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I have a very good friend who has a husband going through cancer treatments. When he was diagnosed and I knew the hours upon hours she’d be spending at his treatments with him, I wanted to put together some sort of hand sewing project. The tricky part is that I didn’t want to give her something that required thinking, measuring, figuring… even reading an embroidery pattern seemed like it might require too much mental concentration.
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HAPPY NEW YEAR, Dear Farmgirl Readers! It’s great to be back another year, and here we are with another trip of the Earth ‘round the sun – can you believe we’re well into January already? The holidays came fast and left in a blur, and now it is the season to be freezin’! Connecticut is cold! The bustle of the holidays are gone, and winter hit us in New England hard and early. If I had a dime for every time my warmer-climate-living friends and family have exclaimed, “I don’t know how you stand that cold winter!”, it would be like winning the lottery! Winter in a cold climate can be challenging at times, but it can also be a really enjoyable time of year! It’s all about mindset.
I have nothing exciting to report in January; we don’t do day trips, it’s too early to plant seeds indoors, and I have the task of putting up the Christmas decorations. We get back into our regular routines, which is, in a way, nice after the bustling holidays.
Winter also brings a lot of “darkness” to New England. Yes, it’s dark when we get up, and gets dark early, but fortunately, the winter solstice occurs during the jolly holidays, and we are already seeing each day stay lighter, even if just a wee bit.
We started this morning to the sound of a very large pack of howling coyotes around the perimeter of the house. We could hear them over the morning television! Our cats and dogs got very frightened, so we gave them all extra cuddles and waited until the sun was up to take them out. Wildlife in winter months become bolder, and that IS a worry when you have pets. Falling on the ice is no fun and can be quite dangerous, and yes, it is grey much of the time. However, winter isn’t all bad!
What I LOVE about winter:
I used to really dislike the darkness, but I now look at it as a cozy, peaceful time of year. I have a few twinkling warm light strands I leave up all year, and nothing is better than the cozy light of a pretty lamp (energy-efficient LED bulbs have come a long way and are warmer now than in the past). Twilight in New England is a beautiful time of day with the light against the snow. Winter is also a great time to get “caught up” on things we never seem to have time for other times of year.
I’m not a big fan of resolutions, such as traditional ones made that focus on negative things, or our perceived shortcomings, often setting us up for failure. I try to make resolutions that are “positive”, more goal oriented, or resolve to do things that I enjoy that make me happy. Life is stressful enough without adding more pressure onto ourselves! Last year, I decided to dive back into reading, at the urging of my daughter who is a complete bookworm! An avid reader in the past, I had not been reading in awhile. I exceeded my goal, with 20 books finished, and 7,048 pages read! I also expanded my horizons by reading books of all different types – classics, history, biography, autobiography, romance, fantasy and cozy fantasy – some genres I would have never been interested in before. Some weeks I don’t get the time, other weeks I might finish an entire book or two. My goal is to make the time, even if it is for a few minutes a day, like before I go to bed. I love the website/app “Goodreads”. There, you can keep track of books you wish to read, books you are reading, see what your friends are reading, set a reading goal for a yearly challenge, and even review books, if you wish.
I have always loved listening to music during the day – usually 1940’s Big Band and Swing, but for something different, since the fall, I have often been enjoying “Cozy Screensavers” on YouTube, something I learned about from my “Gen Z” daughter and her friends. There are so many warm, homey screensavers that feature a cozy scene – Christmas, a fall kitchen, cozy animals in a room knitting (there’s some really cute ones), a snowy porch, a beautiful, starry night on a porch, all with vintage music softly playing. Streaming that on a tv in a room makes it cozy! I can still do chores, focus on my class planning, read or knit, but all with a warm, cozy, happy vibe!
Another fun thing I learned from my daughter, a way to treat yourself, or beat the winter “blahs”, is to order a “theme surprise box”. We love the monthly book box, “Caffeine and Legends” . Each month, my daughter and I share a box that has gourmet coffee, tea, or drinking chocolate, a book signed by the author, and other goodies. In the past, we have gotten organic chocolate, hand-made pottery, and other surprises, all tied to the month’s book. If reading and coffee aren’t your thing, there are other surprise boxes out there – yarn, crafts, flowers, cooking…just about anything you can think of. Most offer a one-time box, monthly, or three month subscriptions. It’s nice to have something to look forward to!
It’s not too often that we get “snowed in”, and when we do, it is usually for a day, while the roads get cleared. However, it does stay cold! We do spend more time indoors than we do in other seasons. As do all four seasons, winter has its charm. We just need to remember to embrace it, stop “doomscrolling” and “bedrotting”, and count our blessings.
January is at once a month of stillness and movement – “busy” but also “not busy”. I think it’s a good time to rest, recharge, and get ready to renew – just like plants, trees and animals in nature.
I hope your new year is off to a great start! Remember to leave me a comment so that I know you stopped by! Stay warm and cozy, and see you next month!
A little tinkering with color as I try to imagine this old farmhouse in the Winter of 1864…
“The New Year was ushered in with a wind that blew almost a hurricane, and reminded one of the stormy nights when witches are said in old nursery legends to be abroad in their work of mischief. The cold was intense, penetrating everywhere, freezing every thing, not guarded by artificial heat, that could be frozen, and exceeding in degree the cold on any New Year’s Day ever known by the ‘oldest inhabitant.’ ”
~Unknown Journalist, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1864
Happy New Year to all my Farmgirl Friends – I hope your 2026 winter days are filled with warm slippers, cozy quilts, & laughter!
As I sit down to write, I’m greeted with the familiar feel of January…the old maple trees outside my window are unwavering against the fierce blowing winds. The electric company has already been out this morning to trim away a branch leaning on the power lines. With nothing but open fields surrounding the farmhouse, those winds have little resistance. Old Man Winter seems deliriously happy to find every way possible to sneak inside…lath and plaster are nothing against his strong will! And while temperatures over the last month have been swinging 40 degrees up and down, I do believe that now we are settling into winter.
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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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