It must have been 20 years ago when I first heard from an orthopedic surgeon that my feet and ankles were toast. As I usually do when I hear news that I don’t actually WANT to hear, I put on my rose colored glasses and plopped my head up in the clouds and just kept trucking.
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Debbie 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.’”
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.
Cathi 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.”
Dori 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.
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.”
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!
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”.
Is that Mustache Cat the one you coaxed in to the house, who wouldn’t talk to anybody at first? and now he follows you around. I’m sure he’ll sit on you while you recuperate.
YES! He loves touch. Craves it. But nope, he hasn’t sat in anyone’s lap yet. And I can’t pick him up. He’ll sit on the sofa behind me, though. In these hot days of summer, he’s in the house more than he’s out. Isn’t he handsome!
Praying for all to go well with your surgery, and for a quick, uneventful recovery! Sounds like you have all bases covered :)!
Love that sweet kitty of yours – I know you worked very long and hard to get him where he is today – he will be your buddy while you recover!
thank you, Ruth!! he is a little miracle cat! and yes, an uneventful recovery sounds ideal.
Oh, Rebekah! I’m so sorry you have to do this, but thank goodness the treatment is available! I hope your surgery is uneventful and successful. Good healing to you! Rest! Move and exercise as much as you can afterwards! Keep your eye on that light at the end of the tunnel – think how GOOD you’ll feel then!
Wow, that’s a lot of exclamation points. I guess I really want you to be okay. I have missed seeing your posts. My fingers are crossed for you!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Hugs and kisses
And lots of well wishes!
You won’t have to clean
Or do any dishes!
Just kick right back
Enjoy a nice nap,
Read those great books
With a cat on your lap!
Don’t worry ’bout nuthin’
While you’re on the mend,
Soon you’ll be good as new
My farmgirl friend!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I’ll be thinking of you on the 27th Rebekah! I’m sure it will all go well and I really, really hope you will look at the 6 weeks as a vacation from life stuff. Do you do any hand sewing at all? I guess that is what I would be doing. Because I’m kind of weird that way!
I love what you said about your parents. I have the exact same thing in my parents. They also will be married 60 years soon. My parents are ranchers in New Mexico and I only see them about twice a year now and I hate that. We are lucky to have parents we love and want to be around aren’t we?
Good luck to you…. sending warm hugs!
– Dori –
Prayers and healing thoughts coming your way. It won’t be easy to not walk for 6 weeks, but it will be so worth it in the end. Mustache Cat will make a good companion while you recover from your surgery. Isn’t crazy all the stuff that a woman takes care of! Sometimes you don’t even realize it until you are making a plan for when you can’t do it. I was hoping to see the barn quilt all finished and hanging but I guess I will just have to wait. Try and enjoy your down time.
I will pray for your surgeon and pray for you for speedy recovery and for your family. That was a good idea making all those meals a head of time. Great to see you and Mustache Cat are such good friends, maybe he will keep you company.
So sorry to hear your feet and ankle problems but it sounds like your going to be on the end soon!!! Hangin there !! Prayers for your swift recovery!i too have horses! Chickens and a farm of animals ! I know how much work to keep it all going! Glad you got help ! Hang in there! Speedy recovery for you and successful surgery !!Cindy
Prayers and happy thoughts Rebekah!! Thank you for your wonderful stories and I just know you’ll bounce back quickly! Love your kitty! Cats are soooo smart and endearing.
Loved the photos, Rebekah. Praying all will go well with your surgery and you recover quickly too. Just a thought with your crutches, I’ve had to use them in several occasions due to my own injuries and I wanted to let you know to fit some sponge or something padded around the underarm parts of your crutches. You’ll end up very sore under your arms if you don’t very quickly. I just used a semi thick square of sponge and tied around the top of the crutches where they fit under your arms. It worked a treat and I wasn’t sore at all with the extra padding.
Gosh you’ve done a lot of preparation for this layoff time. Well done to you. Love to hear how you go with your mandolin lessons. I love the sound of them, so beautiful.
I can sympathise with you on the wanting to run again and dream of the possibility. I’m nursing another injury myself which is frustrating when I’m in training for a team marathon event in two months. The only thing though is to treat ourselves with same kindness we would someone else, of which I’m terrible at and rest it and wait. Ugh!
Take care of yourself and enjoy your reading time. We are always here if you need to let of some of the frustration of laying low too ling when you’re a goer in life.
Love how mustache cat is progressing. Quite incredible the way he’s relaxing more and more around you. I’m sure the day will come when you will have him curled up on your lap. How sweet.
Take care of you and many blessings to you and yours
Denise
Australia
Hi Rebekah, I have missed you! I’m so sorry about you having to go through foot surgery. I remember when you hurt your ankle and I kept trying to talk you into x-Rays. My husband had surgery on one foot two years ago and had the other one scheduled for today actually, but had to post pone it because he had a hernia the size of a baseball and he was in a lot of pain. So his hernia (unplanned) surgery took the place of foot. It’s rescheduled for September. One thing you might put in your room is a laptop so you can chat with us when the mood strikes. And there’s always salad and sandwiches for meals too. I’ll be thinking about you.
Cindy Bee
And ps. I’m lucky when it comes to parents too. And even luckier they only live 15 minutes away. They are 80 and 81. For moms 80th she wanted to go on The Pickled Peddler in downtown Indy ( I blogged about it last year or its online) and Dad wanted a game night with his family (also blogged). Just great fun. I hope I’m like them if I reach their age.
Oh my, Rebekah. Wishing you a speedy recovery and peaceful down time. It’s so hard to sit! But you have a good ‘to do’ list. I LOV(ED) my SIGNED Mary Jane book that I gave away (??) to a precious teenager years ago. Thankfully she loves it too.
We are visiting friends waaaay down south. They live on a lovely lake with dripping cyprus trees, a fabulous dock with all the water toys, and as I was checking out everything alone early the first morning, a monster alligator was lurking around right there at the dock. Our hosts freaked out, and needless to say, we’ve had a major change of activity plans! Anyway, they have two huge loaded fig trees, and at yesterday’s lunch we had delicious warm figs sautéed in butter and brown sugar with a little bit of port, served over ice cream. it was heavenly!
Prayers for the 27th!!
Good luck with your surgery and recovery. May everything go smoothly! I’m happy to hear you have everything in order to make life a bit easier and was able to enjoy a nice vacation to relax from all your stress! Good luck with everything. Your cat is super handsome!
I’m praying for you and a fast recovery. Be blessed.
Thinking of you today and picturing you skipping down a trail somewhere. Soon! Love you.
Rebekah,
Well wishes today for a quick and peaceful recovery!!
Please tell me the variety of fig tree you decided on. I live on Long Island, NY and would love to grow a fig tree also,
Thank you,
Denise
Rebekah: I wish you much success for your surgery and that you can relax and recuperate. Now is a time for you to care for yourself. As a busy farmgirl it will be difficult, but a much needed rest will make for an easier recovery. God Bless Huggs
Thinking of you while you go on this journey. I’m sure you will be happy once this is over. Take care!
I’m a 58 year old who over the last couple of years had, a knee replacement, ankle replacement and foot surgery… still have another ankle replacement and foot surgery and hip replacement ahead of me. I feel your pain. Mine have been great so far…the surgeries have been pain free and I love the new ankle…. it’s getting harder looking forward to the next surgeries just because of the no weight bearing for the 8 weeks 🙁 that… is the hardest part…and not being able to clean my own home and so forth. Good luck, it does end up being behind you eventually 🙂
Dear Rebekah, You are a true country girl! Planning is always a part of a country girl’s life. Planning for each season, each day, and each hour. Planning for each outcome with an A,B, and C. That is how our ancestors survived and flourished. So you’ve planned and now it’s time to let others take the reins while YOU recouperate! Your doctor has done his planning and you are in good hands so let your family play caretakers now. 🙂
I imagine your surgery is over by now and you are in recovery. Praying that all went well and for a speedy recovery. Six weeks will go by fast and you will be up and around again. My daughter is getting married in six weeks and moving away, so I want it to go slowly, but alas, time flies!
Your in my thoughts and prayers! Soak up this time because as soon as you heal you will be going a mile a minute and enjoying every second!
Happy to see my friend, Patti Digh’s, book in your stack! I would also like to suggest Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert if it hasn’t yet found its way into your hands. Speedy recovery!!
Hi Rebekah, Wishing you a quick recovery. I’ve been trying to figure out if you are having both feet and both ankles operated on at the same time (which would make the recovery time better – not having to go through it another time). Anyway I hope the 6 weeks goes fast and pleasently for you. You have prepared well.
A side note about your kitty. We adoped a feral cat from the neighborhood who had just had a litter of kittens. We were fortunate in the fact that our daughter worked at a vet’s and found homes for the kittens. Then Miss Kitty came in the house to stay after being spayed. She liked being petted and fed and didn’t ever try to get out, but would not sit on a lap either. By the way, she is a black and white tuxedo cat also. It took about a year for her to make that transition. Now it’s a nightly ritual with her. And sometimes if I sit down during the day for any length of time. So, I’m sure there will come a day when your kitty will become a lap cat, too. Maybe during your recovery. Hugs to you.
Rebekah, I sympathize with you. I have had 5 shoulder surgeries, two knee surgeries, two heart surgeries plus others. You will learn patience, even if it is is the hard way. But on the plus side, take your resting for a chance to count your blessings including being forced to rest. Maybe this the chance to do some embroidery or find new recipes or be creative or connect with others in need. Good luck and God bless. Bonnie
Hi Rebekah,
Hope everything went well with your surgery. Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Just look at it as a time to catch up on your reading and doing things you would never have the time to do. Hope the time goes fast in your recuperation. Good luck with the fig tree.
Marilyn
Rebekah: Well today was the day, hope all went well. I will give you two bits of advice. I know you’ve probably heard enough. Luckily for me I have only had to deal with one foot at a time but have been through it twice. When the Dr. says stay off or no pressure on the feet – listen the first time. I did not and I was down for the count a lot longer. The second time I got creative. I used a backpack everywhere I went with everything I needed/wanted. I was in a wheelchair for a while also. In some areas of the house it was easier. Crutches, do not rest those guys under your armpits. Ouch.
Wishing you the best and I know you will have lots of time to think and write. I look forward to your thoughts always. Take good care.
Praying for you, your family and all the Dr’s and health care people. May you heal quickly and completely. Love Mustache. Yes you are blessed to have wonderful parents and I am glad you recognize how great it is. Now about the crutches — I know – too much advice but my sister had to be on crutches for 8 months – she had a therapist adjust hers – she made them so they didn’t fit tight up under her arm and told her to not lean on her underarms as much as she did her hands – yes it was tough at first on her hands but I massaged them every night – real hard to massage underarms – well all the prayers will help you through this. God bless
I wish you the very best in your recovery! I just had toe surgery and it seems a lot of people don’t think its a very big deal but I am just at 6 weeks and my doctor wants me to continue to wear the boot for 2 more weeks. but the scooter was made of gold and so was the shower chair and I swapped out my shower head for a hand held and that was gold too!! that scooter is the best invention ever!! I slept on my couch for 4 weeks before making it back to my high bed. but I moved anything I could think of to my coffee table and end tables so it would be in handy reach. I froze food like you and thankfully I had a lot of friends bring food by too and I’m sure you will have that also. it will surprise you and you will feel very loved! but I am glad I finally gave in and did it even if people think I should be up and back to normal a week or two after surgery. People just don’t understand how serious surgery on your feet/ankles can be, so once again I wish you the best of luck with your recovery!
I hope sugery has gone well and you have a good recovery!
How smart you are to have prepared so well, and in ways people don’t often think of. I’ll remember this if it is ever happens to me, and it is advice I will now be giving!
Blessings,
Gaye
Speedy recovery for you. Your handsome pal will probably cuddle with you and finally become a lap kitty. He’ll know your pain…..
Oh my goodness – loved this post, but so sorry to hear about your surgery! Hope all went well. Your lil mustache cat makes my heart sing – such a great story. . . .
Rebekah, will be praying for complete and speedy recovery and no boring times at all. I love your Mustache cat. I have a cat also with the mustache and a beard and she is female. Is there some way I could send you a picture of her electronically? But only if you would like to see her. She was an outdoor cat and kind of wild when we got her. Her owners were never home much to care for her so we took her in with their permission. Now she is lazy and comfortable except when it storms. They freak her out. We never let them out where they could get run over or chased by dogs. We have three cats and 2 dogs. Hopefully by next year we will have a place built for them to run around in outdoors where they won’t be in any danger. My parents both passed away years ago and they had been married 65 years when my dad died. Mom died 2 years later. Be well soon and God bless you, your parents, family and of course all your critters including Mustache cat.
Sandi, thank you!
I would LOVE to see you mustache and bearded cat! can you email it to me at rebekah@maryjanesfarm.com?
Rebekah,
Good luck with your surgery and recovery. Take it nice and slow. Use your meds when you need them, and let hubby & daughter spoil you for a while. The time will pass and your body will heal. Sending prayers your way.
From another Rebecca
Rebekah, I pray your surgery went fine. I. love figs too we always had them growing up and i did not appreciate them like I should have. I finally got a tree to grow and is actually full of figs this year. After several failed attempts, my mom told me to plant on the south side of a wall or the house so i planted on the back of my chicken coop , and voila i now have a huge tree. Good luck with yours and a speedy recovery.
p.s. my favorite thing is to toast a piece of bread with some melted mozzarella, and saute a fig cut in half in butter and put on toast.
Okay, so I think I could use a fly catcher. They have been really bad this year in our area. Nasty or not, that was a great idea, and um, seems to work well!
As for your recovery, one of my best friends just went through this same thing this year. I helped her out by taking her meals and taking her to the doctor. The best thing you can do is to not over do yourself. She made a full recovery and even went to Disneyworld as soon as her doctor cleared. We farmgirls are a busy bunch, but we also need to know when to slow down and take care of US. Prayers and wishes for a quick, easy recovery!
Farmgirl Hugs,
Nicole (Surburban Farmgirl)
Thank you all so much for the prayers and thoughts and blessings. I treasure them. Surgery went well. I’m laid up now, but looking forward to when this is behind me. ~R
Good luck with your surgery and I think by now you have had it. I’m sure you will heal great as you are young and it will be lots faster. Love all that you did preparing you for it and the food etc. Can’t wait till your next post. Take Care and Prayers!!
i’d love your recipe in the jar to get rid of those “nasty” flies!
Cheryl, I didn’t make the concoction for those nasty flies. I bought it at the local farm store. It worked GREAT. Made a dent in the fly population around my farm.