I’m loopy about pumpkins. Well, actually, Autumn is the root of this love for ‘Her Royal OrangeNess’ ~ the undisputed Queen of the fall parade.
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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”.
This was a great time reading all you do in fall, was blessed to see what you did in spring. People do not have any idea what real cattle ranchers go threw to help put food on our table. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for another inspiring post! This afternoon I plan to bake a batch of the Chocolate Chip Pumpkin bread-it sounds so yummy.
Blessings to all,
Terri in NC
Ah another wonderful visit!! Love the pumpkin story, never had I looked into it or heard it – thanks. There is not a pumpkin around that I don’t see the beauty of it and the gourds, even the big knobby ones, they have grown on me. Love the picture of the velvet chenille stem pumpkins, going to have to try to make some of those beauties. Yes there is something special about being ‘quiet’ in a corralled heard, just a bit magical sitting atop a horse looking onto the backs of God’s creatures. A lot of work being a rancher but the joy is there too. I too have been praying for all the ranchers so badly hit by the blizzard. Fortunately I live by a pretty good sized pond with grasses surrounding it, so am privileged to see the fowl, flying in and out, ahhh the wonders of God!! I wish you a Happy Fall on this very cold Fall morn. God Bless
Good Morning From the Frosty Ozarks,
Your recipes sound so divine today, thanks for sharing them.
Our home fires are burning this morning, made loaves of Sweet Potato
Pecan bread to share this week.
Loved your pictures today, I hope you don’t mind if I copy your beautiful
wreath today for my holiday door, it is so lovely and full of fall.
Happiness to you from Noel Mo, Diana
Shery, always wait anxiously for your post! Love them all. Thanks for educating the rest of us about cattle ranching. And thanks, also, for the recipes, but pumpkin is missing from the ingredients in the Pumpkin chocolate chip bread. I’m wanting to make some, so would appreciate knowing how much pumpkin. The stuffed pumpkin sounds very intriguing too.
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OOOOOooooPs! So sorry! You need ONE 15 oz can. Shery J
I am especially grateful for fall this year, as it has been a hot and fiery year in my area. And I am also glad I am not in the snow! Cool this year is in the mid-80’s, high 70’s! That aside, the great oak (well over one hundred years old) is dropping her harvest of acorns. By spring I will literally have a thousand little oak trees in every planter, pot, spot of dirt to share with friends. Over the years the oak tree drops an exceptionally large amount of acorns and this is one of those years. Our neighbors down the road have a great corn maze and pumpkin patch and although California’s seasonal changes are not as dramatic as some states, I can still smell the fall in the air. It is a good time of year. Thanks for your thoughts and letting me bend your ear for a while. Blessings in all of your endeavors.
Loved reading your post again! I am going to try the pumpkin bread recipe with the chocolate chips. thanks for sharing.
Shery,
I made the chocolate chip pumpkin bread today using my own cooked pumpkin. It is fabulous! Thank you so much for the inspiring blog.
This is a wonderful post…you shared so much as always, I can see your generous heart in your posts. I grew up in Nebraska on a small farm…beef, corn, wheat etc…I now live in PA on a small sheep farm that my husband and I started for our kids for 4-H, anyways I took for granted the cow calf operation my Dad ran and did not enjoy it like I should have when growing up, so it is good to see a post that celebrates that! And the pumpkin part, O’ my, so many good ideas. I think I will try the pumpkin butter soon. I would love to see more pics and stories about your Corgi! God Bless!
Hi Sheri, These pictures are fantastic!!
Happy Fall