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”.
Don’t get me started!!!!!!!!
I’ll tell you " why bother gardening "!!!
Mind if I just add to your list? It’s a great start!
15. I love dirt too, the smell of it and I remember actually tasting dirt when I was 4. I was out in the shady flower bed on the side of our house and I couldn’t have been happier smelling and tasting that rich dark dirt!
( for the record, that was the last time I ate dirt ) 🙂
16. I would rather be outside than in! I love all aspects of gardening. I love when the first inspiration hits me to try something new in one of my flower borders. I love to paint with plants in my garden.. All the while I am digging and weeding I can imagine to my hearts content what more red would look like here or there or if some deep purple would compliment such and such in my garden or how the silver leaves of russian sage look next to the deep green leaves of cone flower or near an oak leaf hydrangia…
There is more wonder to be had in a garden! If people only knew!!!
17. To eat healthier and from our own soil…There is nothing like the taste of a home grown well, anything!
We have a small veggie garden at the lower end of a large flower border! This years entries so far: 2 kinds of squash, peas, pickling cuc’s and pumpkins… I still have two unplanted rows I’m saveing for lettuce and peppers!
18. IT’S FUN…IT’S WORK… IT’S FUN WORK…and rewarding from the inside out!!!!
I love to say, " put down some roots, you’ll just feel better!
19. Because even when I’m not IN the garden I can READ about gardening!!!!!!!!
GARDENING IS GOOD MEDICINE… THAT’S WHY!!!!
Great post!
Deb~
ps. congratulations on your progress with the " snake phobia"!!! Keep at it Rebekah!
Your snake story cracked me up! I can picture it! 🙂
Why do I "bother" with a garden??
Long story short-I come from a family of gardeners…from way-yy back to the farmers in the NYS family in the 1800’s (at least that I know of…and before-my mothers family came to this country in the 1600"s!! I am sure they gardened or farmed!)
My great grandmother, grandfathers (both sides) and mother all boasted beautiful gardens both food and flowers
I have been growing things since I was a teenager–in my ROOM! Even trying tropical house plants (guava for one.
I can not imagine not growing something…anything, even if only in a pot on the windowsill if that’s all I had! .. and have been organic (veg and flowers) since 1971…
It is relaxing, rewarding, and just plain fun..what fun to out a seed in the ground and watch it grow (if you can keep it away from the squirrels!) into something to put on the table…! It never loses that magic for me…(and 20 years ago I added chickens to the mix…can never go back!)
I love gardening because my nearly-3 year old daughter walked up to me yesterday and said, "I tink dis is a fwiend of yours, Mommy" and handed me a seed she had found.
Because my kids garden with me, they are learning that food comes from the dirt (or the woods) and that it takes work which is good for you, and that it tastes delicious when you "helped" God and mommy grow it!
My other child is my 4 year old son, and they "fight" over the bay leaves or chunks of garlic in food I make, and sometimes grab handfuls of broccoli florets or carrots out of the fridge even before breakfast. Their eyes sparkle and they’re healthier than horses and have (sigh) gobs of energy…
Gardening is good for my kids, and it’s good for my husband and I too!! Thanks for your post!!!
~TJ in zone 5
Because gardening is MAGIC. To plant a seed and then watch it turn into a leaf, and then into a bigger leaf, and then one day pop little buds all over the place?
That is pure magic, it never gets old, it never ceases to amaze me, and I never lose that feeling of astonishment that it actually "worked". We’re participating in a creative process that is rarely replicated elsewhere in life.
Sounds like the gardening naysayer just sees gardening as a chore that people do for appearances only, or because they think they "should." Maybe you should invite her to join you in your garden for a day in the sun so she can see what all the "bother" is about!
Gardening is medicine for my body and mind, (grin). I have two apple trees in my big back yard. I don’t spray much. Last Fall I was gathering apples by the bucket. Some were going to a friend with horses that love the "dropped ones". Most apples needed a boo-boo cut out of it somewhere as NONE were perfect. A neighbor asked "what on earth are you doing?" I answered, "gathering apples; do you want some?" .. She looked HORRIFIED and said, "Why BOTHER when I can just run to the store and get perfect ones?" … I didn’t know what to say to her. She will never understand why I BOTHER, so why bother thinking of a good answer? I can see that YOU know exactly why I am bothering. …Good article with good thoughts! .. I am glad you "bothered" to write it up and share with us!
I think I would have had to reply "Why in the world do YOU NOT garden?"
Yesterday my Grands and I ate tomatoes and green beans, cucumbers and squash … fresh and raw from the garden. Our toes were in the dirt, our hearts were happy…
Hope you don’t mind, but I think that question is rather snotty!!!! I was born & raised in a large city, but I always loved to hear my Dad & my maternal Grandfather(Pop-Pop) talk about when they were kids. Not that they lived in the counrty, but each had a small farm(lol a acre). When we bought a summer house down the shore, we started am large garden with tomatoes, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, tomatoes, radishes & did I say tomaotes…My whole family loves fresh from the garden tomaotes. Only thing better than picking & eating a ripe, red tomatoe off the vine, is a fresh, slice of juicy, red tomaotoe on two pieces of whte bread slathered with mayo, a little salt & pepper. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!!! Or when either my Mom or my maternal Grandmom(Mom-Mom) would fry up a batch of crusty, crisp tomatoes. Yum!!! Anyway…Why do I still plant a few tomatoe plants each year?? Not just for the great taste but for all the memories of my family. And now when Spring comes around, my kids & grandkids know "Mom would love some plants for her birthday(Easter..Mother’s Day…etc)especially tomatoe plants"…Yum…Nothing is better than Jersey tomaotes. Thanks for reminding me why I "bother"!!!! >^^<
O
Answer with a question: Why do you think it is a "bother"? I’d be interested in her answer to that question. I guess my answer would be: "Since when is wholesome food a bother?"
Hehe, another question/answer!
you are right on target with everything. I garden to escape everything else. I garden to enjoy the fruits of my labors. I garden so I can play in the dirt. I garden so I can be outside with purpose. I garden because I love the it. That’s it. I garden. Hugs from ND, Kari
I can relate to the "lower red-clay clump" because that was phase 1 of our garden, but we kept tilling in handmade compost until it became a garden. Phase 2 was a rabbit wire fence and then I planted. Now we have a jungle (maybe I planted too much) but the reward will be worth the ‘bother’ because we love it. Gardening is what we do… it’s what makes us who we are. I cannot imagine not gardening. This is why we chose a place in the country. Bother? why not! And for the snake, thank you for covering it back up and not ‘bothering ‘ it. You’re a good person Rebekah.
Why bother? What if everyone thought why bother? We all be slightly starving. Our country was founded on working( Farmers) men and women. I so appreciate people like you that stand up for what they believe. Thank You for your post. Roxann
I too love to bother. All the reasons you give plus I lost my life partner in December of 2009 and am using my time in the garden as therapy and rebuilding a new life without him.
It’s amazing to me that I plant a seed and it grows….that’s why I bother…oh and I would
rather be outside than inside.
TOOO ironic- with a fullt time job a teenager that is really involved in the commuity and 3 horses-I LOVE TO GARDEN- in fact i pulled a muscle in my left index finger this weekend- noticed it monday. Can only ascertain that i must have done it weeding over the weekend. No kidding- i pulled a muscle in my finger from weeding.
I like to work in the garden barefoot. Canned my first batch of strawberry jam last week and still find green army men in teh garden from when my now 20 year old was younger. I do not remove them, but just leave them to remind me of how much fun it is to have a legacy.
People who dont garden dont get it. I traded a load of old aged manure for tomato seedlings. That is how it works.
Gardening for me is a way of being optimistic in a pesimistic world. It provides something to look forward to, and something beautiful to look at. My labors are always readily rewarded with food that I can cook with and eat or a beautiful border to look at. The visual delight is what I most love; the colors, the textures. And it’s easy. Anyone can garden.
I have been gardening since I helped my grandpa plant in our backyard at 2 or 3 years of age. That makes it over 50 years, I haved gardens in pots on terraces in Spain, vegetables growing in flower beds in military housing, planted one at my parents house when I lived in an apartment for a couple of years, pots of vegetables in Georgia, and finally for the last 12 years or so in my own yard.
I have to play in the dirt every spring, summer and fall. I think it is part of who I am.
Spring greens are over flowing on the deck right now so it will be a salad night for supper here. Herbs, vegetables, strawberries on the the vine,fresh at its best.
I am also a regular visitor to the local farm market.
Why "bother" to garden is like saying why "bother" to breathe.
I can’t say I love Dirt! In fact I’d rather not get dirty and sweaty, I do appreciate the benefits of exercise but I can’t really say I always enjoy it…But I do love, love, love to garden… I didn’t really care for working in the garden growing up…My generous next door neighboor shared a "mess" of her wax beans and several quarts of the canned ones,and now I’m hooked, and am only constrained by space and time…I love knowing that I can grow and preserve my own food if need be…and those home canned tomatoes and greenbeans are definetly better than the tin can grocery store variety…I can taste summertime in every bite.
Why bother? Because it’s no bother at all, it’s a must and love!
Some one once said to me regarding recycling: "I can afford not to recycle". Like you, I jumped on the defense cycle. "Our earth can’t afford for us NOT to recycle", is what I wished I had said.
Sometimes the reasons we do things are just not understood because the eyes of understanding aren’t open.
Sheri
Plant on the outside of your garden marigolds…it will keep the rabbits out. I love garden too, but sadly I am like you use to be, I only have a small spot in front of my half of the yard in front of my apartment. But I plant tomatoes, one year, onions, another, green peppers (I rotate for its small spot and don’t want to depleate the dirt)
And a spot for flowers.
So keep planting.
Great blog. I too am very protective of my gardening hobby. I decided long ago not to care if people get it or not. I always enjoy coming here for like-minded fellowship. We are out here! Keep gardening!
I garden because it connects me to the women in the world who garden and the women of history who gardened (like my mom). I garden because it gets me outside where life is so very real. I garden because it is meditative and productive at the same time. I garden because it tastes good.
I pray that I never reach a point in life when I can’t always have something growing nearby. I visited a gardening woman in a nursing home with no growing things in her room, no signs of life. So very sad. There was a dead plant on the window sill. She can no longer tend growing things and there is no one who cares enough to tend them for her.
Gardening is cheaper than a psychologist. I feel so at ease after a few hours of working in the garden. The rewards are great. I’d be contrary if I didn’t garden!