It’s finally warming up and green, though today as I write, we’re in the middle of a little cool, rainy snap. Like most parents these days, I feel a bit crazed. The end of the school year is winding down and it seems like we’re running full-speed ahead. (I can’t wait for summer weather and some lazy, hazy summer porch-sitting)! Spring has certainly sprung in New England, and we’ve been as busy as bees!
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”.
Beautiful post, Nicole!!
Hi Laurel, thank you! Happy Spring! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Audrey is a beautiful young lady. She and her boyfriend make a lovely couple. Thank You for haring these photos.Glad Spring has come to your area.
Marilyn
Hi Marilyn, thank you! I am so glad you enjoyed the blog. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
I loved how your daughter looked, the dress was wonderful.
I enjoy your blog and every time I see a vintage trailer, I think of you.
Hi Patti, Thank you ever so much! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
I enjoyed reading this blog, Nicole. Pictures are good and i did not know about the dust you mentioned,and what makes it different! I will try your deviled eggs recipe, sounds so good. I did not know about a praying mantis eating hummingbirds.
Love, Mother
Hi Mama, Yes the dust keeps the chickens healthy and mite-free. I also love YOUR deviled egg recipe, and make it from time to time, too. Love you so much. Nicole
Hi Nicole;
I saw a picture of a mantis with a hummingbird in it’s clutches on Facebook and I was shocked to see it. I also didn’t know they could eat a bird, even a small bird. I love both of them and was thinking about making my pond and garden mantis friendly, but not now and also I read that purple martins, which we now have in our birdhouse, will also eat mantis’ so everything is a meal to something. We also have a cat that lives outdoors and catches mice, rats, robins, squirrels, bluejays, starlings, ground squirrels or chipmunks, and he doesn’t eat them, just kills them, so I am wondering if he is weeding out the weak and old, which is good for the species, and actually makes them stronger. He gets plenty of food in our garage where he sleeps and hides from the marauding dogs in our area, who have chased him up a tree, off our porch and he, so far has always made it to the garage pet door we put in for him. Our dogs do not bother him and we keep them on leashes or in a fenced area of our yard. I love your spring post and your pictures of your daughter and her boyfriend and the prom dress. Wonderful. So glad she likes vintage. I fear modernization has left the best of the best to be wanting. I love vintage and comfort.
Hi Sandi, Your hummers should be okay as long as you watch for mantis insects landing on the feeder. If you see one, just relocate him. In all my years, I have only seen one on my feeder once or twice. The praying mantis is a good garden beneficial. You’re right – something is a meal for something else, and you can’t stop the natural food chain.
Thank you for the compliment on my daughter. I am so proud of her. I think the whole vintage loving thing is on it’s way back with her generation. Millennials don’t particular care for vintage, but I see my daughter and her friends going back to it. Maybe there is hope, lol! I love vintage. It is all so much more stylish and made better compared to anything new! Thanks for reading and commenting! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
What a beautiful young woman your daughter has become! Her dress was lovely. And…..it’s been such fun watching her grow up. I’m one of your earliest followers and have enjoyed sharing in her milestones. I know you will keep us all up to date on her graduation and college choice. And…..you are so right – time just flies during those years and doesn’t slow after either. lol
Hi Bonnie, Thank you so much for all of the kind words, and for being a longtime, loyal reader! It means so much to me. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole