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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.’”
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.
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 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.
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.”
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!
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”.
I love your energy !! Thanks, Deb, for your inspiration. I have loads to do, inside and out. Have to clean and prepare upstairs bedroom of #1 son for #2 son. (#1 son is in guest room as a transition from community college to "sleep-away"). And all my outside gardens need cleaning and transplanting. It’s rainy today in North East, so may have to make progress on inside first !! Thanks again, for the "kick in the pants" Lol. Your decorations and flower arrangements are gorgeous…
Happy Fall Laura! Well, thanks.. Yes, still loads to do but all in good time right?
Enjoy and have fun! Thanks for reading! xo Deb
Everything is looking so pretty at your place, Deb. I’m working on it here too. It seems like it is taking me longer this year to get my *fall* on. I decorated in front of the chicken house first…lol….glad to know I am in good company here who understands that:) Autumn Blessings, Raynita
Hey Raynita! Thanks so much! It’s taken me a bit too as far as full out decorating goes due to all the painting. Hey, it’s officially fall once the hen henhouse is decorated and that’s done so we could quit right now and call it good! I know I won’t though! LOL! Just enjoy…xo Deb
Lovely as always~ We have has such a wonderful Indian Summer here! Fallish mornings, and summertime days. The tomatoes are happy, as am I, as I didn’t want to have to make green tomato relish this year! Happy Autumn to you my friend!
Hello dear Julia! So great to hear from you… Sounds like fall has arrived in true western fashion… slow, warm and beautiful just how I rememer it! Enjoy it all!
xo Deb
Lots of things happening at your house, mercy me! And, I’ll be over for the pumpkin spiced latte!!
I was finally able to clean my house and get my fall decorations out and that was such a pleasureable thing to do!!
Things are cooling off and since our irrigation water has been turned off we no longer can irrigation so we don’t have to drag hoses all over the property and I have stopped mowing the lawn. The only flowers I have doing well now are snapdragons and they are lovely! Also a bit of "blanket flower".
September finds me still very busy sewing aprons and doing papercraft items for the last couple months of our Farmers Market season which flows right into a Fall craft fair the end of October and a Christmas Bazaar the 1st of December. So I’ll be sewing for a couple more months. . . aprons to be made!
I love fall for the cooler temps, the scents, sounds and "feel" of fall . . LOVE IT!
CJ
Hi CJ! WOW! You’ve got it goin’ on at your place too! Oh, I bet you’ve been having fun at the Farmers Market and with all of your sewing too! All good fall stuff! My snapdragons are still blooming too.. I think they like it a bit cooelr as well. You’re a FALL FARMGIRL for sure! Thanks so much for your note! xo Deb
Aren’t we all just such busy farmgirls – lists – always with the lists but they do help keep me together. Yard winterizing – got it started and then after no rain for months – we got rain – YEA!! so back inside I came – had decided to get at the Fall cleaning & decorating – WHEN – I got a surprise – don’t know why but the builder decided to carpet the bathroom & closet – not what I had ordered – SO this week it has all been put to how I had envisioned – YEA!! but that meant EVERYTHING out/off the walls – so lots to do there – now today it was dust EVERYTHING and put it right – a bit more to go because of course I decided some ‘getting items on to the thrift store’ was necessary. During the install, I got busy with some repainting needed in the great room and the kitchen – ahhh much better – got back out to do more fix’n outside. NOW the next task – starting tomorrow – is to completely void the great room of all items – having wood laid in about a week – so my Fall decorating will mostly be Thanksgiving but feel so blessed to be getting the floors we had wanted. Thanks Deb for confirming that LISTS are just part of living. I pray that your Aunt is doing much better and will continue to improve.
Hi Joan! We sure are…Oh boy, you’ve got some fun ahead once your new floors are down… perfect fall project.. Just in time for the holidays! Lots of work, but worth it… It will be so cozy! thanks so much for sharing your list and the prayers… My Aunt is doing well and is cancer free right now!
xo Deb
Love the burlap curtains, Deb! Cute, Cute, Cute! We’re busy over here decking out for fall, too! Love this time of year! Happy Fall! Your bloggin’ sis, Nicole (Suburban Farmgirl Blogger)
Hey Nicole! Thanks sister! Look forward to seeing your fall flourishes too!
Happy ( New England Fall ) to you!
xo Deb
I heard a couple of guys talking about this in the New York subway so I looked it up online and found your page. Thanks. I thought I was right and you confirmed my thoughts. Thanks for the work you’ve put into this. I’d love to save this and share with my friends.