprons – that is a first for my eyes. I have only shot a 22 and it has been many years ago; target practice with a grandfather in-law. It took some talking to get me to even handle the gun since I grew up in a house that did not have any. I have to admit it is was a rush to get anywhere near the center of the target. Spent the evening with a long time girl friend today. We went to a large nursery and filled the back end of my little Sportage and the back seat with plants. We just kept saying "we better stop" and then we would see just one more "that is a great price". Had to stop for ice cream even though it is cold tonight and had a great time. How could we live without our friends? I have a new post and it includes the hen house! Have a great weekend!
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I want to move to Wyoming! (:
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Oh Shery,
What fun ya’ll had…& if you had some good ol’ Don Williams music…Id’a been there in a heart beat! lol!
Glad you gals got to have beautiful weather for your rootin’ tootin’ play date…
A bunch of us got together last weekend for camping in our vintage trailers by the Yakima river, a good ol’ fashioned barn dance and pot luck food fest.
Aren’t girlfriends the best!
Warm Spring Hugz to all you WY MJF gals. -
Shery
How fortunate for you and your gals to have each other! I’m hankerin’ for friendships like that, I need friendships like that especially now that I’ve been hit with an unexpected divorce. Aarrgghh! Anyway…"be the woman my friendships suggest", yes, I need to be the friend I want to attract. Good lessons here, thank you. Wish I lived back out West where I belong…if I make it out that way someday, I’m still bringing a blueberry pie with me, and it will have your name on it! Lovely blog, a joy to follow!
Cindy
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Just wonderful! I recently returned back to the Northwest but was able to spend three years in Colorado prior. Learned a lot about farmgirl life and enjoyed the company and knowledge of those near and far. Your comment on the "marrow of people", proves just that…it’s literally beyond the heart and soul that you find depth of a person. Loving a definition of Humility…"The state or quality of being humble; freedom from pride and arrogance; lowliness of mind; a modest estimate of one’s own worth; a sense of one’s own unworthiness through imperfection and sinfulness; self-abasement; humbleness". Priceless!
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Shery you have added yet another talent to my admiration. What an impressive target shot. I am envious of your "class" and sure wish I had something like that here. All the guys around here handle guns like a chef with a whisk. They are so comfortable and relaxed. I have shot quite a bit over the years, but never really got comfortable. As for you and your gal pals and your immeasurable talents I am in awe. It reminds me of an old commercial [I don’t remember what for] that showed the woman who worked to make the money to buy the bacon and came home to fry it up in the pan. It went on to express all the things women do without even thinking. To make butter or sew or especially make wine from my home grown apples is astounding. I am so pleased that you have such friends with whom to share your joys and sadness.
Teri -
Hi, love the blog is that a red Holstein that Anita has? That’s my dream team of oxen if she breeds them, I may have to get in touch. Thanks again for the blog.
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How fun! 🙂 I love the aprons, and the flower targets are fabulous!
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I was one of the last people to interview Marty Robbins before his untimely death, and I think he would have LOVED seeing you girls in aprons with your guns, and then listening to his music!!! Those photos were just the neatest things! And yes I too might want to move out there! 🙂
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Oh Sherri, What a stock tank full of fun you girls had! Our little henhouse Farmgirls Forever here in Minnesota will meet for the first time June 4. I really can’t top that kind of REAL farmgirl experience, but I’m glad for all of you that you found each other! Bonnie
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Nothing better than good friends, good times and good laughs. Congrats on the bulls eye, you’ve earned the right to brag. I myself am a rifle lady.
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This makes me home sick for my grandparents farm. I had all the horses I could ride. Learned how to shoot a rifle at the farm. Love the smell of my horses. I just put down my last old horse a few weeks ago. The smell of my horse and smell of the barn, nothing better. Makes me want to move out west to a ranch and work with horses and livestock. I am so glad to be able to watch this site. I have my mother’s apron, and I have my grandfather’s pistol. I am ready to go. Looking for a new horse that I can trail ride and pack. I know how to pack and took my training with the US Forest Service in CO. last year. It felt like I had been doing packing all my life, but that was a past life I am feeling. It could be a new life to come. So we shall see what God has planned for me. I don’t live out west, but I would love to live there. I am now in Indiana, longing for the ranch life.
Connie
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Hi Ya’all,
Just wanted to pop in to answer a few questions and address your comments.
Becky asked which month… August or September …is a better time to visit this area. August would be hot. Mid September would be ideal in my opinion…depending on what you’re planning on doing and where in Wyoming you’re going. You’ll get to see autumn color in some places – not here on the plains of course. The change of colors here is very subtle…the grasses mostly.
Grace, it sounds like you’re gonna have a blast with your friends. WooHoooo. I’m REALLY envious of those gals who have cute, tricked out vintage trailer. I SO want one of my own.
Cindy, I’ll be looking for that blueberry pie!
Linda, Anita’s milk cow is a Guernsey. As for her wine recipe…I’ll have to suggest that she submit it for publication. Good idea! She makes several kinds of wine, but Crabapple is my favorite.
Suzy, You interviewed Marty Robbins???!!! Awesome. My favorite song of his is "Continental Cowboy".
Bonnie, I am loving to hear that other farmgirls are gathering together. It is such great fellowship for like-minded "wimminfolk".
Thank you again girls for taking the time to read my blog and correspond. I love hearing from you and I hope that wherever you are, springtime is all over you!
Shery -
What FUN! Thanks so much for the fresh idea. I’d like to copy this get-together. Must find a local sisterhood! I just found your blog and although I’m a eastern farmer can relate to so much… Will look around more. Your post about setting realistic goals hit home for sure. Have a great summer,
Leslie -
Linda asked how she might find out if there is a Farmgirl group or chapter in Georgia. If’n I was you, I’d go visit the Farmgirl Connection website and start asking around in the various chat topic folders. I bet ya a donut there are lottsa farmgirls in GA!
shery
Hi there Shery!
This is a post after my own " creative recycling heart "!
I’d say you’ve done yourself mighty proud with your finds and your born again creations! That section of Picket Fencing is calling out to me! Love your collage! Windows, doors, old iron and fencing OH MY! Just today, I was eyeing an old wire magazine rack. I think it would be charming filled with flowers tucked into my garden!
I love the variety of things people can find depending on where you live. On the East Coast you can find some great picks in old Barns. These Yankees don’t throw anything away…EVER!!!
Happy Junkin’
Deb~
One of my very favorite quotes of all time…
" Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making
something out of it after it is found. "
~ James Russell Lowell
Love this post. My dad had a "junk" pile on the farm. He will see me coming out of the hollow and wonder what I have found to drag back now. I have actually just about cleaned up the junk pile. I also went to an auction one Saturday and when I came back, I went straight to the barn and started dragging out his old tools and horse tack to decorate the inside of my house with. I made a really cute planter from an old nail keg, cabinet from an old window, flower planter from a galvanized wash tub, and I bought 4 sections of old picket fence for $5.00, cut them in half, put a hinge on them so they would stand as a back drop and sold them in my friends primitive shop for $26.00 a section. Of course I kept one for myself. You have some really cute ideas, love the pics.
I can remember my grandmother telling me stories about growing up during the Great Depression. Her family didn’t suffer as badly as others, because her dad was a teacher. However, they were always frugal. They always had money for the necessities like food, shelter and clothing…but for anything else, well, that was another matter entirely 🙂 🙂 Every purchase always well thought over.
My grandmother taught me many lessons and one of them, from those early years, was to reuse everything I have. I love to reuse things and extend the shelf-life of things in my home. I couldn’t figure out where I got it from, because it’s certainly not something I learned from my parents. So it must have come from her.
Now my love for vintage and antiques, that came from my mother 🙂 🙂 I really enjoyed seeing the photos and I felt like I was right there for the journey. It also makes me want to move out to the country really badly…but that’s in a good way 🙂 🙂 🙂
I was really struck by the photo of the screen door on its side. I wondered about the people who would have walked through that door. What kind of stories would there be? I also liked the photo of the beautiful white jar with the red flowers on the front and on the lid? That must have been a special container for some lady a long time ago 🙂 :)..Well, the cat…I love cats…so that’s no contest 🙂 🙂
Thanks for posting this. It gives me even more inspiration to find multiple uses for all the things in my home 🙂 🙂 🙂
Hey Shery,
I soooo agree!
In fact if you sneak over to my blog & take a peek…you will see what my hubby made for me, in fact , I now have 3 and he will make 3 more…using cast off tires, a coffee can, cutter & ‘brute strength’ he cut out a scallop edge, then flipped the tire inside out and now I have big pots, So now to paint them a fun bright color & put flower pots in them! Wahooo! luv re-purposing…
hugz
>^..^<
WOW! I just finished planting my new (old) garden. It is made of entirely recycled materials- the only new things in it are the plants. All my beds are raised- they are water tanks from different times on our farm, some concrete, some aluminum, some big and some small. The picket fence was stored in a machine shed of ours until I found it again, and the wrought iron gate came from my husbands’ grandmothers farm, I have been saving it for years waiting to have just the right spot for it. I am in love with my new (old ) garden- it cost me nothing but time and effort and brings me much happiness!
I just love your "flower beds", I haven’t seen anyone do that in a long time, always liked the look. When I was a kid we lived in the country and they didn’t have garbage trucks pick up your garbage you took it to the "dump", which was just down the road that I lived on. Me and my 3 brothers use to love going down there and looking for "hidden treasure".
Here in Vermont we call it dump shopping. My father-in-law quite often came home from the dump with more than he took. Now we have an exchange area at the dump where people can leave things they think are still good and you can just go pick them up.
Good morning, I come from a long line of "pickers". My parents grew up during the depression and there was hardly anything that they couldn’t re-purpose. My mom was also an artist and had the ability see purpose where others saw junk. We lived in Oregon but lived for road trips, whether to the coast (driftwood, rocks, moss, leaves,and sticks as well as floatsum and jetsum washed ashore from fishing vessels), or to the Dakota’s where they were both raised. We stopped at every "junk" pile we found, often bringing home so many treasures that the suitcases would be piled in the back set. I am in Northern Colorado now and am finding one treasure at time as is my boyfriend. Amazing what you can find in a ditch or just on a old dirt road.
Wyoming girls must think the same.. I had a friend out to teach her how to shoot a rifle…along the way, she captured our old cast iron tub (http://honeyrockdawn.com/2010/05/how-to-get-a-bathtub-in-wyoming/) then enjoyed it! (http://honeyrockdawn.com/2010/05/the-view-from-my-tub/)
Come on over and enjoy my Wyoming blog too… http://blog.rimrockenglishshepherds.com
Carol
I love your garden recycling! I have been working on some of my own. I just finished a post where I show what I did with the tool tote that hubs won at an auction – it was full of clamps. He was really just wanting the clamps but I still had to do some mighty please, please, pleasing to get that tote for my project. As always love your post!
You hit the nail on the head!!!!!! Beautiful!
I am in love. Your web-site is so beautiful and refreshing. Your ideas so outside the box, I am jealous. I have been to Wyoming many times and each time I return home I leave a little bit of me there.
From New York
Love
Donna