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Hello my friends!
This is one of those times when I feel like I have nothing to say or share. I flew to New Mexico in January and spent a few days helping my Mom pack up to fly back to Tennessee with me for a few months. My sister flew out and got her and they just left yesterday; I feel like the last 3 months are a happy blur! I decided that this is what I had to share today!
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Hi Farmgirls! It’s been a crazy busy month for me here. How about you? It feels like spring comes and BOOM! We are “off and running”! There’s so much to do with the changing of the season from cold to warmer, and then everyone is busy with holidays like Easter and Passover, too! It’s still a wee bit chilly here in New England, so grab a cup of tea and come visit a bit with me!
Here in New England, you never know what April will bring. We have daffodils peeking outside, and if you want to have a vegetable garden planted using seeds, seeds are started inside. Mine are doing quite well, but it will be several weeks before anything can be planted outside into the veggie bed. We start thinking of spring, but Mother Nature reminds us that it can still be cold.
Yesterday, we woke up to a layer of ice. (It’s gone now).
It’s not the cold that slows chicken egg laying down, but more the lack of light in winter. Thankfully, my chickie girls have started laying again, even though it has felt like the sun has been sleeping away behind the clouds most days.
Not only was I surprised at the price of eggs this winter, but look at the difference in color and freshness of a store-bought egg (runny and pale), compared to the egg from my happy backyard hen. So fresh!
They taste better, too. I can’t wait until I have fresh tomatoes, as well. Even organic store-bought tomatoes are forced to ripen with ethylene gas, so they don’t taste as good as one slowly ripened from a sunny day in the backyard. C’mon summer!
Speaking of eggs, look how cute this is! My dear friend Julie sent me a goodie box for my birthday. I love the little fried egg “candle rug” she included. It looks like it’s made from a repurposed wool blanket or jacket. So clever!
Also, talking about eggs, Easter is coming up soon. It feels like it snuck up on me. I usually like to put my box of Easter decorations out as soon as St. Patrick’s Day is over, but I have been too on-the-go-constantly-busy the last few weeks. I love my Easter bunnies, but I have to admit, there’s something “eggstra-special” about Easter decor with baby chicks, especially when it’s something vintage or vintage inspired! It may still feel wintry outside, but inside it feels like spring!
It may be cheery and spring-like inside, but as I mentioned, this past month here, the weather has been dark, dreary, windy, rainy! Even when it has been sunny, it is still colder than it is usually at this time of year. However, I am not going to mind the cold, because how can you not be cheerful when you wear…
wait for it…
AN AMAZING REPURPOSED QUILT JACKET FROM OUR VERY OWN DEAR RANCH FARMGIRL, DORI!
I am a skilled farmgirl in many ways and love all sorts of crafts. I am an expert knitter, but while I do sew (and collect sewing machines), I am nowhere NEAR the level of skill with a sewing machine as Dori. She is absolutely amazing, especially with her fantastic quilting skills! Not only is Dori an amazing talent, but she is also one of the most genuinely sweet and kind farmgirls EVER!
When I complimented her upcycled, beautiful, repurposed quilt jacket she made, I was so surprised and overjoyed when she contacted me and said she would make ME one!
I thought this 1940’s “cutter” quilt from a local thrift shop would be a good candidate for a jacket. It had all my favorite colors, lots of character, but was too worn in places to be used as an actual quilt. Still so soft and vibrant, it had life left!
Dori and I texted back and forth many times over the next few weeks. She was so adorable, sounding just as excited to make me a quilt jacket, as I was to receive one! We had so much fun in the process. Dori is a blessing to know, a truly beautiful soul.
Then, one day, she sent me a text with a tracking number. I thought I would burst with excitement! Of course, somewhere along the way, the box got delayed in Pennsylvania (no doubt due to crazy weather).
Then, on a day that had started out stressful, (as our elderly cat needed to go to the vet – we were so worried, but she is fine now), I came home to find a large box on the porch! I was overjoyed and couldn’t wait to open it!
I texted Dori right away that it was here! I was so thrilled to open it, and my daughter filmed me so that Dori could see how excited I was!
The jacket is beyond expectations – it is truly a work of art! The seam binding she picked is so beautiful! I LOVE the big pockets!
The jacket is STUNNING, and so soft and cozy! It’s just right for jeans or dresses in the cool weather. It fits me perfectly, and feels like I am “wearing a hug”, it is so cozy! Again, I am amazed at Dori’s talent and skill, and am so touched by this beautiful, gift, a reminder of how special the sisterhood of farmgirl friendship is.
I could not WAIT to wear it, so the very next day, I wore it into town for a few errands. I got so many compliments – and told them how it was made for me by a special, kind friend.
Of course, I have been working on a special surprise for Dori, too. I am BURSTING with excitement for her to receive it! I wish I could show it to you, but it’s not quite finished yet, and I don’t want to ruin the surprise, so you will have to stay tuned!
HAPPY SPRING TO ALL!
It’s a gray day here on the farm, and the soft patter of a gentle rain is the only sound to be heard. Well, wait – that’s not exactly true. If I listen closely, I’m sure I’ll hear the contented yawning of sleepy cats, as well as the snoozing of a dog who has wiggled her way beneath a cozy blanket. It just seems that April days like these are made for napping.
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”.
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