So, I don’t know. This is one of the things I struggle with.
Big Time.
Am I tough enough to live on a farm?
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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”.
When I run into black snakes…I don’t kill them..I relocate them. Now I can kill a snake that is threatening my animals….(think cute little chicks) but mostly the benefits outweigh the annoyances. I catch ’em put ’em in a big bucket and move them about 2 miles away by a creek. But then I am not afraid of snakes…just don’t like to be surprised by them. I can’t kill chickens either…but that doesn’t mean you are soft…we just aren’t hungry enough here in the good old USA.
You’re so funny and honest! Meat is supposed to come wrapped in cellophane and Styrofoam! Right? My husband big game hunts and the closest I come to any of the butchering is wrapping after it’s all done. I don’t want to see anything with it’s head and feet still on, and clean the fish at the lake. It has to lose it’s personality, like the prepackaged stuff from the store, before it crosses the threshold.
I must have blanched when I was at the wool market. I love to spin yarn and one of the vendors was selling sheep as well as fiber. I said my HOA didn’t allow them when asked if I wanted to purchase one. "Not to keep, to eat" was the response I got. I looked at that little sheep face and ran in the other direction.
I too am a marshmallow when it comes to animals. It’s a good club to belong to.
Oh my dear ‘farm girl’ friend – having, living on a farm is different for each of us – each farm setting is different so each farm girl is too. You will make it Rebekah’s (of Sunny Brook) for sure. I am proud of you for doing this. God Bless and hope the move is spot on.
Don’t worry! My family and I raise Hereford Cattle and I am exactly the kind of farmgirl you are going to be- caring for animals and the land, and making the best life for my family I can!
Like my granddaughter says, "you will find your groove." This is very true. It is a little frightening leaving familiar territory behind and moving on to something new. I have done that a couple of times, once when moving out of state following a divorce, and then several years later after my children were all grown and on their own, deciding to move to Hawaii because I had wanted to experience life in the tropics for a while. It is a little scary leaving family behind and striking out on one’s own, but it is an experience I will cherish always. I learned, however, I am not the tropical type–missed the changing seasons too much, and I missed my family, so after 10 years of living in Hawaii, I moved back to the mainland to be closer to children and grandchildren. And, I have found my "groove" so to speak and you will too.
Good for you, Rebekah! I’m looking forward to reading your stories about the crops you grow, the recipes you create from milk and eggs, the fun you’re having redecorating, and the critters you rescue.
Wow, this was like reading about me!
No worries, you’ll be fine. Remember, it’s your life, no one else’s.
I live on a small ranch in southern AZ and have had to do so many things I never thought I would do, or could do, but who else would do them? To care for my animals and myself, I’ve had to be tough on myself so that we would be safe and comfortable. It’s good to know my limits, yet I know that my limits will be pushed back as my life continues in this chapter. I am a tenderhearted cowgirl who has had to kill critters and put down beloved animal friends, who cries when I do it and who asks for forgiveness, and then does the hard thing I must do. My heart goes out to you, new farmergirl. You’ll be fine and as tough as you need to be.
Closing the door and opening a new one is exciting!
Years ago we packed up our 3 and 5 yr. old, sold all we had and left the city to move to the mountains of Montana.
No job, no home, we just left.
I think back on it now, almost 30 yrs. later and think of how crazy we were, but we were determined to leave the crime and grime of the city and head into the mountains to raise our kids.
We did just that, bought a 100 yr. old farmhouse, hunted, fished, learned to garden, can, bake bread, make yogurt, made homemade Christmases and lived the best life.
No regrets at all, our children are grown and have families of their own, once again living in the big city, but talk of their childhood with a sweetness
and love for it.
May all your dreams come true…..hugs….Diana Henretty
I’m with you. I’ve lived in Los Angeles my entire life, moved to Texas 6 years ago and now moving to our 5+ acre farm in rural North Texas. All my family is in Santa Barbara so they’re a 4 hour plane ride away. I will have everykind of animal, but butchering them, I can’t do that either. I have 24 chicks and 8 keets in my bathroom right now, we’re moving to our farm in two weeks, still fixing up the farm house and I’m working on the coop!! I grew up with my Bama Grandparents so I’m a cowgirl at heart… just have to get used to all the country thingy’s…. 🙂 Good Luck, I know I’ll need it!
Hi Rebekah! I have been following you for quite a while now & I must tell you how much I love your posts! Love the recipes too~~~really good~~~thanks for sharing:0). The move to your wonderful farm will be the beginning of another chapter in the diary of your life journey. And~~~you ARE tuff enuff! I agree with your feelings about animals~~~I have some & they are family~~~they have names & personalities & we love them. My husband & I live on seven acres of land that is mostly dry & dull in Arizona but, we have taken step by step for the last five years building a dream. My dream that my husband has gladly joined me in fulfilling. Our home,the chicken coop,the garden,the herb bed,the planting of trees & on & on. There is nothing like it!! I was born in Chicago but half of me is pure Southern red dirt girl, my Daddy’s family came from cotton mill workers. The family home had a huge garden & my grandma put up everything~~~! The turning point for me came when MaryJane’s Farm magazine appeared before my eyes & I KNEW exactly where I belonged~~~pure & simple. I am so happy with my life & I said all of this to say to you~~~~buckle on your red maryjanes & tie on your cutest apron & give your family & your new home all the love, joy,& heartfelt care you have inside you. You are a Farmgirl!!
XOXO,
Linda (sister #971)
Rebekah, The move away from what you’ve known will be the harder part. Adjusting to soooo much that is new — yea, it’ll be a challenge, no doubt about it. Yet, I betchya every day will bring blessings that are just as fresh and different as your new life. They will be blessings that you would not see in any other way.
I’m a rancher’s wife. I’m not tuff – at least I don’t see myself that way. I have butchered chickens with a friend before. Couldn’t cook a chicken for about 6 months after that. Hated every gruesome minute of it. Not doing anything like it again unless I am starving. I have killed foxes that slaughtered my beloved hens. Trust me, it wasn’t that hard to do after witnessing the carnage. If you gotta, a person can bristle up in a heartbeat and take care of what needs to be done. Don’t under estimate the deep reservoir within. You don’t really have to be any tougher in this sort of life than in any other lifestyle … it is just a different set of circumstances and you’ll adjust just like someone moving to the city from the country.
Milkcow. It is like marrying again. If you think a man and children are a committment, square that if you have a milkcow. You can have friends watch your dog or cat. You can even have neighbors watch over chickens, horses and other small livestock in your absence. But, precious few are the people nowadays that know how to milk and do the follow- up required … every day of every week during the time of you that you might like to go places, vacation & such. My farmgirl pal has a milkcow. She can go overnight somewhere and her husband could. But not together … ever … not from the time the cow calves (April) until November. One of them has top be home so that the cows are milked every day.
You can enjoy as much of the farmgirl life as fits your personality and family. Have fun and make your own trail. Shery
Rebekah I totally understand your issues here. I would love to have the same opportunity you and your family now have to move to a farm and I share the same feelings you have toward animals. I respect the farmers and ranchers that deal with what it takes to slaughter the meat we eat. I couldn’t do it, on the other hand I have never had to do it so it isn’t in me.
I lived in Puerto Rico for 8 years when I was in my early 20’s. They make a home made chicken soup called Asopao (I’m sure spelled that wrong… sorry) but it includes the feet. I know it is more nutritious and healthy to eat a home grown chicken, but I couldn’t eat something that when I called it came running like a puppy would come when called. They tried to tell me it was store bought chicken….hmmmm, really? Feet and all? Just couldn’t do it.
On the other hand I am sure there are avenues open where slaughter would not be a necessity. From chickens come eggs. From milk cheese, milk, cream… from sheep come wool… (but then of course you already know that… lol) No matter which way you go there will be hard work, but there is satisfaction in hard work. I hope you find your nitch! Plus, you always have your camera as well. Go hunting with that and write a book filled with the wonderful pictures of renovating your loved farm.
Don’t forget the cats to take care of your mice and a farm dog to help with the other critters… lol
Good luck! I’m sure you and your family will do fine.
Tammie
"You wiLL find your Groove"…i lika that !!! And you wiLL, just be who u r, u r adorable and funfunny too !!! The Farm is AweSome, what a GrandPlace…Have Fun, thanks for letting us n on "Your Groove"…LOL
donna d FL
You are a better woman than I. I grew up in West Virginia with 4 rooms and a "path". I could not get away from it fast enough when the time came. My kind of ideal living would be pink lemonade, a shade tree and a good book. Camping is OUT for me. Hubby and son dragged me through that experience years ago. I ended up going to a nearby motel while they finished their experience "in the wild"! … Different strokes…..
That’s me to a tee. I never could kill an animal. I take spiders and bugs out via a cup and paper to the outdoors. I could raise chickens for eggs, but not to eat (the chickens, I mean). My Mother did that for years when we moved away from the farm (though she had killed them previously) and lived near a lake. She raised cochin hens as well as anacondas which lay small eggs (green in the case of anacondas) which we loved as did my boys when they were growing up. Chickens are a wonderful group of beings alive and clucking or crowing. Have fun being yourself.
Echoing your words! I have the opposite question of yours – I’m moving from my small farm to suburbia. Scary! Am I tough enough to handle close in neighbors, traffic, light pollution, and noise? Add to that the 1/3 acre expanse of lawn with just a few rose bushes and six small trees, no chicken roost, no garden plot, only lawn, sprinklers, vinyl fence, cement patio and a shed. I’ve been reading up on the practice of permaculture and envision a yard alive and buzzing and tweeting and shading. Big plans for a small space. Like you this can be overwhelming, but I’m starting small and creating one usable corner, near the front door, pretty and editable and bug and bird friendly. One corner at a time and over the years a lush retreat. I may even sneak in a few chickens a bee hive or two and some angora rabbits. Here’s to change, adventure, and courage to built our dreams where ever life takes us. (ps- a company move took us from wet, cool, cloudy Oregon to sunny, dry Utah)
When I was little my family and my Aunt & Uncle and their family was camping up north at Jones Lake, Mich. My dad and uncle went fishing and my dad was cleaning a female fish for when he cut it open it was full of eggs and I about threw up! Than a few years later my dad was at the local Eagles club and they was roasting a whole pig and it had its head still and I about got sick again! But I do kill bugs..sorry but don’t want them in my house. I have taken care of dead mice in a mouse trap. Also I can give you a foot story aslo. My friends and I was running around the driveway jumping in mud puddles and I stepped on a garden rake and had to go get a tentnus shot! Boy that ruined my summer! No more doing that or swimming till it was healed! So just grow what you want, raise the animals for what you want, just do it your way.
Becka,Oh How funny!I had to laugh,last night,I went to my farm directly after work,in a long cotton skirt,I did not have time,I thought to change,I had to feed one of my goats,and he got loose and ran wild,here I was trying to chase a goat in a ankle length skirt,boer goats eat down to stubs,and leave stubs u can fall on,well,I fell,luckly I was able to get up in time before he ramed me,it took se3veral atemps to get a rope back on him,luckly a male friend showed up!It took time,but,after I got him back into the pen,I walked over to a peach tree and picked him several peaches,as I did that,I got sticktites all over the bottom of my skirt!It will take hours to remove hundreds of sticktites all from the skirt by hand,or,I will have to just throw it in the trash!Daddy laughed at me,and said told ya so!but,I learned a lesson,that I allready knew,and had forgotton!Your so right,I could of gotton hurt so easily,and I wonder myself,am I tough enough!It was so hot last night too!I wondered too,what the heck am I trying to do,wrangling a goat in one hundred degree heat!This morning,I was talking bout this in the salon and my ladies were just a laughin,and just think they said ,one hundred years ago,women wore those long dresses all of the time,and I bet they picked a lot of sticktites off too!,have a great day! carol branum,Lamar MO.
Good Luck with your move Rebekah! This type of life change takes a lot of courage and a lot of love. Luckily you have plenty of both to see you through it. I am looking forward to hearing about all of your adventures as you settle in.
Sharon
ME too. I could never do the animal thing either. There was a black snake on our porch last week. I sent my husband out to do battle with it. He lost but the snake left about an hour later. I was absolutely frozen with fear. Now, I look carefully when I am in my front yard garden near the house for fear he is there. Hopefully, Jim annoyed him enough with the 1×2 that he’ll think twice before coming back. Can’t deal with snakes, couldn’t deal with killing animals or fishing. Just wanted you to know you are not alone farm girl. I’m suburban farm girl. Love the country just not sure I can deal with what goes with it.