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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.
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~ 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.
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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.
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Wherever you go, no matter the weather, always bring your own sunshine.
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~ 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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Growing Family Ties

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When our oldest son started Kindergarten, we instigated no television during the week. It has helped immensely with focusing on the family and helping make evenings less stressful. We also focus on little rituals, like our annual trips to the pumpkin patch, Christmas in the Park, and even local college sporting events. You can create great bonds over a tub of popcorn watching great athletes!
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I always look forward to your blog Rebekah. Regarding winter gardening, it is the best! I live in Grants Pass, Oregon, zone 7. We garden in raised beds with a very simple tent frame with a plastic sheet thrown over it. I grow all of the greens you mentioned in your post and they are so delectable. I feel so blessed to share my salads with friends and neighbors. It is the most carefree gardening imagineable. If the weather warms up, we have to remember to throw back the plastic sheet as the greens can cook. We do have some severe freezes like down to 15 degrees but it is very occasional and not often. The greens still survive under their mini greenhouse. The bed is 8 feet long by 4′ wide. It really is the way to go for winter salads and braising greens.
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This blog spoke to my heart today. I have been asking these questions and trying to answer them for my own family. Maybe with Thanksgiving coming it is that time of year. I have 4 older children. My daughters are 20, 18, and 17. What makes my life different is: after home schooling my kid for 12 years I returned to Community college 2 years ago when my oldest daughter came to college. The other two are here with us now and I will be taking my exit from homeschooling at the end of the semester.
I am graduating from college and closing my homeschooling chapter at the same time.
1) Eating together means sitting in a Fast Food Place and talking to my kids at least once a week
2)Open communication in the car…if it isn’t pleasant, the driver will not talk, so keep it nice or I clam up…any subject is allowed as long as it is civil
3)Rituals: Yes, we go to church, but I almost think Starbucks on the first day of November when I can get a Peppermint Mocha sounds like a ritual
4) The kids talk about their dreams and goals all the time, I think I need to talk to them about mine more too.
5)Love and Acceptance is a challenge with 3 teenage girls and the 15 year old little brother… sometimes he needs a little more credit for having a brain. Putting him in a public charter school and walking away was a very hard day.
6)Memories are my favorite thing. It is so funny to me how styles of now are so much like the 70s when I was in their place. I spent the last 20 years trying to make teachable moments and memorable experiences. (Of course, as teenagers they are not always on board for some of the memories I am getting them into)
7)SMILE! I love that it. A smile can change my mood and hopefully the person I give it to.I don’t know if this is something you want to share on your blog, but thanks.
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Hi Rebekah, I too have my first asparagus bed, and mine are turning yellow, but everyone I have asked tells me to leave them alone. One person told me they will get berries and feed the birds and then they will eventually die back. If anyone knows any different, please share. I’m excited to see what I have next year. Are you sure your one mystery herb wasn’t catmint??
And I agree with all your points on having a closer family. It is my prayer that my two sons would grow closer and that we could have some traditions, but everyone lives in different places and everyone seems too busy. Hopefully, one day as they grow older they will want to start some traditions as well. Maybe if they would give me some grandkids, that would help. HA!
As always, enjoy reading your posts. Be Blessed! -
Rebekah, no fall/winter garden here. I may not be brave enough but probably without a greenhouse no one here in Michigan would venture there. We have not snow as yet, it is holding off longer than usual. I am not unhappy about that at all. The chickens are enjoying the garden right now. Hubs said one of them actually found some leftover cherry/grape tomatoes and a few late raspberries and was having a feast. The big garden is empty, only dirt and the strawberry bed has gone to sleep.
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Hey, Rebekah, pretty sure your mysterry herb is not catmint, which looks almost exactly like other mint. We always plant garlic on Halloween, and so I wonder if you still could get some in if you can find some ready to go. I get mine from Farmer Pete at Sandhill Farm in Eden, Utah. It is best to get some from a local farmer so that variety hopefully will do well in your weather. Good luck, and thanks for the thought provoking post.
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I make breakfast every Sunday. My adult daughters and their husband/partners come over with their dogs. This makes 6 adults, and 5 dogs all together. It’s a great time to try new recipes or enjoy some old ones, and just connect before the work week, starts.
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Hey Rebekah!
You are such a hoot! I guess I’ll start from the bottom… Encore Azelea’s? Really? I had no idea they existed… I wonder if we have them in New England… Believe me,when the first ones bloom here in spring it’s almost as good as uh,um,er… finding your next issue of MJF in the mailbox!
My fall garden is BROWN! So neat you have two gardening seasons there! I’ve recently become interested in hoop houses for extending my own gardening season… Can’t you just see me outside in my snow boots trecking to the hoop house to plant sunflowers and zinnea’s?
Family Ties: I love your list! Here’s a few more!1.Share and support eachother’s dreams!Understand that they are fragile so be careful when a family member shares a BIG IDEA!
1. Keep a sense of humor.
2. respect personal boundries.
3. Do things together. My husband is Treasurer of our son’s Boy Scout Troop, he’s coached baseball and basketball when our son was playing. Our daughter and I took riding lessons for a couple of years together!
4. Be crafty together! Our daughter and I love being creative and praising eachother’s creations!
5. Love eachother and cherish eachother and the family unit.
6. For years we have held Friday night as Family night whether it’s game night, movie, night or just a relaxed pizza and hang out night! It’s our time!
7. Now, if we could just stop arguing all the time!!! LOL
Too many Chief’s I think!!! It’s not that bad.. but, we do have our opinions around here, but we have love too!
Big hug!!!
Deb -
Hi Rebekah… This is my first time commenting on your blog, but NOT my first time reading it!! 🙂 I also read the "back page" of Mary’s magagazine 😉 Anyway, I was thinking about your comment about "how" to get your children to "like one another"… I noticed when my (4) children were younger, that they re-lated to one another very closely to the way *I* related to THEM– as opposed to the way I was trying to teach *them* to treat one another. And as un-popular as this idea is: ELIMINATE (or at least "cut back") all those sitcoms that use sarcasim ‘and such’ as "humor". Very seldom do you see siblings being "close, caring, and considerate" of each other– or children/parent relations that are good and healthy on these types of shows(IF they do, it’s usually shown as something they are embaressed/ashamed of after a particular incident that occured… and they sure don’t want anyone to know it~ as they "laugh it off"). That’s enough of that soapbox 😉 Have a good day 😀
Yes, God, THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING and thank You for Rebekah’s wonderful way!! I wish you all a Happy Blessed Thanksgiving.
What a wonderful entry! Yes, my dear, love your family and hold them close…You never know how much time we have left..
Love the farm house and your dinner plans! If you wonder who that strange woman is on the front porch, it just might be me…Too bad I live in Washington…
Happy Thanksgiving!
Well, you certainly made MY day. I was right with you in each phrase and each word. My special jolt was your reference to the aging uncles, and the wish to "freeze time".
Your posts must take a great deal of time and thought. Believe me, they are worth it to all of us who read them.
Thank you for everything!
Amen!! To your daughter’s prayer. Happy Thankgiving.
Leaving India and my near and dear ones so many years ago I had to form another family in these shores with my friends – some of whom have become closer than family. With them we celebrate this holiday sometimes with Indian or Chinese food. We have come to realize that "family" actually means taking care of each other, loving, sympathising when things go awry, and above all being thankful that we have each other to lean on.For these gifts we give thanks and also say a prayer for our other families that we have left behind and miss a lot.
Thank you for sharing the Thanksgiving song. Very pretty. I have lost one aunt and one uncle and I understand your thoughts. Unfortunately because I want to be here with all my children and grandchildren during the holidays I do not travel to spend them with my family I remember celebrating with when I was a child. I have been thinking I should give up one holiday to do that, how can we be in more than one place? Happy Thanksgiving Rebekah
Lovely post. Our backgrounds are so similar! There were eight in my father’s family, a ton of cousins, extended family and always an orphan or two. One aunt died this fall not long after her 100th birthday party; she was very vibrant and independent until she fell, and that was that. There are now only three left of the original eight. It’s sad to see it all slipping away, although we are trying really hard to keep it going.
My prayer is that the younger generation, my kids included, will value family enough to make an effort to maintain relationships with each other, though I honestly don’t see that happening. Everyone is so geographically scattered. Thank heaven for Facebook! At least they are able to keep up with their cousins that way!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Howdy Rebekah! Your Thanksgiving sounds wonderful! How great to celebrate in the old Farmhouse! My thanksgiving prayer for this year is to continue to find something to be grateful for each day and to help those around me do the same thing!
Love and thanksgiving wishes!
your Beachy farmgirl blogging sister!
Deb
Rebekah, the Thanksgiving Song and the descriptions of the hay ride and pecan-cracking and, well, ALL of it. So lovely. And, yes, a hearty and heart-felt "thank you for everything," is truly my prayer as well. Your daughter had it right on the mark. Much love, xoxo, Libbie
I wanted to follow up and let you know I loved discovering your web blog today.
Oh, your Thanksgiving celebration transported me into such an idyllic setting. For that, I thank YOU. :o) Shery