Some of the best things in life are also the smallest! A hopeless collector, I adore thimbles! I’ve picked thimbles up as inexpensive souvenirs and at flea markets. However, I had no idea that one day a chance meeting at a tag sale and a cigar box of thimbles would lead to a surprise and a life lesson!
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”.
Simply WONDERFUL!!
Thank you so much, Barbara! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Oh how I love thimbles! My grandmother use to collect them. She had so many and they were displayed on beautiful wood shelves for everyone to see. I remember as a child admiring her thimbles and trying them on. In fact many of her thimbles had pieces of tape inside stating where the thimble came from and what year. It’s wonderful to learn about her experience and places she went. One day if I ever take up sewing (which I hope is soon) I will invest in my first thimble and hope to pass its memories down to my grandchildren. Thanks for sharing your lovely story!
Hi Krista, what a wonderful memory of your grandmother! Thank you for sharing. I think you will love to sew. My daughter sews a bit, too, and I hope this summer we can do more of it together. Like you, I hope she passes that love of all things creative on to her children she may have some day. Sewing is a wonderful skill…start small and build from there. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
thank you for sharing your story…I think that was one of the sweetest blogposts I have ever read. you never know who will cross your path each day and how lucky you were. the good news about your story is that it started my day today with joy…..the bad was that you may have sparked me to start collecting THIMBLES 🙂 ….perfect with my quilts.
Hi Janet, Thank you for your sweet comment…you’ve made my day. Hmmm…thimbles and quilts…sounds like a perfect match! Happy Collecting! 😉 Thank you so much for “stopping by” the blog. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
A beautiful collection! I adore collecting thimbles. I have been doing it for many years. I just think some of them are so unique in their decoration. I have one from Dusseldorf and it is so pretty. One of my favories.
Hi Denise! Thank you…I bet yours is a beautiful collection, as well! It’s funny, too, you never know where you might find a new addition! Thank you for reading and commenting. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
GREAT story! What wonderful memories!
Hi Joan, Thank you so very much! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
What a treasure that cigar box was! Now you’ve started the same tradition…for you to pass on.
Happy sewing!!!
Hi Becky, Wasn’t it? I could not believe how many thimbles fit into that cigar box! I would have loved to have met the lady that had them…I know we would have been friends even though we were generations apart. My daughter likes to sew too, and just like when I was a kid, she will hang out with me while I sew. Happy Days! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Nicole, I did not realize how many thimbles you have now! I forgot you gave the little wooden thimble holder to me for Mother’s Day. And which thimble did I accidentally drop and break when I was at your house? I have three collectible thimbles left, one you gave to me from Denmark, a wooden one with Texas and blue bonnets on it, and one from Galveston Texas which I think my mother gave to me. Your story of the notes in the thimbles is so wonderful and I love the castle thimble. Very interesting to read.
Love, Mother
Hi Mom! I am so glad you still have a few thimbles left! I remember you breaking one of the ones from when I was a kid, but I don’t remember which one now. Audrey loves the thimbles so she will have them someday. Thanks for starting a great tradition! Love you! ~Nicole
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! Thank you for sharing this with us!…Most enjoyable.
Hi Mary, Thank you! So glad you liked the post. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Loved reading this. While I have a few thimbles, this made me remember my late friend Joyce who collected them and belonged to a thimble club. She also belonged to our button club. Miss her still. Enjoyed the stories about your collection.
Hi Joann, what a sweet comment; thank you for sharing your memory of your friend Joyce. A thimble and a button club?!? How FUN! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Oh I love this post. I collect thimbles as well from yard sales, estate sales, thrift shops, trips, etc. but my favorite one is one my mother in law gave me that belonged to her grandmother, and it was a silver one with the top half cut out, I am told they are used for quilting, but also, I read where women were gifted silver thimbles as wedding gifts and then they would cut the top off and wear as a wedding band when they couldnt afford rings. 🙂 I too love meeting the people with the stories behind the thimbles. Be Blessed.
Hi Neta! Oh my goodness…what a treasure you have! I did not know that about thimbles, how wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
I loved this story, thank you for sharing it with us. I also have a thimble collection. I have mine, my Mother’s, my Grandmother’s and her Mother’s, all under a little dome. I am going to go back now and put little notes in many of them. My everyday thimble I wear in a cage around my neck. It is a conversation starter. I have met many wonderful people.
Hi Lynn, I’m so glad you enjoyed this post! How blessed you are to have those thimbles. What another great idea – displaying thimbles under a dome, and as a necklace. Thanks for sharing with us. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
I put my thimbles away a long time ago and since I will be downsizing, I can’t wait to unearth them and share them with members of my quilt guild! Such small things but some carry great stories! So glad you are loving and caring for your new thimbles! So few folks even know what they are! Enjoy!
Hi Margaret, How much fun will that be for your quilt guild…how special! Thank you for reading and commenting! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Wow, what a great story! I don’t have a thimble collection, just one that I got for high school Home Ec class (in the ’70s, including a dab of red nail polish!) and the ones from my mother’s sewing box. But I love hearing the personal stories about how your collection came to be. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Joan, Love that your thimble has a dab of nail polish, too! I am so glad you enjoyed this post…thanks for reading and sharing. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
So Nice Nicole
Thank you! 🙂
I got my Mom’s thimbles after she died. Included with the ones we kids bought her as gifts and the ones she had purchased herself were the ones that had once belonged to her Mom and her Grandma. All the ladies in the family were stitchers. As I look at these thimbles, I can only imagine which ones were used during the construction of the patchwork quilts, which ones were used in the sewing of my Mom’s satin wedding dress, and which were used in the sewing and repair of our clothes when we were children. So many stories. I am glad that your thimbles came with a written history!
Hi Sheila, How wonderful that you have your mom’s thimbles! Thank you for sharing with us today…your thimbles sound like they speak their history on their own! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Love the thimbles…they are really cool and love the notes in some of them and the cute castle. My mother-in-law collects them and they are very cool.
Hi Rowena, Thanks! I just got a cute one in the mail from my favorite aunt. It’s a thimble with a gardening trowel and basket on it. I put a note in it, of course! That’s awesome that your MIL collects them, too! Thanks for commenting! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Thank you for your loving stories. I started my thimble collection when I was in high
school a long long long time ago. I have enjoyed sharing them with my friends’ now
it’s time to let them go. I’m downsizing and soon to move. Does anyone know where
I can sell them?
Thank you for all the wonderful stories on a little thing known as a “thimble”!
Hi Dolores, I’m so glad you like the blog. Thank you for reading. As for selling your collection, a facebook tag sale or ebay might be a good place. Good luck! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole