Hello lovely readers! I’m writing this on Wednesday evening, which means I’ve just gotten home from a big day on the farm. Wednesday is our CSA day–it’s the day the subscribers to our Community Supported Agriculture shares get to take home their weekly bins of freshly picked and cleaned veggies. The best day of the week!
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 work for a CSA in Ohio. It’s an awesome experience and my pay is a half share of veggies and a fruit share!
Alex, thank you for taking the time in a long work day to give such a detailed account of what happens on a CSA! I am a walnut farmer in rural northern California and have often wished I could run a market farm like yours. Reading your post gives me a better idea of the resources needed to make it happen. I got a lot out of it!
Aren’t we lucky to be farmers?!!
Oh, that’s great! I love that some of these posts can be a true resource for some. We ARE lucky to be farmers. I love my job and hope to keep it up for a long time. Is there any way we can get some of your walnuts? I’m kind of a walnut fiend!
Alex,
I’m so glad you wrote about this. I really enjoyed it. I don’t have a CSA as I have my own garden and to spare. But I’ve always kind of wondered about a CSA packing day! Those veggies look wonderful.
The most incredible part of your job is that you have Ava along with you. What a great experience you are providing her. And her friend Leila must be a sweetheart to help our with Ava! What great memories for her too.
Hugs,
– Dori, the Ranch Farmgirl –
Thanks, Dori. Packing day can be a big production–it’s hard to imagine how the farms that have hundreds (some have a thousand or more!!) of shares organize it all. I think many of them do one box at a time instead of one type of produce at a time like we do. And yes–I also think it is pretty incredible that Ava comes along with me. It wouldn’t be possible without Leila. I’d feel like I was neglecting Ava too much…but playing with friends while I’m preoccupied is great! Hugs to you and yours, as well.
I don’t know how you can I
Pick and take. Photos but your blog is always beautifully expressed a d. I enjoy it….seeing. you work as hard as. I do. For one person…..aNd give awAy my excess In exchange for things I can’t afford. This weem I gave. Away zucchini d got back on hand cream d some fruit from one person and loaf of. Italian bread from z other person anf some Keirig coffee a d lunch from a other. My garden is like having a FRIEND.WITH. BENEFITS.YOU. NEVER KNOW HOW YOU WILL. BE BLESSED.
Wow! Susana that is such a great bartering system. I miss days at the Farmer’s market and being able to do this. I’ll have my own little plot one day and it will be great fun to donate and barter with the excess! Thanks for sharing, as always.
We don’t have a CSA in our area but oh how nice it would be. I was raised on a farm in NE. where we grew much produce of which we canned, froze, jellied and jammed (jelly n jam was from the orchard). We rarely purchased from the super market, having “fresh” all year round was a huge treat and I miss it much. We do have Farmer’s Markets and we frequent them and that is nice. I so remember every day going to the gardens to harvest – peas one day, string beans the next, lettuce and the other greens along the way too – oh the tomatoes!!!! sweet corn and potatoes – goodness I haven’t had breakfast and all this food talk is making me hungry for a fresh vegie omelet (eggs from my sons chickens). Well thanks for the walk down memory lane and I do appreciate all the work you do – ain’t easy but so rewarding, body, mind n soul. God bless.
What amazing, vivid memories, Joan! Fresh, home grown veggies are SO tasty and good for our whole being. Thanks for sharing–hope your omelet was fantastic (but how could it not be?).
I devoured every detail of your post. So informative. It helps people appreciate the work involved. We used to grow massive amounts of carrots, planting them the first part of July so that we could cover them with straw for winter digging and they wouldn’t have grown too big. I remember one day in the winter when we were scrubbing them, the spray of water we were using was freezing everything as we worked. We looked like snowmen when we were done. Even our eye lashes were frozen white.
Your post is testament to how grateful we should be to those who feed us. It’s a tremendous amount of work. (Love the doll Ava is playing with:)
Thanks MaryJane! This isn’t even my intended post for today…rural internet is pretty great sometimes, as I’m sure you’re aware. However, I’m glad you got to read it! Farming in freezing temperatures definitely needs a hefty dose of good humors to make it worhtwhile–thanks for the vivid picture you’ve painted.
And isn’t that doll head hilarious!?! her farming friend, Leila, brings out the most hilarious toys to share with her. Great to hear from you, as always!
That is a LOT of work! When my mom and I ran a CSA, we didn’t scrub a darned thing. 🙂 Veggies that needed it got a rinse, but no more than that. We didn’t expect our veggies to look like the supermarket, and neither did our customers (thankfully!). We also had three “work days” or “farm visit days” when we’d put the kids to work helping to harvest potatoes. They didn’t mind the dirt, and worms, and loved turning the dirt with their hands to expose the potatoes. We would put them all in a big wire basket (about 4 foot by 4 foot with 5″ sides) and carry to the open and spray them off with a hose. We also weren’t great about weighing things, it was “a bag of this” and a “bunch of that.” We also included bouquets of wildflowers that I would go off and pick after we were done with veggies. We had about a dozen customers.