( Ameraucana chicken )
Oh great! You’re here! I’ve been waiting for you! I’m Gladys, ( named after Deb’s Granny ) one of the “younger chicks” at The Little Red Hen House. My little flock and I are getting along fine with the older gals ” The Cottage Hens” but those two rogue roosters that were here for a spell had everyone’s tail feathers in a bunch! Come on in for a roost and we’ll tell you all about it!
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”.
Beautiful birds and hen house. What kind of chicken is Gladys? I have one that looks almost exactly like her and have no idea what she is.
Hi Aria, Gladys is an Ameraucana chicken. We have 7 of them and two Golden Lace Wyandotte’s. Thanks for reading and enjoy your girls!
Deb
I finally have my chickens! A Sexlink and RI Red. I have named them Peggy and Kevin. My friend Peggy told me whenever I get chickens she wanted one named after her, so I figured the other should be named after her husband, (he approved).
Yay!!!Congrats Julia! Oh, you’ll love it!
Deb
Delightful! I agree ~ the boys have their place, but not in my hen house!
EXACTLY!!!
Roosters are good for two things: baby chicks and on a plate. My coop is a ‘girls only’ club too. I’ve had many roosters in the past, but most are nuisances in one way or another. I like my hens to have feathers on their backs — and they enjoy lives without being violated!
I feel the same way about bulls. They’re a neccessary evil in ranching. Imagine a 2000 pound rooster. I swear, they can break an anvil!!! :o)
I’m with ya Shery! I admit, I had to get over my " infatuation" in order to be a rooster eatin’ farmgirl, but I’m glad I made it over the hump! 🙂
Hi Debbie,
I myself am struggling with the idea of getting rid of my roosters. I had one, Big Sam and beautiful black jersy giant, and he is a giant. he was such a gentleman and such a great protector over my flock but now he is getting too aggressive with my hens and they are really showing signs of wear and tear of their feathers from him. Then I had 7 chicks hatched out Easter Sunday and given to me from a friend, out of the seven are 2 roosters. these are little bantams and they are beautiful but very determined to bother my hens. The only problem is my hens are so much bigger than they are and they can not hang on, so they are pulling feathers as well. I hope to find a good home this week, if not then I may be having some fresh chicken in my freezer as well.
As always enjoyed your post. Be Blessed.
Ms. Scarlette
My 9 hens are well, I am better for having them. I think they bring my blood pressure down…love my gals
You put our story in words exactly – yupper George has to go!! We have 24 lovely ladies – just finished making a bigger/better ‘hen house’ so no big bad boys allowed. I say ‘we’ actually the ‘ladies’ are on my sons hobby farm but he lets me help with them – I live where we can’t have chickens – I know it’s crazy – one can up to 5 dogs – but no chickens. So I enjoy Bobbett, Lucy – must be a common name for the pretties, Georgette – oh just too many to think of right now. But once again ‘farm girl’ you have helped me to enjoy your life too. Happy Fall – y’all!
Hi Debbie –
I really enjoyed this post. This summer I agreed to look after my friend’s farm for 2 weeks while they vacationed. After the first evening, I asked my hubbie to take care of the chickens while I attended the goats, llamas, etc. I could not bear to see all of the chicken/rooster behavior! It took me awhile just to understand why the hens had bare backs. Now, I am 48 years old and I am mature enough to understand that roosters are acting on the instincts that God gave them, but something in my mother’s heart did not want to see them acting on their instincts! After witnessing that scene, I resolved to have a hen only farmyard if the Lord blesses me with one in the future. Yes, indeed, this blog tells more about you than you know – and it’s all good. 🙂 🙂 🙂
I love this story and the way you told it! Cute.
If’n I had roosters they would be eaten. I have 6 hens: there’s Henny & Penny (2 white sex-links), Thelma & Louise (2 gold sex-links) and Katherine & Audrey-Hepburns, you know (2 lovely auracanas). This, too, is an all-girls club, just the way my girls like it, I’m sure. We don’t need baby chicks and when the girls need to be replaced I can get more where I got these ladies, so no roosters.
When I had chickens the gents all got names like "Stew" and "Dinner". We had Domineque chickens. They were beautiful birds, but the roosters earned the name of ninja chicken because they would sneak up behind you, jump at you and flog you with their wings. The only thing they were afraid of were aprons. I actually had one faint when I flipped my apron in his face. I thought I had killed him. So if I get the chance for chickens again its A Girls club for me.
We got our first chicks this past spring, and yes we ended up with one Roo, his name is Piper, he’s a silkie, beautiful bird. So far he’s not causing too much trouble, the neighbors aren’t bothered, and the girls still have all their feathers. If this changes, we have a new home on a farm lined up for him.
Hi Deb! I loved this post, and the photos too! After reading your post and the comments so far, I’m starting to feel more convinced that our rooster’s days are numbered. I was just getting used to having a sweet (more or less) flock of hens, when we were crazy enough to add a rooster –aka "Doodle" (dd’s name for him), aka Mr. _________ blanklety- blank ( what refer to him as), aka possible "Dinner." Since our coop is in the woods, we figured we’d need a rooster to protect the flock (plus maybe hatch out some Aracauna chicks someday – yeah, right). Well, ever since he’s been here, going down to the chicken yard just isn’t fun for me anymore! From the day we first brought him home (and btw, he sure is pretty), he’s been so dang bossy! Yeah, I know, he’s just "doing his job," but gee whiz! Ever since we got our first egg (2 weeks ago), and he started charging after me (to protect the nest, I guess?) it’s been even more of a challenge for me to want to hang out with the chickens. I miss our peaceful little girls club!
Hi Nicki! Yep, those boys really stir things up in the hen house! You’ll be amazed at how the " mood " changes after he’s gone…. I love his name…. It’s a nickname in our household too!
Shiver me timbers, them’s some great information
Oh my. I know what you, er the girls mean, about the roosters causing trouble in the hen house. My poor old hens have been to hell with the "accidential" roosters they have to live with. The first two my son bought as chicks from a Amishman who assured him they were hens. Well they weren’t but their names have stuck, Babs and Buffy. The next were all hatched by one of our hens. She so wanted to sit and being a dope from the burbs roosters hadn’t crossed my mind when I pictured baby chicks in the yard. Well 99% turned out to be roosters. That truly was hell for the hens. Plucked…oh plucked and some even bleeding from day to day. Four made the trip to Dinky’s auction house. I cried, I felt guilt and still do feel guilt months later. It wasn’t their fault they were born roosters and they weren’t doing anything a rooster wasn’t naturally suppose to do, but they had to go. I prayed they’d be adopted to homes for their crow and beauty and not their meat but around here they likely were all purchased for meat. They were beautiful boys. Their departure left me with a New Hampshire Red, the only chick I actually ordered as a rooster, at the time we didn’t know Babs and Buffy were boys. And we also have Funny Looking (one of the "female" chicks I ordered and Speckes, one of the Speckled Sussex female chicks I ordered). So five boys and about 30 girls and as long as I keep Babs & Buff and their girlfriends in one hen house and the rest in the second house…life is good and reasonably peaceful and very crowfull all day long. We have 15 acres so they have their bug hunt space during the day which I think really helps their ability to get along. It is a dusty, loud, fluttering life I hope I never have to give up. 15 acres in the dust or in the snow has turned out to be heaven for me.
It’s really cool and nice article . I enjoyed it fully.
It’s really great that people are sharing this inftmraoion.