Every farmgirl is a farmgirl every day because the whole concept is a state of mind. We all have various ways of living the farmgirl life … depending on our circumstances. Our gardens aren’t identical in size or appearance, neither our homes or our “farms”. Some of us hang our country’s flag off the fron’t porch while others fly Old Glory high on a pole in their yard. Me, well, an old wheelbarrow handle is a make-do option. The farmgirl way is all over the map. C’mon in and see how my farmgirl pals and I do our own thing … and then share how you express your own unique farmgirlness.
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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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Archives
So love the comments about your horse. I too have one, only a gelding. I refer to him as Checkers "The Wonder Horse". My kids don’t always agree. We are having a wetter than normal summer. More grass than you can imagine. Would sure send some rain your way if we could.
Shery, I enjoy your blog and your photos. I was wondering what kind of camera do you use for taking all your photos?
Sherrie D.
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Hi Sherrie, I have a Sony A 100 DSLR. It isn’t a camera for an advanced photographer. It is very much a middle of the road model and very affordable [for me]. I would love to get a Canon D series camera someday, but at this time I can’t justify the expense. Also, my camera is one that I carry with me a’horseback and I don’t baby it at ALL. If it bites the dust (literally) while I’m out & about … Oh welllllll. She’ll die with her boots on! :o) I wouldn’t have near as much fun doing what I do with a camera if I had a fancy "big gun". Thank you. shery
I loved your pictures and stories, again! So much of what you are doing parellels what is going on in my corner of the world. It is nice to know there are women out there with the same loves as myself! Thanks for sharing!!!
Thank you for sharing your day on the ranch. I came from a small farm and now live in the city, but I can appreciate the long days and the hot summers outside. I love the horses and the cattle round ups. Wonderful pictures, hopefully rain will come your way from us here in Oregon.
I had a horse like your Dolly. His name was Captain. I got him at a police auction. He was a big, 17 hands, flea bitten grey. I trusted him like no human. If I was sad, I would put my arms around his neck and he would pat me on the back with his great head. Sadly, Captain fell on a stall mat and broke his pelvis. We got him healed up and he lived another year and fell again. He was not young when I got him, but frankly, I prefer older horses. I’m older and prefer a horse with a little common sense.
Your blog reminded me it really is summer, even if this farmgirl works in an office all day.
This week has been an especially stressful week at my other full time job. This morning though, I woke with sunrise and a lovely cool breeze. I did what I do every morning, grabbed a cup of coffee (my one a day dose) and went outside to watch the sun rise and to meditate in the beauty of the ranch. We have a myriad of birds including our very special California orioles. These birds were believed to be extinct in California until four years ago when they graced us with their return right here on our land. It is an amazing sight to see that brillant flash of bright yellow. Because the residue of stress still hung around me, I decided I needed to get moving and do some work to get it off my mind. It was during my regular chores I had to stop and honestly thank the universe for the privilege of working with my own two hands, body and mind. There is an inspiring joy in accomplishing your daily work. It is true, it is never done and I always feel like I am behind, but this morning I am so grateful for the hard work I must do on a daily basis and revel in the joy of accomplishment. It is a tumultous world right now and I cannot say what tomorrow will bring. But this moment, this day, I can rejoice in the satisfaction of a day fulfilled with a job done, truly an accomplishment that touches my very soul.
Shery, if I lived in Wyoming, you would definitely be my "bosom friend", (from "Anne of Green Gables"). My heart melted at the sight of that new baby calf. Being away from my rural past for 20+ years, I had forgot all about the Killdeer doing the "broken wing thing." Thank you for the memories! And girl!!! Guess what I have sitting on MY big cupboard? One huge elk antler drop. My DH found it while hunting and had to bring it home. We’re on the same wave length!!!!!!! Oh…and must mention one more thing. That Ellis! What a guy! He is amazing!!! Must be due to living in a pristine place like Wyoming!!! AND Lonesome Dove!!! Have watched it probably 200 times. Gotta love that Gus!
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Dear Vikki, That is the thing about meeting a fellow farmgirl you’ve never met… it’s like you HAVE met and known each other. Kindred spirits don’t have to explain themselves to one another … they just all talk at the same time and splatter all that good energy everywhere :o) The elk antler —— I carried that thing around for a couple of hours until we got to a gravel road where the ranch owner could swing by and get it for me. That thing is HEAVY and not the easiest thing to tote a’horseback. We were to move cattle and ride for most of the day and there was No way I could have carried it that long. BUT, it is a huge antler and I didn’t want to surrender it. Funny that you have one on display too. Well, it would be fun to be bosom friends no doubt. You take care and keep on livin’ large :o) shery
Newbie to the Wild Windy Wyoming, I so enjoy your blog. I’ve been a guest at brandings and dockings galore this season and CAN’T WAIT to be inviting folks to our own some day soon.
We are loving Wyoming even with its tinder box tendencies this year. I’ve joined the local volunteer firefighters as a good neighbor and hope to NOT have a fire to fight, but I am sure we’ll be out sooner or later. Our Zone has sent folks to the Russell Fires and just the other day up to the fire between Sheridan and Buffalo. I’m nervous but steadfast in our need to protect our prairie grass and neighors.
Be safe and best wishes!
Jena
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What a good Samaritan you are. Yes, the fires are beginning to happen around here. It takes so very little now for a fire to spark and GO. Every rancher around has their old firetruck loaded and ready to go at a moment’s notice. We can use a tank weed sprayer on the pickup for a smaller version. It isn’t much, but it is WATER. Stay cool if you can and maybe one of these days it’ll rain again. shery
Once again you hit the nail on the head of a good read – from the wonderful time had with your farmgirl friends – to the love of Dolly and the joy to be inside making your home spew forth your loving kind spirit. We have been experiencing a major fire that burned 346 homes but the very dedicated fire fighters saved many many more homes – we thank each and every one of them and all of them around our nation. Stay safe God Bless
So how many BFF’s do you have? You’re doing a great job friend.
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Hi TerryGirlfriend!! Our little farmgirl flock usually rounds out to about 5-7. Other gals have come from time to time, but folks have a lot of other activities and there is only so much time. So, we enjoy seeing the visitor farmgirls whenever they can come. Thanks my old friend. shery