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 2012
Libbie’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 2010
René 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.
I still cook w/ cast iron–someone gave me a skillet b/c she didn’t know what to do w/ it!
Thank you so much for the memories! Your post is wonderful and you inspired me to order MJ’s book! I do love cast iron cookware and (almost) would give my eye teeth to have Mama’s square cast iron pan. It had 3 sections: one for bacon and two for eggs! At least that is how we used it growing up It’s the one thing I have yet to find in sorting through her treasures. It would be helpful, too, although I feel sure I can find it out there in the “ether” somewhere, if we had a “here’s how to restore without ruining them” manual for cast iron cookware. There’s an antique store near-by, one of those with all the different booths, that is totally cool and lots of fun to browse. I think I’ll go look there for another square pan. Who knows, maybe they will have exactly what I want! Thank you again, Dori! 🙂
The Lodge company still makes square iron skillets, but I’ve never seen a divided one. Good luck in your search.
Like you, I watched my mother and grandmothers cook with iron. However, it led me to a collection passion many years later. I collect cauldrons, great and small. I have small ones that would hold an ounce of gold from the gold rush days to 50/60 quart cauldrons that would feed an army or boil a load of wash. Of coarse, I also have in between camp pots and pans. I love them and use many of them. The extra large cauldrons have been used to feed hungry ranch crowds during the summer. Makes great ham and beans!
I remember watching my father using his cast-iron skillet to cook his self-caught fish. He was so happy and proud!
Hi, Dori! I received a set of cast iron pans that I’m sorry to say, I haven’t even used yet! There are so many yummy recipes in this cookbook; I’d love to win one! Being a lover of Mexican food, I’d make the tortillas first!
I don’t have any cast iron cookware yet, but after looking at what you have made I’m ready to go buy some!
Every Christmas Eve we have a tradition where I make gumbo. I cook this in a cast iron Dutch oven.
Cast Iron caught my eyes! I love them and got my moms when she went to nursing home! I cook with it all the time. It can be put in the oven and even on a camp fire out doors. They are easy to clean and seasoned with oil after cleaning. A metal spatula can be used without damaging the skillet. They will last for ever! Cannot have too many!
Oh my gosh! That S’more recipe sounds so good right now. And those chicken fajitas. I wish they were on the menu for tonight. I was gifted this book for Christmas and I’m so excited to try some of these recipes. Currently our cast iron is buried in some boxes in our storage room. We have plans to start sorting through this room soon and once I find my cast iron we are making some of these recipes! You are so lucky to be willed some of the best gifts. Before you know it you will own every single kind. I’ll have to drop some hints to my husband about investing in some more cast iron!
Oops, I forgot to say I have at least 10 different pieces of Cast Iron that I have collected over our 43 years of marriage. I cook with them Everyday and would not use any other pan.
I don’t think I COULD cook without cast iron. My mother cooked with it the whole time I was growing up so I learned to love it at a young age. It’s the only way to make cornbread! When I got married a little over 44 years ago, one of my gifts wasa set of 3 cast iron skillets and I still have them. They’re perfectly seasoned and get used often. I’ve also accumulated several from family and friends. I have Griswold and Lodge and love cast iron cooking. Mary Jane’s cookbook sounds perfect.
I finally learned how to cook with cast iron. My husband and 5 children have also learned the secret of non stick, baking, oven tested, used on the grill cast iron.
I have even learned how to bake a cake on the grill during the summer in cast iron to avoid heating my house!!!!
My husband gave me my first iron skillet in 1968. My Mom and Grandma cooked with iron skillets. I loved it and had to have more, so a few months later, I got 4 more (different sizes) a grill, a griddle, and a dutch oven. I LOVE them and cook in nothing else. Just something about food coming out of one of those skillets that makes it taste better! My granddaughters use mine when they are here and they are all getting one when my time on earth is done. 🙂
I love cast iron! I have a frying pan and a cast iron casserole dish that I bake my home made breads in. Nothing beats cast iron. I would to win this offer. Like everyone we all remember our family members cooking with cast iron and even on a wood stove. Bread is just wonderful in a cast iron dish. I hope others will be inspired to invest in cast iron. I am lucky that my pans are very old and treated with oil. thank you for letting us all have a memory to share with others. Winnie 🙂
Owning four cast iron skillets of various sizes, they are often my favorite in my kitchen. No other pan works for ‘real’ cornbread! And an apple pie made in one is unbelievable! So many uses! I would love, love, love to have the new cookbook.
I love this post!!! My comment about cast iron cookware is remembering my dad using the big cast iron skillet whenever he cooked!! Love that memory. When he passed away my second daughter said the one thing she would like to have was grampa’s cast iron skillet. She received it & uses it several times a week!! I may have to order this cookbook for her 😉 thanks much Dori!!!
I have various sizes of cast iron skillets, a small lidded cast iron saucepan and a cast iron dutch oven. I love them but don’t use them often enough. I mainly use my 10″ skillet for baking flat breads and tortillas.
NIce book, it is pretty!! I use my cast iron all the time, the light weight one daily!
I love cast iron cooking. I have my grandma’s skillet. Use it everyday.
Dori, I’m just starting to use my cast iron skillet and so far, I love it! The recipes in Mary Jane’s cookbook sound delicious!
My mamaw always cooked with skillets. I can remember as a girl standing in the kitchen (brick floors) looking up at her as she was at the stove. My all time favorites were her cornbread and biscuits! Any, YES, those old skillets being passed down through the generations is AWESOME! Blessings!
I learned to cook using a cast iron skillet. I had to buy one of my own when I moved out! It is still used several times a week in my house, even all these years later. So much better than those awful teflon pans!
Dori – I enjoy your stories so much – they bring back so many memories. I have a collection of cast iron that has been gathered over the years from family members. There is nothing like fried chicken from a cast iron skillet or like Rebecca says, corn bread!
I love, love, love my Lodge cast iron! I use my 8″ skillet every morning to cook up a healthy breakfast for my parents and brother. Our 12″ skillet gets heavy use for dinner most nights (burgers, salmon, or steak on cast iron are wayyyy better than grilled or cooked on a different pan, in my opinion). I can’t imagine trying to cook without it!
I have a few cast iron skillets and one cast iron corn stick pan that had belonged to family. Each time I use them, I think about that person cooking and feel like they are with me again.
My friends comment frequently that they use cast iron pans to cook their meals and I would love to try and learn new things. Using Mary Jane’s cookbook would be a wonderful way to experience the pleasures of cast iron cooking.
My first cast iron cookware was 43 years ago. My dear sweet sister in law gave me 3 fry pans of different sizes for our wedding to hang on the wall for decoration. They never made it to the walls. I have used them almost daily since.
Gail
I have been using cast iron for 47 years, since my husband and I were married. Old cast iron is the best and I have a lot of it which we have collected through the years. My favorite piece is a Griswold Heart and Star Waffle Iron with the high base. Oh my, does it make the best waffles! I definitely am going to try Mary Jane’s Skillet S’Mores for my granddaughters!
I love cast iron but, unfortunately I can’t use it as much as I used to because now I have a flat cook top.
I love my cast iron but certainly don’t use it as often as I would like. Thanks for this great giveaway!
I moved back to the country in the Midwest after 30+ years in the city in the Southwest. The best thing is now having a gas stove after all those years using electric. Cast iron has become a part of my life again. I use it for everything from stove top to oven. So looking forward to Mary Jane’s new cookbook.
I love your blog Dori, always so refreshing to read. Thank you.
I would love a copy of Mary Janes new Cast Iron Cookbook as I would love to gift it to a friend. I have a Beautiful Autographed Copy and I love it. It stays on my island so I remember to use it.
The biscuits are the best and now I will need to make the S’Mores, Dori got my mouth watering.
Thank you Mary Jane and Dori for the perfect giveaway!
I love my cast iron dutch oven and my cast iron skillet. I’m currently looking at expanding my collection, as in the size of cast iron cookware I have since I’m adding my fifth baby this summer! A family of seven (5 kids + 2 adults) definitely need larger pans to cook in!
I cook on my wood stove all winter long and only use cast iron pots!! Not only do they cook your meals wonderfully but they also add a shot of iron to all your meals!! Would love a cookbook!!!!
I used to dislike (hate) cooking with cast iron because of the care required to keep it “seasoned”. Well…. I only have 4 different sizes cast iron frying pans and a dutch oven, and find they cook food so much better. Hash browns, bacon on the grill, fish, bread dressing on the grill are just some of the foods I’ve used them for. Oh, yeah, and using them consistently in the kitchen will build up your upper arm strength too. Haha.
I have one cast iron skillet, and am still learning how to use it with many recipes. Hoping your cookbook will help me learn!!!
Do people really cook with anything other than cast iron? LOL I use it daily and it makes the best steaks ever!!
I love a blackberry cobbler made in a cast iron Dutch oven, the way my grandmother made them.
I was so happy to learn that cast iron works perfectly on an induction cooktop and have used my cast iron with great success. I have a large pot with cover that I use for making stew or pot roast. It never fails to provide even browning and slow cooking. I also have a grill which is used for burgers. Couldn’t do without my cast iron and would love Mary Jane’s cookbook to learn more uses for my collection.
I own 4 sizes of cast iron frying pans. The 6 inch one was my Mothers. She would patiently stand and fry cornbread cakes for us. Her great grandchildren loved her cornbread. They also loved chicken tenders fried in the 12 inch pan I bought when got married 61 years ago. I have cooked thousands of tenders.
My Father in Law gave me a 9 inch when we got married. He said “Every bride needs a cast iron frying pan”. He was such a sweet man.
My 10 inch is the one I use for oven cornbread. Yum
My son loves and uses cast iron also. I gave him the 3 inch square pan that belonged to my Mother because he really liked the uniqueness of it.
OMG the serendipity of life! I was just on Amazon lookong at cast griddle to use on my stove. I would love her book. My grandma was an enamel pan queen and pressure cooker gal but I have always wanted to know how to use them. Imagine something that could last 100 years! Dutch baby with my homemade lemon blueberry jellie!!! Yummers!
I have got to get some cast iron pans and your cookbook! We have done Dutch oven cooking for years. We have cooked for family and catered for up to 450 people. I have never used any type of cast iron other than the Dutch oven. I can’t wait to order your cookbook and give cast iron a try. My father cooked with it i was growing up over the campfire. I can still remember those fresh caught fish sizzling over the campfire with my family gathered around. Add to the to Do list today… order a cookbook and find some cast iron pans. (If I am lucky, my dad’s old pans are in a box under the stairs!)
Love cast iron cookware. Over the years I have heard about other cookware and tried it. Still have my cast iron–the others are long gone. People are afraid of cast iron because they are not sure how to clean it–but so easy. Rinse it while warm and use the Lodge brush for stubborn sticky spots and you are done for next use. And food has a wonderful taste that you get from nothing else–especially stews, soups and meats.
I told myself I did not need another cookbook–and then I saw this cast iron cookbook and knew I needed another cookbook! It looks like a book that would be used a lot!
Hi, Dori! I have 2 cast iron skillets and would love to win the cookbook. Thanks for the opportunity ♡
I use my cast iron pan (my mother’s!) to make the most delicious frittatas with fresh eggs from my sweet chickens – there is nothing better.
I want to do more cast iron cooking but I feel like I have a lot to learn first. Not only cooking but cleaning and caring for the cast iron.
I remember my mother’s cast iron pan; it was a little deeper than most and it followed her to every home and eventually ended up at her beach cottage where it was used for fish and shrimp and fried chicken and hush puppies. I have it now, 63 years later and it’s still going strong. I also have a quite a few more pieces that I buy whenever I see them unappreciated at sales and thrifts and find pleasure in bringing them back to their former glory and reseasoning them for use. It has only been in the past 2 years that I have started cooking with them again ( building up my wrists and arms ) and between the oven and stove top they are a constant. Your cookbook looks wonderful and I saw the flat cast iron pan pictured … I use mine for pancakes , but wonder now if you use yours for tortillas? Hope I win so I can try some new recipes and ideas in my cast iron !
I need to get some of the small skillets for cooking in small batches–no more kids at home!!
I have just a few pieces. One small skillet we use to prep our tortillas for soft-shell tacos.
I’ve had it for 40 years now…love the silky smoothness of its seasoned insides!
Thank you for another wonderful post! I have a couple of cast iron skillets that need cleaning & re–seasoning. I found them @ the thrift store & remembered MaryJane saying they are worth picking up & making them our own. This post has me so excited to get busy! Can’t wait to get my book, one way or another❤!