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 grew up with salmon patties too. Love them! Swimming upstream is the stuff of life, work those muscles girl!
My Mom made salmon patties for us when we were growing up, even though we grew up in Indiana, and I don’t like them. And, like you, I only had salmon and tuna from a can as a child too. And I didn’t like either of them! I like tuna salad, but not salmon patties. And I wonder why we don’t make salmon salad and tuna patties. We just don’t. And to this day I didn’t know about that gunk wrapped around the salmon because I do not make or eat those patties. So thanks for that visual because it just reinforces my original decision to not eat them! But I do eat ‘real’ salmon not from a can!
As for swimming upstream. I feel like I’m doing it now, building our own house. I just want it done and want to move.
Cindy Bee
Love salmon patties, so yummy! Make these often. I brown in butter and add a squeeze of lemon juice when eating. And serve with steamed vegies.
I love salmon patties too. One time when I was at my brothers we baked a whole salmon amd the next day I made salmon patties and he said the patties were better than the baked.
My mom always made Salmon patties when I was a little girl. I loved them! When I got married I was horrified when I dumped the contents of the can out and saw all the bones and skin too! I asked my mom what to do. Well she told me to pick out the big bones. Well I picked and picked and ended up with mothing left. She never told me I could mash them up and that I wouldn’t choke on them. I wasted several expensive cans of red sockeye Salmon doing this so I want to tell you thank you, thank you, thanky you for telling me how to deal with canned Salmon!!! I can’t wait till my next trip to the store and I will be in heaven eating my Salmon patties this Friday! God bless!
I love Salmon patties, with ketchup! Like you I grew up eating them and didn’t realize salmon came in any other form than from a can!
I did not realize that some folks don’t like these. Just thought everyone would love them. made them. for company once! Big Mistake. you don’t notice the smell when you are used to it. Swimming up-stream is just what you do when you wake up in the morning and wonder what the day has in store for you. happy swimming.
I’m in. Guess what we’re having for dinner. I needed an idea and I’ve not made salmon patties for about as long as you’re husband hasn’t eaten them. My mama made them too. I guess I just forgot about it. Here is another way to eat them…maybe the difference between north and south? Make a smooth cheese sauce, serve with cooked carrots, broccoli and cauliflower and then drizzle the sauce over the whole works. Great point to your story and using salmon as encouragement for swimming upstream was perfect. Just watch out for them big ole bears. ;o)
My husband lived in Alaska and watched these salmon- they die. The patties or filets are both good. However I would say some battles are worthwhile and some have been very very not worthwhile.
Like you I only had Salmon from a can until I was an adult and like you my mother made salmon patties. My boyfriend is French and I have not even TRIED to serve them to him!! But like you and your daughter, I love them!!
Thanks for the remembers!!
My mom made salmon patties a lot when I was a kid and I despised them, because my dad had determined that they had to have Cheez Whiz on top to be any good. So mom always made them smothered in hot Cheez Whiz – blech! (The other thing they ate that way was something my mom called Tuna Whirls – don’t ask!) Once I discovered that Cheez Whiz was not a requirement, I learned to like them. My husband looooves them. He makes a huge batch and eats them cold in his lunch all week long.
Oh my goodness, I have been wanting Salmon Patties for a while now!! I grew up eating them also.
BTW…..LOVE this blog. I am a country girl and have been living in the city for some 23 years now. We are a military family and everywhere I go, I take a little country with me.
Will surely be making some this week!! Thanks for the reminder.
I have grown up in the south, Tennessee. My mom made salmon patties for us too. Her receipe is a little different. She would use left over mashed potatoes, egg, flour, salt (if needed)and of course salmon. Fried till golden brown and drained on paper towels. Loved them then love them now. So does my children and grandchildren. They are also good cold the next day. My sisters and I would hurry home from school to see who would get to the leftover patties first. I love your blog and all of the memories you bring back.
Love me some Salmon patties, although here in Georgia we call them Salmon Croquettes! Had them for a birthday lunch a few day ago from the Colonnade in Atlanta, GA….Lawsy mercy, they were good!
Salmon patties and "Oh lawzy". You’re a true southerner for sure!
Well, good grief. What about crab cakes? Those things you pay $12 each for as an appetizer in a restaurant? Same thing as Salmon patties, just a different fish… er, crustacean… er, animal.
I love fish/ocean-animal cakes of any kind. In fact, I just made salmon patties a few days ago. I served them with homemade tartar sauce, but I also like lemon wedges. Not biscuits and gravy. That’s for chicken. Cornbread goes with fish. With lots of butter.
I am swimming upstream, trying to get my book finished. Every word fights me, refusing to be put down on the page. Sometimes it takes an hour to write one sentence. I’ll try being a salmon. Maybe I’ll get a whole chapter done.
Oh I love salmon patties! I’m a northerner and my mom made salmon patties or salmon loaf. I haven’t had them in a long time and my mom died and I am glad you talked about this and have the recipe too!
You made my mouth water for salmon patties now! I haven’t had them in several years but with our unseasonably warm weather we have the windows open. Good time to make them and chase the smell out with air freshener. I love them but they do leave a lingering scent behind….
I like salmon patties pretty good, my son however loves them. So whenever he is around I make a batch. We like to eat ours with mustard. I actually baked them this time with a little olive oil and they turned out just as good as the fried ones. I put chopped onion, celery, bellpepper, garlic powder, red pepper flakes in mine. (I am originally from LA) need I say more? LOL. As far as the farm I was just thinking yesterday about you and your farm and thinking man if this deal does not go through I can’t wait to hear the great news about what God has for her. Because it will be better if this is not it. It is a win win situation. Keep swimming and keep blogging.
I am a Yankee, born and bred, now living in the South, but I grew up on salmon patties too. In fact, I made them for myself last night while my hubby was out of town! He also has not developed a "hankering" for them. Great story of survival against the odds.
I love Salmon Patties! I make mine with crushed saltine cracker crumbs, you can crush them right in their plastic (1 sleeve for 2 cans). It is also a nice variation to add a little lemon pepper to the mix on occasion. I have also been known to do the bread crumbs and fine diced celery along with the onions and such, a la crab cakes, to mix it up a bit. I make homemade mac and cheese and cooked spinach served with vinegar. I also always serve my patties with a dipping sauce made of yellow mustard and worchestershire sauce. Mmmm I am hungry now!
We, too, LOVE Salmon Cakes! Our recipe was taken from a Farm Journal cookbook years ago…very similar to yours, Rebeka…except I form ours using a 1/3 measuring cup and bake them on a lightly greased cookie sheet in 375 degree oven for 20 min. We serve ours with mashed potatoes and stewed tomatoes plus salad and fruit. I’m from a Pennsylvania Dutch background..thus, the essential stewed tomatoes! Delicious! BTW I just mash up the salmon can contents and add other ingredients. Great the next day,too!
My family adores salmon patties. I cannot bear the smell, so my husband makes them on evenings when I’m out of the house (and opens the windows before I get home). It’s a family tradition!
Nancy
http://www.liveasavorylife.com
Yes! I am another that grew up with salmon patties. Just had some a couple of weeks ago! They do hit the spot sometimes…
I made them for my FORMER husband one time and he took a bite into one (must have seen a bone!), stomped out the front door and spit out the mouthful. Funny thing was that my neighbor friend saw the whole spectacle and was just SHOCKED..Glad that I don’t have that turkey around anymore..LOL
Wow, that brought back some memories…
Aaaaah! Salmon patties (or as we called them, salmon cakes). My mama cooked them often when I was little but with cornmeal instead of bread crumbs. I still use her recipe. We always had them with mashed potatoes and fresh green beans. I fixed them for dinner one night when I was baby sitting my neighbor’s son and he loved them so much he would always ask me to make him some "fish pancakes".
Oh Rebekah, Guess what I’m making for dinner on this Friday night in Lent? Your Moms salmon patties!
Just had to say hi and how much I enjoy your writings!
I am from Texas; i grew up on salmon patties too. Mine were made with crushed crackers instead of bread crumbs. The patties were dipped in corn meal before frying. Momma didn’t drain the liquid, and she crushed everything including skin and bones! We usually had fried potatoes as a side. They were good cold too. Isn’t it amazing how many of us grew up on salmon patties. By the way, i will be eating salmon patties this Friday like many of you!
My husband doesn’t mind salmon patties, but he WILL NOT have liver. So I understand your "going out of town" spree. I am tempted to go to Denny’s for liver and onions every time he leaves town.