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Indian Summer stayed on the Plains for as long as she dared, but winter’s first howling squall drove her away. Classic Vs of Canada Geese escorted her … one honking choir after another, their voices fading as they flew further and further way. Suddenly hearing them overhead always exhilarates, but then I am left with a soft, almost sad longing. I wonder what it would be like to join them … wing to wing.
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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”.
I agree! Easing into winter is much better than being blown into it from all sides isn’t it? LOL " Winter on the ranch" sounds challenging and exciting all at the same time. Sorry to hear about your slip outside though! I would love to see the hat you were wearing! 🙂 I think my hubby has one like it. It’s the side flaps that make it!
As always the messages you weave in and out of your beautiful photography have me feeling grateful for you and this blog!
I want to reach out and hug Ribbon around her pretty neck and I’m sure we had your wild turkeys cousins here last week scratching in the leaves and the garden! I’m as ready for a long New England winter as I’m gonna be!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours and a BIG farmgirl hug too!
Love,
Deb
Love to hear I’m not the only one who views winter coming with a slight misgiving. Fall is my time. Winter is great when I have nowhere to go, a great quilt to work on and a cup of hot chocolate to warm me. Thanks for your wonderful blog! May we all remember the little things we take for granted and be thankful for everything in our lives.
I found a photo of you at our Thanksgiving dinner table many years ago! Sweet memories, friend. I’m thankful for you!
Hey Shery
Hope you & your family had a Blessed Thanksgiving….
Ok, I have to laugh…if I did not know better, I would have thought we were neighbors…lol!
We have wild turkey all around us….they seem to travel in groups of almost a dozen…unfortunatley they have to run (why, I do ‘t know) across the road and usually with 1 fatality…Not the brightest foul…lol!
As for the deer, we have both White Tail & Mule….and it is mating season so they are a little more brazen when it comes to crossing over the roads…My daughter & I were heading into town at 5:30am and sure enough we could see a lot of tracks, and then suddenly one stood out in the middle of the road, to fearful to decide which way to run.
We just finished with our 1st Blizzard of the season…oh joy!…but all the more of a reason to go squirrel away in my sewing den…to get creative with needle & thread.
I too am So Over this cold white stuff but alas…here I am!
Hugz & enjoy a nice hot cup of cocoa & a big yummy spice cookie.
>^..^<
Shery,
It is always such a joy to look at your pictures and poetry. I always have a smile on my face as I read.
Thank you and happy holidays to you and yours.
I think the horses just like to watch us break up frozen water. Why do they like to play with the tank water heater? It is always nice to just lay against my horse and feel the warmth of their body in the cold winter. I will miss that this year, but if all goes well I will have me a Morgan mare this spring. Next winter I will have the frozen buckets and ice on her whiskers and the warmth of her body. She is coming from a warm climate and I will not get her until next spring. I enjoy this site and all the memories that it brings to me from my childhood on my grandparent’s farm. Thank you so much for sharing your adventures.