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Sometimes these blog posts just roll off my fingers. Other times I have something I’d like to share and I have it written in my mind… but I hesitate to blog about it because I hate talking about myself. And that’s what blogging can sometimes feel like. But the deadline is fast approaching and I STILL want to write the post that’s been in my head for two weeks. So here it is friends!
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Sometimes these blog posts just roll off my fingers. Other times I have something I’d like to share and I have it written in my mind… but I hesitate to blog about it because I hate talking about myself. And that’s what blogging can sometimes feel like. But the deadline is fast approaching and I STILL want to write the post that’s been in my head for two weeks. So here it is friends!
Cyndie Gray says: I love this post❣️❣️ And I love the power of Sisterhood ❤️ Right now most of my Sisterhood is long distance, but it’s still there & I am still here for them. Also I am making efforts to add to my Sisterhood in our new location. There are some wonderful gals around here, most 1.5+hours away from me but sisters of the heart for sure
Sabrena Orr says: My Sunflower girls mean the world to me. The six of us have been friends since elementary and high school ~ we’re talking 45+ years of friendship! Last year on our girls trip, we each had a “sunflower” tattooed on our forearm. (My first and I never thought I would get a tattoo — I LOVE IT!).
Sunflowers symbolize adoration, loyalty and longevity – this represents my sisterhood perfectly. Together we laugh (A LOT!), we cry, and we giggle like little girls and we treasure every minute we can carve out of our busy lives! We may live in different cities & states, lead different lives, have different careers and interests, but we are there for each other. We have each others’ backs. These ladies bring out the best version of me and I am ever so thankful, grateful and humble that I am able to share our special “sunflower” tattoo that is our permanent reminder of our adoration, loyalty and longevity.
Marlene Capelle says: I admire you. I’m almost 71 and just started my fitness routine a year ago when I broke my leg and said to myself “this is not going to happen’. I’m doing my first 5k this Saturday. I don’t let anything keep me from my workouts (well almost). It’s amazing how once you get started and have the right attitude fitness becomes the only way to start the day. I don’t know if I’ve lost any weight, that’s not the point. I mean I want to but that will come when it comes. It’s the strength and good health i want.
Dori Troutman says: Oh my goodness. This made my day so much. You are amazing!!! Good luck on that 5K… just enjoy it. I love “races” because they are so much fun. People cheering for you and the feeling of success at the finish. Keep it up and keep me posted!!!
Tightest of hugs,
Dori
alice gamble says: So inspired by Marlene Capelle’s post and the new October narrative by Dori. You can start at any time. I used to be a nurse and one time a patient who had been pretty much immobile, surprised everyone by opening her eyes and lifting a finger. Yes, just coming out of the fog, and someone in the room said….”it’s a small start, by God, it is a start.” You could feel the tension in the room just melt away. Always there is hope, it’s all relative to where you are in your life. So, I am encouraged to read this blog and be thankful for the sharing that takes place. It takes courage and effort to put heartfelt thoughts out there, I’m so glad this blog was started by someone extraordinarily compassionate towards others.
Pamela says: Dori, Have never followed a blog yet got interested in the one about the Vermont Quilting retreat. Originally from Massachusetts and now a rural Kansan, by choice,
it is so encouraging to follow your blog and others on Mary Jane’s Farmgirls! Wow-
You nailed it with your description of your sisterhood. Thanks for putting it into words.
Also, such encouragement on regular fitness. I am too sporadic, but you and the other
comments are pushing me to put that as a priority. It has taken me all year to lose 12
lbs that just came on when I had knee surgery-so discouraging. I am 69 and was very involved in Scouting/outdoor sports with my sons. So now my goal is to reactivate those
Joys but look for sisters to keep me going.
As for sisters I have a set here and next week going to Mass. for my annual visit with
girls that I started First Grade with and reunited at our 40th Reunion…..so cool!
We found out as you so wonderfully stated: We are SISTERS forever!
Barbara Richards says: Love to you Mary Jane for all the things you do through your fabulous publication. I just finished reading the Sisterhood Blog. What a fun bunch. Since I’m an old farm gal from Idaho it’s easy to relate to the whole thing and I grab it and read as soon as it comes in.I’m getting along in years (88 this year) but just have to get into the kitchen and do something. Lately my very best friend (husband) for short went to the store and bought up some of the last of the watermelons so I could make watermelon rind pickles. Are they ever good. At least we think so. Keep up the good and God bless you. -Barb-
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 this post❣️❣️ And I love the power of Sisterhood ❤️ Right now most of my Sisterhood is long distance, but it’s still there & I am still here for them. Also I am making efforts to add to my Sisterhood in our new location. There are some wonderful gals around here, most 1.5+hours away from me but sisters of the heart for sure
What great photos and a wonderful article
My Sunflower girls mean the world to me. The six of us have been friends since elementary and high school ~ we’re talking 45+ years of friendship! Last year on our girls trip, we each had a “sunflower” tattooed on our forearm. (My first and I never thought I would get a tattoo — I LOVE IT!).
Sunflowers symbolize adoration, loyalty and longevity – this represents my sisterhood perfectly. Together we laugh (A LOT!), we cry, and we giggle like little girls and we treasure every minute we can carve out of our busy lives! We may live in different cities & states, lead different lives, have different careers and interests, but we are there for each other. We have each others’ backs. These ladies bring out the best version of me and I am ever so thankful, grateful and humble that I am able to share our special “sunflower” tattoo that is our permanent reminder of our adoration, loyalty and longevity.
I admire you. I’m almost 71 and just started my fitness routine a year ago when I broke my leg and said to myself “this is not going to happen’. I’m doing my first 5k this Saturday. I don’t let anything keep me from my workouts (well almost). It’s amazing how once you get started and have the right attitude fitness becomes the only way to start the day. I don’t know if I’ve lost any weight, that’s not the point. I mean I want to but that will come when it comes. It’s the strength and good health i want.
Oh my goodness. This made my day so much. You are amazing!!! Good luck on that 5K… just enjoy it. I love “races” because they are so much fun. People cheering for you and the feeling of success at the finish. Keep it up and keep me posted!!!
Tightest of hugs,
Dori
So inspired by Marlene Capelle’s post and the new October narrative by Dori. You can start at any time. I used to be a nurse and one time a patient who had been pretty much immobile, surprised everyone by opening her eyes and lifting a finger. Yes, just coming out of the fog, and someone in the room said….”it’s a small start, by God, it is a start.” You could feel the tension in the room just melt away. Always there is hope, it’s all relative to where you are in your life. So, I am encouraged to read this blog and be thankful for the sharing that takes place. It takes courage and effort to put heartfelt thoughts out there, I’m so glad this blog was started by someone extraordinarily compassionate towards others.
Dori, Have never followed a blog yet got interested in the one about the Vermont Quilting retreat. Originally from Massachusetts and now a rural Kansan, by choice,
it is so encouraging to follow your blog and others on Mary Jane’s Farmgirls! Wow-
You nailed it with your description of your sisterhood. Thanks for putting it into words.
Also, such encouragement on regular fitness. I am too sporadic, but you and the other
comments are pushing me to put that as a priority. It has taken me all year to lose 12
lbs that just came on when I had knee surgery-so discouraging. I am 69 and was very involved in Scouting/outdoor sports with my sons. So now my goal is to reactivate those
Joys but look for sisters to keep me going.
As for sisters I have a set here and next week going to Mass. for my annual visit with
girls that I started First Grade with and reunited at our 40th Reunion…..so cool!
We found out as you so wonderfully stated: We are SISTERS forever!
Love to you Mary Jane for all the things you do through your fabulous publication. I just finished reading the Sisterhood Blog. What a fun bunch. Since I’m an old farm gal from Idaho it’s easy to relate to the whole thing and I grab it and read as soon as it comes in.I’m getting along in years (88 this year) but just have to get into the kitchen and do something. Lately my very best friend (husband) for short went to the store and bought up some of the last of the watermelons so I could make watermelon rind pickles. Are they ever good. At least we think so. Keep up the good and God bless you. -Barb-