How this post came to be? Well, I started thinking about 2010. And I started wondering about your 2010 too. Was yours good? Or not so good? In thinking about mine, I considered what it brought, what it didn’t bring, what I lost, what I gained. Like most years, there was both good and bad, both joy and pain, both peace and turmoil.
So how best to represent 2010? How about random photos? You know, not the ones I pick and choose for a particular blog post. Just random picks here.
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”.
Thank you….that was a wonderful post…I love the ‘randomness’ of it!
What a fabulous idea. Thanks for sharing.
Aw, that’s delightful! Life is made up of the small moments, no?
And HELLO, you are GORGEOUS without makeup! Seriously, between you and MaryJane, I MUST know how y’all keep yourselves looking so young and glowing!
Nice post,
Gen
I totally agree with the post about you looking gorgeous! Wish I looked like that without makeup! So nice to see you and Maryjane together — you both look like true soul sisters! Love looking at the snippets of your life — what a great idea to take a photos of each month and choose one to make a memory book out of — I’m going to do that this year. Thanks for letting us inside your life and thoughts — they do inspire, bring peace, and creativity!
This is such a fun post. I know you didn’t ask, but my favorite photo is the birds on the fence. About 2010, I say good riddance!
Lovely post, I do hope you left those invaders to feast. They are the larvae of the swallowtail butterfly, they feed on dill and fennel and most things in that family including Queen Anne’s Lace. Next year plant an extra row for them, usually when they find a food source they’ll come back!
Thanks Rebekah! I’ve been gone for a while. Somehow fell off your blog post. I forgot just how much I love your post. This is my first in a while and I feel like I’ve missed an old friend. Thanks for all the great thoughts and pics. I love the cow!!! Thanks also for celebrating your year with us. Looking forward to catching up with the older posts that I’ve been missed! Happy 2011!!!
Charming post. Thank you for taking us on the nostalgic photo jounrney of the past year. It was delightful because instead of just telling us about your past year you took us on a wonderful ride and exposed us to your authentic month by month journey. I too shoot photos almost everyday. I keep or share many of them with my family who are scattered accross the states it somehow keeps us connected. Thank you for such a clever and brilliant way to share 2010! Farmgirl #604
Hey Rebekah!
Thanks for the peak at your 2010… We had our share of everything in 2010 but it ended on a high note and I am feeling very optimistic about 2011! Yep, you and Mary Jane DEFINITLEY have that farmgirl glow happening! LOVE IT!
See you here next time…
Love and Beach Blessings,
Deb
I seem to have missed the green tomato marmalade. What is it? Not that I would ever have extra green tomatoes. I love those so much I barely get any red tomatoes.
Hi Everybody! Thanks for your sweet and wonderful comments! I find such joy and wisdom in your words. Thank you for every single one–they are all precious to me! I read and re-read them. It helps me to know that this is a worthwhile endeavor. So thank you for that! I’m hugging each one of you!
I wanted to put up the link to the Green Tomato Marmalade recipe for Kristy. I had quite a lot of green tomatoes this year and didn’t know what to do with them all. The Marmalade was very good. Definitely like a breakfast jelly/jam, sweet.
http://www.rebekahteal.com/2010/11/little-green-tomatoes.html
Thanks for a great 2010! Looking forward to learning more about Farmgirling with you in 2011! Love you all!
Oh, if I only looked that good with a bare face! Ha! Farmgirl life has given me a "oudoorsy look"! I loved your post- it has inspired me to make a small scrapbook of last year. What a fine project for each January! Thank you!
Great blog! I loved the way you presented your year in such an interesting and random way. The photo of you and MaryJane is beautiful. I feel blessed to have found this community of like-minded women. I appreciate what you do and always find inspiration in your posts. Have a great 2011 and keep us closely informed about your undertakings and adventures.
What a sweet, sweet picture of your mother-in-law and your daughter! I can’t help wondering how much we have missed when we trended away from generational living. Thanks for including that photo.
LOVED your post and the photos. Especially enjoyed you selections of out of the ordinary / non-typical pictures for various months. It gave me a new ways to look at the months. You are inspiring! My favorite was the one of your mother-in-law with your daughter…a very touching, poignant moment.
Thank you for sharing your gifts, Rebekah!