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.”
Column contents © Mary Murray. All rights reserved.
Farmgirl
is a condition
of the heart.
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!
Column contents © Alexandra Wilson. All rights reserved.
Libbie Zenger
Previous Rural Farmgirl,
June 2010 – Jan 2012
Libbie’s a small town farmgirl who lives in the high-desert Sevier Valley of Central Utah on a 140-year-old farm with her husband and two darling little farmboys—as well as 30 ewes; 60 new little lambs; a handful of rams; a lovely milk cow, Evelynn; an old horse, Doc; two dogs; a bunch o’ chickens; and two kitties.
René Groom
Previous Rural Farmgirl,
April 2009 – May 2010
René lives in Washington state’s wine country. She grew up in the dry-land wheat fields of E. Washington, where learning to drive the family truck and tractors, and “snipe hunting,” were rites of passage. She has dirt under her nails and in her veins. In true farmgirl fashion, there is no place on Earth she would rather be than on the farm.
That is indeed a very happy place and your colorful flowers love the attention from the sun, rain and you. The New England admonition of "Provide, provide" is in full swing for you, I bet: planning for fall and winter, canning veggies and fruit, and preparing for the holidays (yep, Halloween is coming sooner than expected followed by Thanksgiving and Christmas). This year, Hannukah begins on Thanksgiving, bringing another reason for gatherings of family and friends. Woohoo!
Hi Adrienne!
True indeed, harvest season is upon us and the nesting instinct is strong here in New England. We’ve got to prepare for hurricane season which begins in late September and long, cold winters that follow. I’m already dreaming of baking my first apple and pumpkin pies! Thanks for reading and the visit! xo Deb
I agree–zinnias are my favorite flower–so bright and easy to grow. The night stand looks nice, too.
Thanks so much Nancy! xo Deb
Good Day from the Ozarks,
We too have noticed the change in the air here in Missouri, its come to us 3 times in August, so rare for these parts, we are usually hot and miserable, and over 100 outside.
But this year is so different, lots of rain came our way, which brought us lots of weeds and grass in our gardens, and many gifts of vegies too.
You can smell the change, the cooler winds, even colder nights, and sitting on the front porch is a real treat to watch it all arrive!
Hugs from the Ozarks, Diana, Noel, Mo
Hi Diana! Great you can get some porch sit’n in this month!
Enjoy! xo Deb
What an amazing job you did on the nightstand!
And your flowers are so beautiful; dahlias and zinnias are among my favorite flowers too.
Thanks for the "lift up" today!
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen!
Thank so much for the visit! xo Deb
Thank you for sharing your garden and your thoughts. The zinnias are stunning. Iʻm not much of a gardener but Iʻm learning. My tomatoes are going gang busters now. I just have to keep my oldest wienerdog out of the garden. He eats green veggies! Each year I try to grow pumpkins for the grandkids. Mmmn, I see the little darlings start on the vine, then, whoosh, disappear. Just caught the little bugger snatching one! does any other sister have this problem?
I haven’t had much luck with pumpkins in my garden either so I’m not much help for you, but I love the image of your little wienerdog out in the garden munching away! Thanks for reading ! xo Deb
I love your flowers! They are so beautiful!! You did such a good job painting your new booth!
Thanks so much Jaimey! xo Deb
Your flower show was like a 4th of July display!
What a transformation that little butter yellow commode[?] underwent. She’s totally chic now.
Max is a Corgi cover-boy…so photogenic. ;o)
As always, your blog is a piece of sunshine.
Howdy Shery! So great to hear from you! I fell in love with my little yellow commode! It was hard to let her go! LOL I think we should start a magazine for max titled DQ… Dog’s Quarterly… after the well known GQ… Gentlemen’s Quarterly! LOL! Happy golden September to you my dear! xo Deb
it so nice to see the flowers again! lol I live in a Pensacola Florida suburb and we’ve had rain for the entire month of Jul, and most of August now. Very little sun. My poor flowers bloom, then the next day the blooms are washed away by the rain. So sad. Good to see the colors of summer that I am missing right now. Here’s to hoping September will be sunny and dry! Cheers!
Hi Tina! We’ve had a funny summer weather wise too… lots of sprinkles here too. I feel like I have to run out and cut my flowers before the rain comes so they don’t all fall to the ground! And, more bugs than usual as well. My morning glories are chewed up by something, not sure what and my tomatoes are just now starting to ripen. Every year is different in the garden isn’t it? Wishing you a sunny September! xo Deb
Deb, Everything is just beautiful…I love love love the nightstand, it is going to really set things off at the Burlap and Bling, I know it won’t be there long before someone snatches it up..I am still going to come up that way visiting, maybe sometime next year, me and my sweetie will take a glamping trip that way.Love ya, keep that beautiful smile and Be Blessed! Neta
Howdy Neta! So great to hear from you… If you come glamping up our way, look into staying at the Bourne Scenic Park. It’s right along the Cape Cod Canal. Very pretty, with walking trails and access to Cape Cod if you are inclined to take a day trip! Keep me posted!!! Love ya, Deb
Deb, your garden is a ray of sunshine even on a cloudy day! All of the flowers are so beautiful, but I have to say that the peachy pink zinnia gets my vote as a favorite! Do you sell the seeds?
The wash stand/night stand is stunning in the pale yellow. I can see it in a room with flowered wallpaper and lace curtains. Keep up the good work!
Pam
Hi Pam! Oh, I love your vision for the wash stand/nightstand! I want to sleep in that room! Maybe some MJF organic bedding to go with it too! I’ll see if I can save you some seeds from the peach zinnia and send you some! Thanks for the note!
xo Deb
Those mutated zinnias really intrigued me. What fun
Hi Kristy! It’s actually the dahlias that have the color mutation and the zinnia that looks like them! They are amazing aren’t they? Thanks for the note! xo Deb