When I was a child, my parents and teachers first sparked my lifelong interest in history, especially American history. I’ve always hoped my daughter would share that passion. My family and I have visited some amazing historical places all over the world, but the road trip we took recently to visit the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt and to our nation’s first US presidential library in Hyde Park, New York, is one of the most interesting and memorable places we’ve ever been.
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”.
Gosh what an Amazing place. I love history too. If I ever make it to the states one day it’s on my bucket list to see. Looking forward to seeing more of your history when you post 🙂
Hugs from Australia
Hi Denise! I am so glad you enjoyed our “visit”. I’ve now got a new place on my list to bring visiting friends and family. And if you ever visit the East Coast of the United States, you be sure and let me know! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Thank you Nicole, I certainly will.
I’ll offer the same to you and your family, if you ever come my way, please let me know I’d love to show some of my country too 🙂
Hi Denise…You never know…Australia is on my daughter’s list of places she’d like to visit, and I have always wanted to go there too. Maybe someday we will meet! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Nicole, I really enjoyed reading your blog about FDR! I remember my father talking a lot about him and admiring him. I was too small so my first memory is of Harry Truman. But Roosevelt was President when I and my twin sister were born. We were five months old when Pearl Harbor was bombed and FDR declared us in World War II. I did like Eleanor Roosevelt and feel she did a lot of good things for our country. Beautiful rose gardens as you showed. Love, Mother
Hi Mom! Next time you visit, we will take you there. I know you will really enjoy it. Oh, and I did think of Grandma Shug and her roses there – many of them were her favorite colors. Love you, Nicole
AND I THOUGHT JEFFERSONS PLANTATION Was large.. nice. Blog…..now I know where to. Go for a. Nice. Sightseeing trip. In My state to see in my state I wasn’t aware of. Thanks. Susana
Hi Susana, And I should put Jefferson’s plantation on my list of “must see’s”, too. Thanks for the comment! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
If you loved the Roosevelt estimate, you are going to love Valkill which was Eleanor’s house. My daughter and I went to both and we really loved Valkill. I live about 30 minutes away and we had a great time there too. Also, you may want to know and try out one time, on the Roosevelt estate they have a “Knit In” which Eleanor always tried to make items for the soldiers. This usually happens in May and it is a great group of ladies that get together one afternoon and knit or crochet 7×9 rectangles. Then other women stitch them together to make blankets for local charities. Some of us already bring finished rectangles so that we are ahead of the game. If you would like more information – let me know. Have a great day! Diane
Diane, Yes, we definitely need to see Val-Kill. We just ran out of time, but gives us something to look forward to. Please tell me more about the knit in! I’d love that! I will email you directly. Thanks for sharing! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Wow, that looks like a fascinating place to go visit. Thanks for sharing all the details.
Hi Lynn, It truly was! I can’t wait to go back and see what I missed. I’ve also been told we should dine at the Culinary Institute nearby, though I have not researched it myself yet. Glad you enjoyed the post…thanks for dropping by. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Thank you for a tour of sites I have always wanted to visit. So interesting. Glad you got to do this tour and hope Hyde Park and the others will be your next ones. Thanks again. God bless.
Hi Joan, I am so glad you like the post! Thank you! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
I look forward to telling you more about Valkill and the Knit In. If you and your daughter do come, my daughter and I would love to meet you there. We loved it so much that we would love to do it again. Do you love Cross Stitch – I also have a friend who owns a store close by. I think it would be a lot of fun to meet you! Have a great weekend! Diane
Hi Diane, I would love to hear more. Maybe we farmgirls CAN meet up! Wouldn’t that be so much fun? Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
What a neat day trip! I had the pleasure of taking my kids and hubby to Springfield, Illinois, to tour the Lincoln Presidential Museum a few years back. We lived in St. Louis at the time. It was well worth what we paid and we learned so much!
If your daughter would like to learn more about the Roosevelts, see if you can get a DVD from the library of PBS’s Roosevelt mini series that ran last fall. I watched it with my mom (she’s 75, I’m 54) and I learned so much! It covers all the Roosevelts, so Teddy as well as FDR. Fascinating stuff!
Hi Susabelle, Thank you for the suggestion! My whole family likes to watch series like that together, so I will definitely look for it. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Having grown up in the Hudson Valley, I have visited both the Roosevelt and Vanderbilt mansions many times. They are so full of interesting things that each time one visits, more and more is discovered. It is akin to re-reading a favorite book or watching a favorite movie again. As one gets older, the points of interest change and each trip gives opportunities for further knowledge. The Newport Mansions have the same effect. One year the interest is in the gardens, the next perhaps is dedicated to the architecture. I am glad you enjoyed your trip and am also very glad you mentioned going to the Vanderbilt Mansion. It is spectacular also, but on a different scale. I now feel the urge to go on a road trip…and after all, the Hudson Valley is beautiful in the fall.
Hi Sheila, Isn’t that true? I love to visit sites more than once, if I can. I always see something I’ve missed, or something different. Great comment…thank you! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole