August is when things come together. It is harvest time … a month of hot days and cooler nights … when corn can be heard growing and when fruit on the ground, on the vine and in trees ripens. Gardens fill canning jars for the pantry and for the county & state fair. Amidst all the other things that make August a very full month, this is Fair time. I’ve got a lot of ground to cover and “fair time” is the first stop on our scenic tour of August.
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”.
Shery,
You do beautiful work! I so enjoy reading what you write, looking at what you capture through the lens and wearing what you create. You are sooooo talented!
Susan
Bestest part of County Fairs is all the kids and their animals and projects and knowing they will carry on the traditions!
Shery,
Thanks again for a fabulous visit!!! It is about the same around here but I hadn’t taken it all in in the loving way you described – great wording. Would love to have your Mother’s beet relish recipe. May God continue to bless you and in turn bless each of us who are lucky to read your lovely words and see your exquisite pictures.
Joan
What a beautiful story and beautiful baby!
Shery,
I so enjoyed all your photos from the fair and of your beautiful farm. I hope you know how blessed you are to live such an idyllic lifestyle!! I know that there is LOTS of hard work involved but you must be sooooo satisfied and fulfilled at the end of the day
My MIL hates ground cherries. She never could develop a taste for them, and she said they are prolific producers,weedlike and impossible to kill once they get established. Of course, I’m only repeating what she told me, I have no idea, but that’s what I’ve heard about them. From her comments I would say that means they are hardy plants with vigorous growth. 🙂 I look forward all week for your post Shery. You do have a way with words and photos.
I was in 4-H and showed a lamb and as I got older I put a quilt in the Colorado State Fair and got second place. I was on top of the world when I did that. My children where in 4-H and showed their lambs also. Now I get to put my grandchildren in. It is great for you. Thanks
I just want to say how much I enjoyed reading your blog. I love your photos and your photojournalism. Nice writing.
Thanks, Shery,
You again brought back many wonderful memories of my fair days. Although I did live for awhile in Weston County too,
I wasn’t in 4-H until we were in Niobrara county. I received blue ribbons in baking and one year did get a ribbon in Douglas at state fair. You have recaptured the special time during Fair Days exquisitely! The only other thing I remember was it became my first time to see and experience square dancing. What a treat! Thanks again!
Hi Shery! Catching up with my blog reading. I got a few ribbons at the fair. A crocheted afghan, handmade dolls, things like that when I was a teenager. It was always one of the most looked forward things to go to in the summer when I was a kid. I still have a niece that shows llamas and has a horse/pony that she shows. And I add to her button collection when I find old buttons that I can bear to part with. Your flowers and hens are pretty, thanks for sharing!
Enjoy your blog so much. Love looking at the pictures. You have a wonderful gift of being able to write so beautifully.
Nice to read your blog