Exciting news from Spring Creek Farm! Well…at least exciting for my learners, other folks on the farm and me. The eggs hatched! We now have ten adorable chicks. Five hatched from the first clutch and five from the second. They were here just in time for Easter, and I have to say…I’m in love.
Is this where Cadbury Mini Eggs™ come from?
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”.
So much going on! Thank you for sharing!
Nancy
http://www.liveasavorylife.com
I’m right there with you in the ‘thrilled’ department. I’ve hatched out hundreds of chicks and to this day, each and every one is just as fun to watch as the very first one. I think that is the magic of living close to the land and animals. The wonder of it all never fades (for many of us anyway!)
I LOVED all the photos and that lamb is sooo cute. It was fun to read your post because I got a dose of 2nd hand enthusiasm — which at the end of this day felt good.
I told myself that this spring, I really don’t need chicks this year. I knew when I said it that the odds of sticking to that statement were kinda iffy. Guess where I’m headed in the morning :o) … to pick up half a dozen day old pullets!
Thanks for another fun post!
Happy Spring Alex! I so loved this post… I can smell the hay and Duke and feel the soft fuzz of your baby chicks too!
You are right, something about being around " the farm " IS soothing, comforting and just feels right. I hope for your very own farm one day! Sounds like you will be right at home there!
thanks for a wonderful post!
Deb ( your beach blogging sister )
Happy Spring to you all from Appomattox, Virginia. My neighbor who i recently became friends with has a mini farm…some goats, sheeps, chickens, ginnie hens and geese. Recently he has been hounded by a fox who got 5 chickens. He is new to farming and he has educated himself very well and does an amazing job, but this fox has to go…any ideas?
Thanks
Roberta
I Loved this article. I am also a huge animal lover but not to the scale of your farm. I just love all of them, but the photo that I thought was adorable was Maybe! Soooooo darn cute! I just want to pet him. I think the next step is to write a book with lots of photos telling us about what it like having a farm. I could picture myself on a porch, in a rocking chair, with a cup of coffee or Green Tea, smelling the hay, and reading a book like this! Think about it!
HAPPY SPRING TO ALL OF YOU!
Alex- I really enjoyed this post. Your chicks are adorable. Love the pictures of the farm animals that you took care of. If I had a fabulous looking animal like Maybe I would try to turn him into a house pet! Love ya, Mom
Loved this article and so fun to see the photos. "Birthing" is one of the few things that is missed by my husband after we quit dairy farming in 2001. The thrill never goes away. Pulling calves…even calf mouth to mouth…getting the little bugger to drink out of the bucket when we needed to start milking mama. Nurturing that new life…so cool. Another memory of much younger days as you speak of eating the chickens…scalded feather smell to pluck them. Have had several conversations with people about this recently. A smell never forgotten. Blessings, Gail
Loved this post! I totally cracked up about spending 15 minutes trying to figure out which crackers to buy! So true…sounds like me! I think having everything at the farm would make my head less stressed out. I don’t like grocery shopping either these days. Too much stress! Being outside with God’s creation is so much better! I’m dreaming of our farmfresh eggs from our new chicks (have to wait till September for the egg part) and cheering on my seed starts! Enjoy your adventures!!!
~Farmgirl Hugs!
April
Alex,
I just wanted to drop a quick line to let you know that I love your voice and writing style. You have very quickly become my favorite farmgirl blog (no offense to any of marjanes other fabulous farmgirl blogs meant). Keep up the good work and thank you for sharing your unique perspective.
Sharon
Alexandra,
I just finished reading your latest post and I have to say you absolutely touched my heart with your writing, photograhs, the simplicity and thoughtfulness of all your words. I am so happy that I found your blog through Mary Janes Farm world!! I have many of the same thoughts and feelings that you share with farm life. I have three boys and we own a log cabin in Montana on about 23 acres. We can only go there on vacation, since we still live in Los Angeles. My husband and I are in law enforcement and cannot wait until we finally can call Montana our permanent home. Soon:)Please keep the writing and beautiful stories coming. I will be sure to read every one of them. Blessings