If you’ve ever wondered what it is like to ride the range on the high plains of Wyoming during calving season … here is your chance. Saddle up, we’re burnin’ daylight.
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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, What wonderful pictures. What a great ranch and I know you are a great calf "mom". God bless and I hope your season is fruitful. Bonnie
Do you know what the flowers are at the top of your blog? We have some that are similar in our field and nobody knows for sure what they are. Love your blog.
I love calving season, to see all the new babies. The first time I saw a calf born was about two years ago. We have dirt piles in our front yard. Next thing we saw was a new baby calf. The babies and the mothers love to play on our dirt piles. The Lord has blessed us all.
So you’re the "Calf Whisperer" – kinda like being a Cat Whisperer (like I am), only on a grander scale. Your life is so different from mine but I so love reading about your ranching and wrangling. I think in a way, I’m living vicariously through you….hope you don’t mind. We faux cowgirls like to dream of doing the things you are. Thank you for the glimpse into your life.
Shery,
I am so glad I found your blog. I have always wanted to live on a farm/ranch. My mom grew up on a big farm. I loved visiting there during my childhood. I enjoy your pictures and can’t wait to see more calves.
Blessings,Vicky
Thank you everyone for your lovely comments, I DO love to hear your thoughts and related joys & memories…so keep the comments coming! Everyone else enjoys reading the comments section too. The flowers in this week’s photos are wild sweet peas and buttercups (bottom pic). shery
How great – it all looks so wonderful. Love your Morgan. I can relate to the calf on the kitchen floor. We’ve had a lot of babies that had to be brought in including a baby billy goat that was brought to us by a young neighbor boy "please take him otherwise my dad says he’ll have to die". Of course we took him, he spent a few weeks in a bed behind our wood stove in the kitchen before it was warm enough to go out. My Mom would sit in the rocking chair by the stove and bottle feed in in her lap.
Your baby looks bright and happy.
Hi Shery
Calving season is the best ! Like Christmas for me, can hardly wait to see what the calves look like. We’re calved out, much warmer where we are. My husband loaded alfalfa in Riverton, WY on Wednesday, should be home with it tonight. Your weather is quite a challenge.
Theresa is southwest Arkansas
Shery,
I love your blog and the new babies! I live in the country and this is the first time I’ve seen baby calves in the kitchen…It’s Great!
Bless you,
Sonja
Beautiful photos. I’ve never been on a ranch in my life. I’ve been on a farm a few times…one of my dreams is to live on a farm/ranch someday. This was wonderful seeing all the photos of all the animals. They’re so beautiful and graceful…and it was really interesting to learn how you take care of the cows/calves. Beautiful 🙂
Shery,
Thanx for sharing a part of your daily life with us…
I luv the pic of your "hubby & baby" in the kitchen…white socks & all! lol!
Can I come out and visit you all? I love ranch life. I work for free……maybe just feed me?!
How great is that! Thanks for sharing. So sorry the one twin didn’t make it but how great it must be to have a calf in your kitchen.
Shery, Awesome pictures! I so appreciate your blog and look forward to it as a homesick ex-Wyoming-ite!!! Keep up the wonderful job!
wow that is awesome – glad you gave us pics thanks so much from the fiber girl horseylady
Thanks for sharing a part of your life from the saddle. I enjoy the pictures so much, and you explain it really well to someone like me (who knows nothing about calving)! Many blessings to you and your husband.
Shery, it sounds like so much fun, but I know it must be very hard work. I would just get too attached. The calvess in our area are so cute to watch, but I usually just see them as I drive by. You have an exciting life! One day I may have to stop by and say hello! Carol
I am so blessed by each entry you make. I live vicariously through you! As an amateur/hobby photographer, I also love the photo collages.
No calves yet here on our ranch. We still are below freezing most nights. I did buy a few plants at the hardware store and hope to get them potted this weekend.
The brand inspector came by and asked if we would foster a couple of abused “Zonkie’s” they brought in. My husband said, sure. They are the strangest critters I’ve ever seen. They have the features of a donkey, but look like zebra’s. I guess they are hybrids-a cross between those two animals. The girl is shy, buy the boy is a mischief maker. He chases our drafter horses (weighing about 2800 pounds each) and our Quarter horses everywhere, but they are pretty sweet creatures. They were starved and abused really bad. I just don’t understand cruelty and won’t tolerate it.
No wildflowers yet.
Treesé
Front Range Colorado Rockies
We live on a family farm in E. Kansas. Small operation–a few Angus, quarter horse mare & a couple of ponies. Spent a winter on ranch in Montana belonging to friends–awesome experience! Just like you said–baby calves need to be in the "cooker" when it’s cold and night checks are hard but worth every minute! Wyoming is gorgeous–loved being there! Daffodils, Tulips, Bradford Pears along our drive & Redbuds are blooming–Springtime in Kansas! We will return to your part of God’s country!!
Sharon
Hillroad Farm, NE KS
Ahhh. Feelings of home. I was ranch born and raised. We had polled Herefords mostly, but some mixed breeds, a few sheep, pigs for eating, ranch horses and chickens. Always had a big garden and a couple of milk cows. Spring was always my favorite time of the year when everything is renewed and life abounds everywhere. Many times we had calves in the house especially when is was too cold outside when they were born and ears and tails often froze. Many times dad would come in with a frozen calf in his arm, yelling run a tub of warm water. He would leave me then with the calf to massage it back to life while he went back to check on the herd. One time our old sow farrowed in a blizzard. As the piglets arrived mom brought them into the house. She told me to keep the fire stoked…so I did. I was only 5 years old and didn’t really know the difference, so I filled the stove with all the small chunks of wood next to it. Guess what, it was pitch. Well those piglets got warm. Next time mom came in with a piglet she found the wall behind the stove dripping and the piglets laying on their sides panting. Well times have changed and we don’t seem to have that many blizzards any more. Mom and dad are gone, but a lot of the old ways are still alive and well. I will always love the spring.
How i love spring…those cute little ones playing in the fields and "kicking up their heels" so adorable…keep up the great work… C u soon my friend:)
I love these pictures, I remember calving when I was a child in Harding County South Dakota. Love it, wow the memories. I no longer live on the farm/ranch life but love the SIMPLE life and the beauty of the the outdoors!
Hi Shery,
I grew up on a farm "wanna be". We did have 4 horses, later a cow & bull…plus other various farm animals,as well as the many stray cats. I recall that we kids got the work part of the animals…mom was always expecting, and dad worked long hours away from home. Being a person of small stature, I found shoveling manure difficult, but helped anyway. My older sister rode the horses (I was too timid). One of our most memorable days tho, was one school day, when walking home from school. I saw numerous neighbors looking up our hill, in the roadway, with their pickups parked nearby…they were watching, as some of the men were trying to catch the bull, who was chasing my 40 yr old mother up that hill! It seems that my mother, always stern, always right, had decided to wave her apron at the bull, after he’d gotten out of the pasture, thinking he’d do as she ordered, and just walk back in. Guess mom learned something that day! It wasn’t long after that my father sold both the bull and cow. Another fond memory was our one duck…he loved spaghetti & meatballs (leftovers from our plates)…after he’d finished he’d have sauce all over his chest! We didn’t have a garbage disposal, mom had us feed all the scraps etc to the animals…spaghetti was "duckies" favorite.
Now I have a yard that doesn’t have any real sun, so I plant in pots…but mostly my garden that blooms is of the quilting kind…I am looking forward to our move to Maine sometime, when I will have a chance for a real garden!
Your pics are wonderful….I’m telling all my friends about the MaryJane website too….especially great to read, on days when its raining and gloomy out…picks up my spirits!
keep blogging!
I too am the night watchman on the farm. I just made my 11:00PM walk to the barn. I usually try to have my calves born in February to have them ready for the feeder sales beginning in September. Of course you know how it goes, you always have a few stragglers. If this one cow doesn’t have her calf soon I swear she is going to explode. Love your post, and of course those Hereford pics always catch my eye.
I just accidentally stumbled onto this site. I was pretty happy to see I’m not the only woman who has baby calves during calving season in her kitchen!
Nothing like waking up in the morning to calf poop smeared all over your floor & kitchen cabinets!
We ranch in SW ND, near the SD border by Lemmon.
It’s sure nice to see a blog of like-minded women out there!