The wildflower and the sky court the butterfly,
The grass sways, the drums sing,
The butterflies are rainbows with wings.
-
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”.
Shery,
Your words and images brought me tears and joy today. I grew up with Washoe Indians, or Paiute as we knew them in the Great Basin. I remember vividly the Indiana Reservations and " sectioned housing" they lived on and wondering why they lived as they did. I have had the wondrous joy of experiencing a Pow Wow in Phoenix Arizona. I’ve hiked the mountains where the Hopi lived for thousands of years, touched the walls of their caves and tried to feel what it was like to have the entire world as their backyard. We’ve visited the Plymouth Plantation where we saw the Wampanoag Indians share some of their dances and stories.
As long as I can remember I have mourned what happened to our Native American people in this country. I know that not all tribes were perfect or harmless in their efforts to survive. It seems no MAN has been able to accomplish this great task, but their way of looking at the earth, our place in it and their great appreciation for art, nature and a spiritual guiding force is something we can all still learn from.
Your words today are good medicine!
Thanks for all the links too. I am off to have a look and a listen!
Sending good medicine back to you!
Deb
Love your blog. I have been to numerous pow-wows and love each one. What dignity and grace! Thanks for reminding me.
Just Beautiful! I have had little exposure to the kind of events/history you relay here; THAT’S A SHAME b/c My own heritage I have just discovered in the past 25 years is the CREEK INDIANS..w my grandmother Rachel Lee-Mobley of the LEES OF BILLY’S ISLAND in the Okeefenokee swamp region. How I wish we had been more connected to our past sooner, but thank God for this communication/via the internet that we can become more informed and educated re our history. Jonell Williams-Harrison from the James N Mobley line
hi–liked ur post–i too am friends with lakota–they are in dire need of food and heat–i just heard the elders are the worst off–can you and your friends send some food and blankets to help keep elders warm and safe? i am in the process of collect canned food and stuff to send–i may not be rich but i can share what i have–thanks irina
That was lovely! Thank you for the tour! It was very spiritual!
Oh SHERY ~ What a wonderful blog ~ Thank you for the awesome pictures and links. Loved all of them but Amazing Grace by the Cherokees touched my heart! Heavenly blessings to you for taking the time to share with us!
This was such a beautiful and uplifting treat! Thank you so much for sharing all the photos and links. Many of them brought me to tears. ~~~
Shery
I almost thought I was there. Thanks for all the directions to web sites. I am a huge fan of Brule, too. Peace Sharee
Shery…WOW! WOW! I witnessed these dances at the Native American Days celebration in Sheridan, WY…thank you for sharing these that brought back so many wonderful memories. You rock, as my granddaughter would say!
Your post brought tears to my eyes. I am an adopted Lakota. This post reminds me of days spent at Pow wows and Sundance. I am missing my Unci (Grandmother) as I read your beautifully done post. I have taken part in creating regalia for the dances and for the sacred Sundance. I am blessed that my Unci gifted me with my first regalia. There is nothing like the beat of the drum (The heart beat of Mother Earth). Peace comes when the drum begins. What a privelage it is to have my Lakota family. I too fear for our elders and those still living on the reservations. I lived on the reservation at HeDog, SD for a summer. It would humble you and make you so grateful for what we have in our own homes. It is an experience I hold close to my heart. Thank you for this beautiful post and the reminder of my other home !!! Hugs…
Shery, I love all your posts, but I think this is one of my favorites. It brought tears to my eyes over and over. Absolutely beautiful!
Karin Farmgirl #2708
THANK YOU, BEAUTIFUL
Shery, This was one of your best blogs! I have always been facsinated and admired Native American Indian culture. Your pictures are beautiful and thank you for all of the wonderful links. I loved the Amazing Grace video and the Brule’N Airo "Spirit Horse". It all touched my heart!
Blessings to you for sharing this wonderful blog.