When an issue of MaryJanesFarm arrives, I can’t wait to read it! I’ll browse, go back, and finally devour it page-by-page. One favorite feature is MaryJane’s column “Seven Wonders”. This post has seven little changes I’ve done that are often overlooked.
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Debbie Bosworth
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.’”
Rebekah Teal
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.
Cathi Belcher
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
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.
Mary Murray
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.”
Alexandra Wilson
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!
Nicole Christensen
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”.
Thank you for sharing. I already ordered the gum
Hi Sandy! Enjoy! I’ve tried all of the flavors (we like them all, but our favorite is the bubblegum and the berry. Farmgirl hugs, Nicole
Thanks for the great article. Give been slowly trying to use more natural things in my house and reading these types of blogs are so helpful.
Hi Angie! That is exactly how we changed everything. It takes time, but eventually we have found more natural replacements for almost everything. It’s also helpful that more and more companies and stores are taking notice and going back to the basics. Thanks for reading and commenting! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Thanks for this great article. One thing I would like to add (my pet peeve): Stop using dryer sheets. Either use the sun to hang your clothes out to dry OR put 4-5 used tennis balls in your dryer with the load of wet clothes. They will bounce around and completely soften your clothes better than those chemical sheets with the toxic perfumes in them. The chemicals in them are disastrous for your health despite their ubiquitous use in the U.S. Some friends didn’t believe that tennis balls could possibly work — until they tried it for themselves, and now they’re hooked. No more chemical dryer sheets.
Hi Sippie, I totally agree! That is such a great idea! I will pick up some tennis balls (that haven’t previously been in my dog’s mouth). I also find vinegar in the rinse cycle helps soften my clothes, won’t disturb the absorbency of my towels (like dryer sheets and chemical softeners do), and keeps dark clothes from fading or running. Thanks for reading, and for adding your great tip! – Nicole
Homemade breads, yogurt, pastas, growing our own salad mixes in cold frames all year long,
toothpaste with baking soda and peroxide, even a glass of apple juice with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar for arthritis are what we are using now days to get out of the
store bought chemicals and into better health. We try to do everything homemade here at our house in the Ozarks, its so much fun and so much healthier too. Thanks for all the grand ideas this morning, it gives me a little nudge to dig deeper into a healthier lifestyle……~hugs~ Diana, Noel, Mo.
Hi Diana, I so agree, it’s fun. I also think that when we change one thing, we realize it isn’t that hard to keep going and change other, less healthy things. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Good for you! There are vegetarians and vegans in the San Francisco Bay Area who have been promoting natural and organic for years. We’re not aging hippies either, although we do espouse some of the same ideals. Always read the ingredients on the labels of anything you purchase including towels, linens and clothing. Coca Cola recently announced it was removing the chemical flame retardant from their American production by the end of 2014 even though it has been banned in Japan and other countries. Sigh. Keep on being diligent, spread the word, support your local agricultural community and your family’s health. And enjoy nutritional yeast on your homemade popcorn! 😉
Hi Adrienne! At one point of time, everything anyone ate was natural and organic. I am glad that my daughter’s generation will be more informed and have the opportunity to make (and demand) better choices. Things simply can’t continue the way they have in past years, with companies using more and more unwholesome and chemically treated foods and products. We noticed long ago that some of the same products (with the same labels or company names) have different ingredients here than the ones on the store shelves in Denmark. If other countries can keep some of the bad things out of a product and still offer it for sale, why can’t we? So frustrating. On a happier note, it is always good to hear from you here! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
I’m a lot more aware of what’s in my food and other consumables than I used to be, but I still have a long way to go. I grew up on a farm in the 60’s and it seemed that we raised, grew or made everything we used. I would love to get back to that again and I’m trying. Thanks for the nudge to do more.
Hi Rebecca, lucky you, growing up on a farm! It does takes some effort to replace what we use with natural and organic items, but it is possible. Luckily everyday, consumers have more and more choices these days. Thanks for commenting! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
And I love your handwashing station…I’m going to make one of those today.
So many great ideas!! I too read MJF the same way – and then when I am through reading it – I go back through and flag all the ideas that mean something to me.
Thanks for you message. God Bless.
Thanks, Joan! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole