Have you ever entered a baking contest? I hadn’t, until recently. Grab some coffee (and maybe a slice of pie…you’ll crave it soon, for sure), and I’ll tell you about my recent pie-baking adventure.
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Debbie Bosworth
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.’”
Rebekah Teal
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.
Cathi Belcher
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
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.
Mary Murray
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.”
Alexandra Wilson
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!
Nicole Christensen
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”.
Congratulations! That looked like such fun.
By the way, I love reading your blog, it is so interesting.
Thank you, Rebecca! -Nicole
Congratulations..I love cherry pie. It has been my favorite since I was a little girl. I loved my mother’s cherry pie. She made it with tart cherries and sometimes mixed in sweet cherries with the tart. When my children were small we visited my mother at her house in Palm Springs. It was 117 degrees. That afternoon she came home from work early and decided to take us to a little town called Beaumont in California. Up in the mountains where the temperature was much cooler and they had a petting zoo for the children. But best of all they were getting ready for their annual cherry festival that weekend. They had cherry orchards in their town. I had cherry pie which was delicious and bought some cherry jam. It was a glorious day. One of the best days ever. Thank you for the reminding me of this memory.
Jeanne, what a lovely memory to share! Thank you. Hmmm….cherry jam..I should try to make some of that. You just reminded me of going to my grandmother’s and having some cherry jam! I’d forgotten about that. Thank you for reading and commenting! -Nicole
CONGRATULATIONS Nicole!!!!! I was always told -‘one never fails – unless one does not try.’ You make this old saying proof. Tart/sour cherry pie is my favorite too. When I was a child I lived with my Grandparents on a FARM/ORCHARD/GARDEN – yes all in caps because it was huge – one year my Grandfather said ‘doesn’t seem anyone really likes the cherries so let’s make room for something else’ – WHAT ‘I love cherries!!!! – I will take care of the trees’ and that I did – my Grandma was not well but she would come out to the orchard with me – I’d carry her a chair to sit on – and she would point out the ripest cherries – as I was up in the tree. Oh my, see the tears of joyful memories you have brought to me – THANKS and do TRY!!!!
Joan, sounds like the time you had with your grandparents was such a blessing! I bet that orchard was beautiful. Thank you so very much for sharing. – Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Congratulations! The best cherry pie that I ever had was made by my mom. Back in those days we even had a pie cherry tree…Mom taught me to pinch around the edge of my pie crust. She trimmed the pie crust to the same size (maybe an inch and a half larger than pie plate), rolled the bottom over the top and then it was my job to pinch the edges all the way around with my ‘pinchy’ fingers.
My claim to fame is my apple pie. I always brush the top crust with a little milk or buttermilk (also a trick of my mom!) when it is toward the end of baking and then sprinkle it with sugar and cinnamon. It comes out so yummy..
Your pie was beautiful. I am glad that you overcame your fears!
Janice, thank you! I love your tip about your apple pie. It’s apple picking season here in New England, I’ll be making apple pie soon. Can’t wait to try your buttermilk/cinnamon/sugar trick for the top of the crust! -Nicole
Good for you, Nicole! Taking that step and winning that prize must give you extra confidence to do some other things you’ve only dreamed of. Blessed journey!
Thank you, Ella! It was fun, too, because it was such a "vintage" type of thing to do, right up my alley! -Nicole
Mmmmm… Nothing better than a GREAT Cherry Pie!! Well done girl!!
Thank you! 🙂 – Nicole
Hurray for you!!!! This seems to be pie baking time of the year..Cherry Pie is my favorite too…my g-ma worked at a day & night restaurant in her working days..and everything was homemade..maybe that is why making pies is my favorite..to carry on the family tradition. Lancaster, Pa. is probably most famous for their shoo-fly pie..and your best chance of getting homemade..I live close.
Donna, you lucky girl! I also had several slices of shoo-fly pie on our last visit there several years ago. Good stuff! -Nicole
How exciting!! I too have always wanted to enter a contest but have always shied away. Now I think I will go for it. It will be fun to just participate. And a ribbon would be even more exciting.
Congratulations! And I am glad your husband took a chance as well and took a bite of pie. HA!
Ms Scarlette
Yes, and it only took a roomful of people and twenty years to get DH to taste what he’s been missing, ha ha. Now I’m being asked to bake more cherry pies! -Nicole
Way to go farmgirl! You showed them. My favorite is cherry pie also. Keep on entering. Your farmgirl friend Bonnie
Hi Bonnie! Thank you! -Nicole
Well, I applaud you for taking the leap of faith and trust in yourself to enter the contest. I did the same last year at our rural farm areas Potato Festival with an apron I made. I won first prize also! I too had never entered anything where everyone would be looking at it.. YIKES. My prize…. a sense of pride and $3.00 ! Deborah Rutledge
Deborah, congratulations! I bet it is a beautiful apron. Did you post a pic of it on the Farmgirl Connection? -Nicole
Yay Nicole!!! Congrats on winning your first Pie contest! I love the moral of your story-so very true, and this just proves it!
Keep on blogging….I love to read what’s happening in your neck of the woods!
Farmgirl Smiles,
Laurie
Hi Laurie, thank you so much for reading and commenting. It means so much to me! – Nicole
Congrats! I’ve been meaning to ask you what kind of pie you entered in the contest! Thanks for posting.
Ali
Thank you Ali. Maybe I’ll make one for our next Sisterhood Chapter Get-Together! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Congratulations! You are an inspiration – and I love reading your blogs. I enjoy your outlook on Life, including the simple things that come up everyday. Cherry pie is one of my favorites, too, but my specialty in making pies is probably rhubarb (my husband’s favorite.) I had a similar experience with the "I don’t like those". I’d made a rhubarb pie shortly before our friend Dana stopped by. We offered him a slice. He started on it slowly, then finished it up quickly, set his fork down and said, "That was some of the best pie I’ve ever had … and I don’t even like rhubarb!"
Thank you, Terri! Funny story! Rhubarb is a pie I have always liked but never made myself. -Nicole
Look at all those lucious pies!! My favorite sweet treat. Congratulations on your big win. You looks SO cute and so farmgirlish :o)
Thank you Shery!:) Pie is my favorite treat, too..I truly believe pie can fix any bad day! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Hi Nicole,
I loved your article about cherry pie. I could almost taste it. In fact, I just might make one tomorrow, it is my husbands favorite.
God Bless,
Marlene
Thanks, Marlene! Enjoy! -Nicole