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Hello my friends!
This is one of those times when I feel like I have nothing to say or share. I flew to New Mexico in January and spent a few days helping my Mom pack up to fly back to Tennessee with me for a few months. My sister flew out and got her and they just left yesterday; I feel like the last 3 months are a happy blur! I decided that this is what I had to share today!
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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’m so glad! She’s so beautiful! What a wonderful family.
Dori,
Thank you for sharing your Mom’s visit. She is beautiful, and you are so very blessed to still have your Mom to share life and have fun conversations. May God bless you with more visits in the future.
Looks like everyone had a great time. Love that red quilt! And the quilt coat is just fabulous.
I need to get back to my own blog. . .it’s been a year.
Dori, I loved hearing about your mother visiting this year! I also think the picture with her hair down is precious. I think you favor her a lot.
Your mother reminds me of my Nannie, my dad’s mother, who raised me until I turned 11 and was sent to live with my mother. I have a beautiful Lone Star quilt she gave me when I got married, which I treasure.
I read Nicole’s post recently, and just have to say that the coat is beautiful! She are so sweet to make it for her. I know she appreciates it.
I love your posts and keeping up with you. Thank you for sharing you and your family with us.
Joan P.
Dori, thank you for sharing your family, it is so nice that you can have these visits with your mom. My mom passed in April 2017, I was going to fly out to see her in May and spoke to her in April she was so happy I was coming. But that visit did not happen and I think of her often and miss her, my dad predeceased her also. Time spent with our loved ones can seem so fleeting. You made me smile and feel good by allowing me to be a part of yours.
Sheila
Beautiful family, you are blessed
All the quilts are so pretty and the jacket is wonderful!! Lucky Nicole!
Loved reading your sweet story, you are indeed, your mother‘s daughter!!
Thank you for sharing about your mom’s visit, and the great memories of her stay with you and your family. You will cherish those memories for a long time.
My mom has been gone for about seven years, but I cherish the memories we made together. Through the years, she made holiday craft projects and gave them to her daughters. It is great to think about her, when I have these items out for the designated season.
So happy for you that you’re able to spend time with your mom. I miss those days. My mom passed in 1986 and I loved spending time with her. I’d travel from Maryland to Maine to spend as much time as I could and I treasure those times.
Dori…what a beautiful post. My favorite picture is of your mom sitting on the vintage red stool in front of the Hoosier cabinet with the apple butter and the biscuits. In this fast paced techie world, the old ways are always the sweetest and the best. (And the quilt is gorgeous!) You are blessed indeed.
Your mother is SO beautiful! How wonderful to be able to have her with you for a nice visit. I can understand now what it is about your posts that inspires me. The love and care of your family (not to mention talent!) shines brightly!
Such a special time, thank you for sharing! Your mama has such a sweet smile. (And I love the picture of her with her hair down)
Nothing to say, nothing to share? Oh Dori, this is priceless. The sweet memories, the darling pictures (oh her lovely curly hair!) What a wonderful time spent together with family…nothing is more important. I love the quilts, the smiles, the generations together playing games, quilting, and celebrating birthdays. Memories that will last…thank you for sharing with us. It’s just a perfect post. Mary
Dori~ thank you for sharing your Mom with us. It was such a joy and it made my day to hear about her visit with your family. So happy you are still making memories with her.
Happy May.
Dear Dori, I am sorry you are missing your mama. You are so blessed to get to spend that special time with her. I miss my mama and hope to visit her soon. I now know where you get your talent! You are all so talented – such beautiful fabrics and quilts. How awesome is it that you got to sew together like that. And that pic of your mama is lovely! She is beautiful. I have worn my jacket so much, and hope you know how much I treasure it. I hope you enjoy your present, too. Farmgirl hugs, Nicole, Suburban Farmgirl