It’s autumn, a magical season for New England…falling leaves, pumpkins, and apple cider…oh my! Take a “Farmgirl road trip” with me, the Suburban Farmgirl, and head to a special local farm for some fresh apple pickin’!
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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”.
Hi Nicole! Oh I love apple pickin’ season in New England… We are fortunate to live in a place that looks like what so many can only imagine or travel to virtally… Your picks are darling… and how fun to have company all the way from Denmark! I’m ready to go get some apples now… thank you!
your blogging sis from the beach!
beach farmgirl Deb
Hey Deb! So true…I love the four seasons that New England offers! Can’t wait until we have a real show of fall foliage! Hugs, Nicole
Oh I have to get myself over to Silverman’s ASAP! I haven’t been there yet. My favorite way is to just eat apples out-of-hand, but I have to find a wonderful crock pot applesauce recipe that I used to make!
Hi Ali, Don’t forget that our Farmgirl Sisterhood chapter has a trip to the orchard planned! Hugs, Nicole
I really enjoyed your pictures. That place is beautiful. But most beautiful of all is the last picture of your daughter. She’s sweet.
Awww…thank you so much, Bonnie. I can’t get over how fast she is growing up! Seems like just yesterday we were watching that Elmo video I mentioned, now she is a fifth grader. Thanks for reading and commenting! – Nicole
I love freshly-picked apples and my favorite way to serve them is sliced and dipped in honey on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It’s the wish for a sweet new year that prompted a trip to the local farmers market for Granny Smith apples and star thistle honey, a new honey I’d never tried before. Yum!
Adrienne, I love different honey, too! I just received a jar of "Huckleberry Honey" from a farmgirl in Montana. So delicious! I’ve never tried thistle honey, either…sounds good! Thank you for reading and commenting! –Nicole
My first apple pie of the season just came out of the oven. Can’t wait to have a piece after supper tonight. Unfortunately, the apples are in short supply this year here in Minnesota due to a late frost and hail last Spring. Our favorite orchard thinks they will be out of apples by early October…so bummed!
Mmmm! Apple pie right out of the oven! Smells so good baking and tastes so yummy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Now you’ve got me thinking apple pie! Yum! Enjoy! Hugs, Nicole
Silverman’s Farm is my favorite place to visit. It brings back memories of family field trips and the smell of apples. They have the best pies in the market if you’re not up to baking your own.
Hi Rachelle, I agree, their pies are delish…and my daughter loves their huge cookies, too. Happy Fall! -Nicole
I really liked the blog…..wished we had a place like that down here in Texas…
Thank you! Apple picking is one our favorite seasonal things about this area. -Nicole
I really liked the blog…..wished we had a place like that down here in Texas…
Thank you! Apple picking is one our favorite seasonal things about this area. -Nicole
LOVE orchards, I grew up on a farm that had it ALL!!! so apple picking was one of our chores. Not on the farm any more but one of our neighbors has a dwarf apple tree in his front yard – this year it was loaded. Not being a farmer, he had no idea that he picked them a bit too early. He shared them with another neighbor and myself, I am giving them a little table time to see if they may get riper – what ya think can they still ripen after being picked early – well still trying and then will make some goodies with them – going to share some back with the ‘apple neighbor’. Orchard’s aren’t they kind of mystical?
I agree, Joan! My daughter and I always giggle when we are there, because we always think of the apple tree scene from the movie Wizard of Oz! As for the apples ripening after being picked, let me see if I can find that answer for you. Anyone out there know the answer? -Nicole
Hi Joan, I asked Irv at Silverman’s your question. He said that depending on the type of apple and how long it was left on the tree, they should ripen inside for you.
Nicole, I want to go there asap! You made it sound like so much fun! Your pictures are so good and I love the animals. In 2009 picture of Audrey, she looks like she is holding a "magic apple".
Love you,
Mother
We will definitely go next time you head here! – Nicole
Nicole, it sounds wonderful, thanks for getting me into the fall spirit.
Happy Fall, Mary Ann! -Nicole