Oh yeah….You read it right. “Challenge.” You, me. More on that in a minute.
But first. Thank you so much for your insightful comments on love and marriage. I’m working on that booklet and will include everyone’s words. Yes, even you guys who thought you couldn’t offer any advice…your words were filled with wisdom. I mean, just go back and read them. Full of wisdom. Thank you.
Now about this “mid-spring” challenge I’ve conjured up.
Well, not yet. Let’s talk about “mid-spring” first, in all its glory, then we’ll get to that “challenge” part.
Hey Rebekah!
Great post! Your absolutly right about mid -spring and the opportunities it has for growth! Inside and out! All I have to do is look outside my kitchen door and see my "now" very tall Tree Peone. I swear if I go outside at night I can watch things grow! Only a few short weeks ago we were celebrating " new growth" in the garden! Your challenge is a good one! All of us girls seem to put others first… and that’s o.k. cuz giving to and loving those we care for best is what live for… But the well can run dry if it’s not refilled with things we personally love and need too~ Two years ago I signed up for riding lessons at the ripe old age of 47! for a solid year on wednesday mornings from 9-10 that hour was MINE…The economy took it’s turn and I stopped my weekly lesson then, but I tell ya it was my salvation and the things I learned about myself and horses was to me at least imeasurable… I’m hoping to be back in the saddle real soon.. and in the mean time I’m growing a gigger vegggie garden this year,food, walking 3 x’s a week consistantly, and adding more color to my summer garden.. just cuz I love it and I’ve got an art show coming up which I am joyfully preparing for!
Thanks for the reminder that we need to give ourselves some " sugah" while we are sprinkling it over everyone else!
Enjoy this day and best to you on your run!!!
Dandelion wishes,
Deb~
I’m proud of you. Every 5K starts with a bunch of aching muscles and the surety that it can’t be done!
Hooray, hooray!
I don’t think a 5K is in my future for health reasons BUT I finally challenged by brain to a 5K and started writing down one of the stories I tell my Granddaughters.
If you have a quiet moment, with an iced tea, sitting amidst those lovely mid-Spring flowers I would love to share it with you.
This link will take you to Chapter One! I think this might be a story you would enjoy! http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-first-story-time-tuesday.html
You know that quote? "You live your life like you live your days"?
I am determined to make every day in my life count!
I’m savoring Rebekah. I’m savoring!
Thanks so much for identifying the Cherokee Rose for me! We have many of these growing down our lane, and I wondered what they were. And you are right about the honeysuckle! I lost my sense of smell about 2 years ago, but my daughter tells me that it’s just heady this year! I miss that smell!Well..all smells. Don’t you just love the wild roses too? I think they are so beautiful! Georgia is so beautiful in the spring! Thanks for another great story!
Oh, I’d forgotten all about sucking Honeysuckle nectar! There is nothing sweeter or more fragrant. Thanks for the little jaunt down memory lane. It transformed me from a gray haired matron back in to a wee lassie with long braids the color of black coffee…sipping on flowers in my grandparent’s back yard. :o) shery
I’ve got a natural way for poison ivy if you want to hear it. When we moved to our property I ended up with poison ivy from head to toe (literally) 2 years in a row. We had vines growing up our walnut trees about 8" in diameter! We chopped the vine at the base and made a solution of 1 cup dishwashing liquid, 2 cups rock salt and 1 gallon boiling water. Stir and pour quickly over exposed root at dusk (very important). The ivy plants feed at night we were told. Anyway that killed the vine after one application.
As always, I enjoy your blog…
I am determined to start back WALKING again. Even though I get a lot of exercise tending to this homestead and all these livestock by myself (farm is mine, husband not interested)…it’s just not the same as when I was walking four miles each day. So I am determined to get some GOOD walking shoes and begin walking on SCHEDULE again! I feel better when I do it, I look better, and I might even shed a few pounds which again will make me feel better!
Thank you for this challenge! I may go walk my "track" right now (I have an area I keep mowed all around the pasture!)
Last September I attended a Michigan Oral History Conference in Marquette, MI. at the campus of Northern Michigan University. This is where I met the Secretary of MOHA, Geneva Wiskkanen; my dear friend and mentor. Nena and I hit it off right away and over the course of the weekend I learned many valuable things from her about documenting and archiving history.
Just a few weeks… ago in early spring, I decided to proceed with a project that I have been wanting to do since the conference; gathering a collection of Farmgirl Histories,and compiling them into a little book.
I posted a requested in the chat room of MaryJanes Farm web site for Farmgirls that were interested in participating and the response was staggering! My collection is growing every day and the answers are in such depth and detail. They are funny and sad and tell the rich story of their families. I am enthralled!
I feel very blessed to be the one to record these histories.I am learning about the determination of these girls and their families and also the love of this land through their own farmgirl histories!
I know this project has, and is, changing my life–A little seed was planted back in September and before long a lovely tree of history will soon be up and growing; stretching and reaching for the sun.
I issued a challange this year because I will be 50 in July. So for the second half of life I’ve decided I need some overhaulin’. I’m gunking out the old and flowing in the new in almost every aspect of my life. Emotional, spiritual, physical and gardenal (which isn’t a word but went with the al theme!)
I’m forever happy that my great God is a God of second chances….although I’m probably on my at least 100th second chance…there’s still time to reflect, pray and change.
Oh, i’m also going to do a workshare on a farm this summer! that’ll be great since we just moved to the city…:)
Well, now that you mentioned it – I learned how to spin yarn on a spinning wheel which I thought would be easy since millions of women spin!! Not so! It is difficult to stay consistant with the width of the yarn and I was very tempted to give up but I didn’t and now I am VERY proud of myself for sticking with it. I still need to keep practicing, but spinning is so much easier now. Thanks for reminding me!
I love reading your blog.You are such an inspiration. Just a few days ago I signed up for an online class called "The Herbalist’s Path". I’ve been wanting to for years and I finally started.I’m so excited to be doing this as it’s been a long time dream. I have also decided to start eating organic and to eat less meat. I’m also putting in more garden area in my back yard. Finally, the herb garden I’ve always dreamed of. That’s alot I know but I’m always full of project ideas and I am determined to make them happen. Thanks again for the inspiration. Blessings!
Love this post and want to share it. However, I don’t see an easy way to do that. Why is there no Share box here?
Rebecca,thank you for you blog and all of the inspireing comments,I have been low on ideas lately.The last really neat thing I did was ANNIES PROJECT,a class on how to actually be a farmer.Since then I have been working a second part time job,and have been tired and low on new ideas.I am pushing myself to buy more organic food,and less meat.My challenge to you and to your readers is to take square dance lessons.It is a dieing art form of dance,and it is so much fun.It is also a cheap activity,and with so many people low on money now days,they should try to have some cheap old fashioned fun!Our club charges 3 dollors per lesson,and 5 dollors gets you intrance into a dance,plus a pot luck meal.Thanks for some good ideas,and girls wash that gray right out of your hair with Redkens new cover fusion,ask about low lights for you gray headed girls,Serry low light your hair!and Rebecca,I also challenge you to have your hair curled with CHIs new ORBIT IRON.I would love to give you girls{Mary Jane} a new retro look!The Orbit gives you Taylor Swift retro curls,you will love it!Laying low,loving life,and living large on a beer budget,blessed be,Carol Branum,themofarmersdaughter@blogspot.com
I actually recently gave MYSELF a Spring Challenge: invite people over every Friday. Stop waiting for the house to be clean or for a special occasion. So, we now fling open the garden gate every Friday from 4-6pm and enjoy "Fridays in the Garden". We offer local snacks and wine, ice water and tea, and we sit down… yes, SIT DOWN, for 2 hours, in the garden, beside the running fountain, and actually talk to whatever friends wander through the gate. This Friday will be our 3rd week. It’s a treasured time and I’m so glad I did it.
I have just completed my 3rd straight semester of college. I am 42 and decided after my babies flew the nest that I needed to do this. I am loving it! Today was my last final exam and I have taken the summer off, so no classes until the end of August. The whole summer is splayed out in front of me like an enormous playground. What WILL I do? I have a thousand things I need to do.. but what will I challenge myself to do? I challenge myself to walk each morning, 5 days a week. When I walk it is me, God, and his creation all around me. I am going to give this gift to myself!
My challenge is to do a destination half marathon with my husband and daughter next January. I am excited! I have never ran more than a couple of miles in my life – I’m 42 and up for the challege. I am also seriously gardening for the 2nd year. I love it!
As for killing the poision ivy…not 100% sure it will work, but I have read you can put full strength vinegar plant you are wanting to kill – as long as it is in the sun, and it will kill it. I think it has to have full sun to work. Most of us have vinegar and it would be worth the try.
I really enjoy your blog!
Now don’t get all romantic on us about that Multiflora Rose. Sure, it looks great while it’s blooming and we ooh and ahh but what a battle in reality! I’m constantly fighting them on my place because they are so invasive (they’re actually from Asia) and I have threatened to get some goats to do my fighting for me. And as for the honeysuckle, well, same thing but I have to admit that I still love to suck out the nectar….
On a brighter note, I got a pristine old Singer treadle sewing machine a few weeks ago (Thanks Mary Jane for the idea) and have been having a great time!
I love the ‘Fridays in the Garden’ idea from commenter Donna!
Yesterday morning I went on my one of my daughter’s field trips with her school to the Landis Valley Museum her in Central PA. During the trip we stopped at the Old Country Store and I picked up this great book – Sunflower Houses. If you have kids or gkids you need to research this. So here goes my challenge to break out of the non-creative side of me AND BONUS do something cool with my girls. I could go into great detail about the Sunflower House, but what I would really like to ask is if some of you have done this and some tips. Best wishes to all on your challenges and send a little my way please.
My mid-spring smell came to me today as I was putting
carrot seed in the ground. Outside of my garden fence I
have a row of Lily-of-the-valley blooming…now that’s a wonderful smell…
Congrats on the 5k! That must have felt so good. The trail run definitely sounds like more fun to me. My challenge to you is to keep us posted on your successes : )
As for my mid spring challenge…I am taking an online travel writing course that begins next Tuesday. Excited and nervous. My challenge is to set aside three hours a day to focus on writing and nothing else. No excuses.
Regarding vinegar; this is the second time I have read about it being an effective weed killer this week! I can’t wait to try it for myself. I use it to clean mirrors all of the time. One can replace most harsh chemical cleaning agents with baking soda, essential oils, borax, etc…
Thank you for another inspiring post Rebekah, and Happy Mid Spring Everyone!
My first look at your blog and I love it. I found the magazine Mary Jane’s Farm first and have been in love ever since.
I lost my significant other in Dec. of last year and I have been challenged to reinvent my life since. I am just now starting to think of what I would like to do with this now lonely life to make it super. I love your idea of challenging ones self and today I signed up for a new class in needle felting. Thank you for your post and wisdom.
Thank you for sharing this delightful article. I totally agree,my favorite season in Colorado. Love the sound of the Hummingbirds returning and the baby birds in the nest in an old barn wood birdhouse in my garden,it is a sight and sound that I find comforting.
I love your blog! I wanted to post a comment to let you know, nice job! I feel inspired whenever I visit Mary Jane’s Farm. Katy
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!