It’s so hard to believe that summer is almost over, at least by the calendar, but it’s not over yet. As I mentioned before, it’s been a weird summer weatherwise. However, there’s still some summer to be had!
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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”.
Love your posts. I wrote out a comment but it was too long because captcha timed out. Anyway, it looks like you enjoyed a lovely summer despite the rain. Thanks for making me smile this morning and for the wonderful recipe. Going to try it using almond flour and monk fruit.
Hugs!
Denise
Hi Denise, thank you! Your variation on my recipe sounds so good! Drop me a line and let me know how it turns out! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Sure will!
I’m originally from Maine and love reading about your trips you have made. Brings “home” closer to me. Thank you for your stories and recipes. Have to try the chocolate chip zucchini bread.
Hi Maureen, aww, that makes me happy that you feel that way about my blog. I love Maine; I have been there a few times and it is just beautiful. Enjoy the recipes! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Hi Nicole Enjoy the remaining days of Summer. Those peaches are beautiful.
Joan,Marion and Marilyn
Hi Joan, Marion and Marilyn! Hope you all enjoy your remaining bit o’ summer, too! Weren’t those peaches amazing? They tasted as good as they looked. Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Nicole,
What a cute picture of your pup in the raincoat. Thanks for sharing your sightseeing pictures and information with us. They were all interesting places to go to.
Where did summer go?
Debbie
Hi Deb, I hear ya! I feel the same way, that summer just disappeared! I think here it got warm so late, and then it just rained and rained and rained! Oh well – I am looking forward to fall! Thanks for reading and commenting! Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole
Hey, Nicole! Love this post. I’m saving your recipe for the Cherry quick bread. I love eating quick bread for breakfast. And I love cherries! I’ve never been to Sturbridge but I’ve visited Colonial Williamsburg during an extremely hot August. I also wondered how the re-enactors stood the heat in the period clothes they wore. I also thought about the summer in Philadelphia when the Founding Fathers were hammering out the Constitution. That summer was a doozy. Hazy, very hot, and very humid-Philadelphia weather to be sure. And in order to keep the prying eyes of newsy-boxes from peeking the windows of the room where they worked in Independence Hall were covered with dark heavy drapes which I can’t imagine working in that kind of situation without central air conditioning. I also love your photos.
Hi Marge! It is so lovely to hear from you! I hope you are doing well! Thank you – I am so glad you enjoyed this post. I have never been to Colonial Williamsburg just yet, but it is on my list of places I want to visit. And oh my! I did not know that about the Constitution and Founding Fathers. The older I get, the more I can’t handle the heat, even though I grew up in super hot, super humid Texas. I am worried about my family right now, as yesterday temps soared once again to 110 degrees! Today, here, it is rainy (again) and cool enough to not have the a/c (for now, that may change by the afternoon). Big Farmgirl Hugs, Nicole