The last time I wrote I was preparing to leave on a family vacation to Hawaii! We have returned to Alaska, but I’d love for you to join me for a trip down memory lane to three weeks ago….
A walk through paradise. Those are mahogany trees framing the left. They were planted when the farmer started this farm a few decades ago.
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”.
Kauai is my all time favorite place in Hawaii! It’s so beautiful and peaceful! Your adventure there sounds like so much fun. It’s really cool hearing that they have an organic farm but it’s crazy that they only have one. All the fruit looks so delicious and I can practically taste them just looking at the photos! Nice post. Thanks for sharing your grand adventure.
Thanks, Krista! It is such a beautiful place. I think many of the farms there have organic growing methods, this is just the only certified organic production. You are right about it being peaceful–it was the healthiest and happiest we have all been in a long time (maybe ever?). Magical place!
As I read this and look at the fabulous pictures we are having our first real snow storm. For a minute there I forgot. Thanks. The final picture – wow.
Thanks, Marlene! It was pretty wild to go from eighty degree Kauai to SIXTEEN degree Alaska. However, the northern lights greeted us on our landing, so that was pretty special :). Enjoy your snow!
I live along the Front Range in northeast Colorado (east side of the Rockies). My eggplant routinely reach 3-4 feet in height and are massive producers. We have a short season, but not as short as yours in Alaska. But still, they are great producers and remarkable when you realize that enormous bush is an eggplant!
So neat! Growing up, eggplants were always on little plants, 1.5 to 2 feet tall. Those huge bushes are amazing! My friend mentioned that the plants were only two or three months old. Incredible!
My husband and I are eating dinner talking about your blog
My husband and I were in Kauai at the same time as you wee and spent many days walking on Anini Beach
You don’t happen to be the ” Alaskan Mermaid”??!!!
Looking at the pics my husband took of you sure look like your pic on your blog!
If I had known it was you in the sand done up as a mermaid– I would have chatted ! Love your blog and Mary Janes magazine!!
Hi Karna! That was me! How funny, I remember you very clearly. I so wish we could have made that connection on the beach, but at least we get to make it now. Farmgirls in paradise! Let’s go back…
I have always considered Mary Jane’s Farm a refuge from the political turmoil going on in our country. Your left-handed reference to your political views are unwelcome, in my opinion. I am not talking about a for or against opinion of the outcome of the election but The fact that this space ought to be a politics free space. Let”s pay attention to our Farmgirl values and goals…please. There is a time and A PLACE for the sharing of politics. I did not think this is the place nor the time.
I appreciate your comment, Mariah. I wanted to be clear that this was a moment of escape from the turmoil that was happening in the media, in our relationships and in our communities. A large part of my Farmgirl values and goals is to protect the rights of us and all women. In fact, one of the Farmgirl badges is for community action, so this is not a political desert. Lately, I have questioned why talking politics is such a faux pas…as politics do greatly affect our every day lives. Anyhow..I am a politically active person, so it was on the forefront of my mind while writing my post. I have written about politics in the past in regards to living green/agriculture. I understand why it bothers you, but I tried to make the intro as nonpartisan as possible while keeping my voice. However, I can see your frustration with this intro and I’m happy to change it.
Oh be still my heart!! what a glorious trip you had and thanks so much for sharing it through words and pictures. My dream trip just came true. God bless.