Hello Farmgirl Friends!
‘Tis post harvest season up here in Alaska, although we have yet to experience any real damaging overnight frosts. It’s been an incredibly warm and balmy fall for this neck of the woods. While Mother Nature is allowing for a longer than anticipated season, we just really didn’t have anything left to harvest.
Warm Blissful days on the farm!
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”.
I love the Fall season and all the months. October is great because usually the air is clearer and crisper. The leaves start to turn into the beautiful colors. Also Halloween is right around the corner. I enjoy the nice decorations,no creepy ones. Thank you for the recipes. Your girls are beautiful. God Bless.
Marilyn
I enjoy your posts…..feel like I am right there with you…..u are living the dream with that beautiful family Best wishes always….
Can you dehydrate Brussels sprouts? I just bought a dehydrator this year, for the apples from my daughter’s back yard tree, but haven’t tried it yet…
Can you pickle Brussels sprouts?
Thanks for an interesting article! 🙂
This could be adapted for frozen sprouts
Brussels Sprouts Gratin
45 minutes to prepare serves 6
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 pounds brussels sprouts, halved
• 8 oz. bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup fontina cheese, grated, optional
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 egg
• 1 sprig rosemary, minced
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400º F.
2. Toss brussel sprouts in olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Place them in a large baking dish and roast for 15-20 minutes, or until semi-softened.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together egg, heavy cream, rosemary, garlic powder, onion powder and red pepper flakes (if using), then stir in cheeses.
4. Remove brussel sprouts from oven and add 3/4 bacon to the baking dish. Pour cheese mixture over the top and stir everything together, then top with remaining bacon.
5. Reduce oven temperature to 350º, return baking dish to oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and just set.
6. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes before serving.
Your farm girls have a blessed life !! And I love brussels sprouts. My latest favorite is smashed sprouts. I soften them by boiling, and smash them flat on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil and salt, and top with grated cheese. And bake them to yumminess… Enjoy all those sprouts of yours :)))
Alex, thank you for the recipes on brussels sprouts – I have never ate any but I am willing to try them now since you gave recipes on how to cook them. They do sound delicious – hope they really are. I need more greens in my diet. I love cooked cabbage and you mention they may smell like that when cooking so I am willing to try them. I don’t care for cauliflower and I have tried it – it’s not about the taste but the crumbling which gets under my dentures. Maybe if I mashed them like potatoes they would be better eating. LOL. I have seen that on TV. I think a lot of food that is fresh is better tasting and yet we have to buy what our stores provide which I am sure is not always so fresh as so much comes from long distances. Thanks for blogging and sharing your life with us. It is always entertaining reading and I look forward to them. Have a good day.