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Hello my Farmgirl friends!!! A month ago today I had some corrective surgery on my big toe. And not only am I in this horribly heavy boot, I’ve not been able to put any weight on it at all. So I’m here to share all the things I’ve been up to in this season of life! As this picture above shows… I’ve been moving to all my favorite spots around my house where I drink my coffee and read! ALWAYS coffee in hand!
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I’ve always loved fall! The pumpkins, the coziness, the slow-down in outside chores…and the holidays that come starting in Autumn. Fall kicks off Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the December holidays like Christmas. When my daughter was little, we once went to Disney in the fall. It was fun to see all the Mickey Mouse-themed pumpkins and decor back then. However, there is NO place like the East Coast for fall! There’s a reason why so many autumn and holiday movies are set in New England! Grab a cup of cocoa and let’s visit!
Having four seasons is amazing! The beginning of Autumn is usually warm and balmy, without the high humidity and temps we see in summer. The last of the summer flowers are a beautiful backdrop to autumn leaves.
Almost every house and business is decorated with fall pumpkins and mums. It’s the best, most beautiful time of the year to head outside for a walk, before the snow and ice of winter arrive and Mother Nature takes a rest.
Soon after, Halloween decor abounds. New England is THE place for Halloween!
We always decorate with vintage-style, including decorating Gidget the Glamper. We were ready for trick or treaters, and loved spending a cozy evening with chili and pumpkin bread, while greeting Halloween visitors. My driveway is long, but my neighbors know how much we love the holiday, and I think we may have had more trick-or-treaters than ever this year! They were all so sweet and polite, and the littlest trick-or-treater was only two. “Twick or tweet”, she said, and then “Tank you!” She was the cutest!
Businesses and restaurants in New England get into the fall and holiday spirit, too. Are you a Wicked fan? I never have seen the Broadway play, but the first movie was fun to see on the big screen, and the second one looks like it will be even better! One of the most magical restaurants in New England is in Southington, Connecticut, Cava. It has scrumptious, mouthwatering, Italian-style dishes, but the decor is what makes it the most memorable.
My husband and I celebrated our 33rd anniversary this fall. We had been given a Cava gift card, so we could not think of a better way to celebrate. The restaurant changes their theme each season, and this year the indoor fall theme was “Wicked”. We sat next to the “Wizard”, while shadows of flying monkeys flew on the windows, and Elphaba stood behind us. The whole restaurant was just spectacular!
New England also is the unofficial “capital” of festivals, and fall is no exception. My town kicks off the fall with an Arts Festival, and there are Apple, Renaissance, and Fall festivals all over the area.
The New York State Sheep and Wool Festival is a fun, very large festival in Rhinebeck, NY in the fall, as well. There’s workshops, yarn, and animals to look at – anything and everything fiber related!
Now that it is November, Halloween “scary” is gone, and the month is a transition to the holidays. While you might still see pumpkins, you also see candlelights in the windows, a New England holiday tradition.
It gets dark early here (4:30 PM), now that daylight savings time has had us turn our clocks back, but it is the start of the “cozy”season, with soups and apple cider, twinkling lights, and friends gathering. As I write, I am listening to Christmas Carols, three warm, snoozy pups at my side, and the first snow flurries are flying. Hygge.
Wishing you all a cozy, Happy Thanksgiving!
PS- This post marks my FIFTEENTH anniversary blogging here as the Suburban Farmgirl blogger! Thank you all for reading and commenting through the years! Every comment means a lot, and I thankful for all of my Farmgirl Friends!
This morning I find myself smiling (highly entertained I might add) as I watch several barn cats zipping around the backyard in an attempt to catch the golden leaves that are swirling down from nearby oak trees. I stand and stare, fascinated, as they revel in every bit of this light-hearted fun on a fine November morning. There’s a method to their madness, as the saying goes. Each cat will sit, studying a single leaf as it begins the long descent. Bushy cat tails are flicking back and forth, and soon, no longer able to stand the wait; the cats jump, pounce, and then scamper off in another direction! There they will sit and wait until the next cascade of leaves and it begins all over again.
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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