photo-of-the-day

farm_romance-1190

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    I am in love with this coffee pot! I have a red enamelware coffee pot and have tried and tried to make decent coffee. No luck!! Can you make decent coffee in yours? If so, what is the secret?

  2. Debbie says:

    MJ… is this the photo you were working on last Sunday before we chatted on the phone? I adore it! Those daffy’s and that red and white pot just say HAPPY!
    We do make coffee in our Paula Dean percolator at the cottage and it’s yummy! We also have a vintage glass percolator and that one makes delicious coffee too… Darling photo!
    hugs,
    Deb

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Origami Merit Badge

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 4,945 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—6,765 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life

For this week’s Stitching and Crafting Merit Badge, I put my tongue between my teeth, settled down in a comfy spot, and got out my paper collection. Since I’ve been recycling and trying not to waste not/want not, my paper supply was getting out of hand. I’ve never really tried origami unless you count my heart-shaped valentines or the way I attempt to fold napkins at Thanksgiving (and I don’t think the Buddhist monks who perfected origami would consider it such), so I was in for a learning experience, thank you very much.

Evidently, no one knows for sure and certain who invented the art of origami—the Japanese or the Chinese—but I think I can safely say they have both excelled at it. Me? Not so much.

Not yet, anyway … but just you wait until Thanksgiving.

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  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    My friend did a huge project and made 1000 cranes one summer and then decorated the downtown in honor of the end of the WWII. It was pretty amazing and incredibly lovely!

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Hear Ye!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Mary Fitzpatrick!

Mary Fitzpatrick (BusyBeeMary, #3232) has received a certificate of achievement in Make it Easy for earning an Intermediate Level Make It! Merit Badge.

“I have a few leftover pallets from building my composting bins. I was looking on Pinterest and saw a potting bench made from 2 pallets. I had four pallets and a HUGE garden and no working table out in the garden. It made perfect sense to me that I needed to make one for my garden. And since I am working on a fundraising event for the local animal shelter, I made one to donate to the auction part of the event.

potting bench

First thing is to gently separate the boards. Patience is everything. Slow and steady is the name of the game, as most boards would be happy to split or break apart. Then I built the frame. It was quite easy. I did not use the 2x4s from the pallets, as they were in bad shape. I bought two …

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  1. Kathy says:

    Love it! Great job.

  2. Bernice Gronek says:

    I am planning on making some peach jam with wonderful peaches from Brigham city Utah. I have done this before. Is it okay to use the chill over powder for peach jam?
    The recipe I am using calls for 1-2 ounce package dry pectin.

    Thank you

    Bernice Gronek

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photo-of-the-day

farm_romance-9822

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    Ohhh, I want a purse with that adorable embroidered Raisin Jane tag!!! I LOVE this! Maybe you will offer them in the shop??

  2. Linda Radziminski says:

    Love it.Great idea and use of materials Any instructions or pattern?

  3. Traci says:

    Could you please let me know if this becomes for sale, I love it:)

  4. Chrissy Powell says:

    I want one of these! Please send me info for purchase or a link!

  5. Cheryl Fiske says:

    I have some old cloth feed bags and this inspires me to do something practical and fun with them!

  6. Debbie Fischer says:

    Oh, Mary Jane I would like one of these purses too, what a great travel purse. Are you going to sell them in your shop or have a Give Away for one? 🙂
    Hugs,
    Debbie
    Scattered Prairie Gals
    #1582

  7. Kimberly Owens says:

    LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!! I want one, PLEASE? 😀

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Lend a Hand Merit Badge

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 4,945 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—6,765 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life

Intermediate Level

For this week’s Each Other/Land a Hand to Families Merit Badge, I traveled to Florida to see my Gramma Barbie. Well, I was going anyway, but an opportunity to earn another badge kind of presented itself. (What? I’m not addicted! I can stop anytime I want to. Is there a 12-Step Program for Badge Lovers?) Gramma broke her hip recently and could use a little help from her favorite granddaughter.

My gramma is a real get-up-and-go kinda girl, so I knew this weekend wasn’t going to be a walk in the park for either of us. She is more the serve-others type, not the sit-still-and-boss-your-granddaughter-around type, so I figured we both had our work cut out for us.

(Gramma could seriously use the Relaxation Merit Badge).

Still, knowing all this and surviving this were two very different things.

Gramma had already had her surgery when I arrived, had been released from the hospital, and was in a fine mood when I arrived. And by a fine mood, I mean she was stir crazy, going nuts, and fighting off a bad case of cabin fever. Just cleaning her house and plugging a movie in for her was not going to do it. I may have been over my head.

I started with making her some sweet tea. This I was prepared for. Most grammas like their sweet tea, and I was determined to change a few of her bad eating habits when I was there, so I had smuggled in some organic, loose-leaf Assam and a jar of my favorite local honey. Turns out, I was naïve. I had to wean her off her Lipton and a pound a sugar per glass, g r a d u a l l y. I started by diluting hers little by little with my homemade brew, until she was drinking half-and-half and none the wiser. I was feeling pretty sneaky, but since I was pretty sure I was saving her from a sugar coma, I smothered the guilty feeling with logic (and a cookie).

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Hear Ye!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Erin Rockafellow!

Erin Rockafellow (Erin Rock, #4131) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a Beginner Level The Secret Life of Bees Merit Badge!

“This badge was great to earn I had been looking for a reason to read ‘The Secret Life of Bees’ and this was it. The book was beautiful and I’m going to buy it for our family bookshelf. The vanishing bees movie was not something I knew existed but I did know about the horrible problem. The Easter bunny brought everything to the kids baskets this year to build a bee and butterfly garden and we have our plans drawn up. We just need to wait for our last frost date to plant everything. This was fun to do and I am excited about how the garden is going to turn out.”

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photo-of-the-day

suit_case-21662

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Little Squirts Merit Badge

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 4,945 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—6,765 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life

For this week’s Each Other/Little Squirts Merit Badge, my ears really thanked me. All my doors, windows, hinges, well, nearly everything in my life that could potentially squeak, was squeaking.

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  1. I love MBA Jane’s outfit! I want it for myself!!

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Forage for Food Merit Badge

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 4,882 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—6,641 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life

For this week’s Farm Kitchen/Forage for Food Merit Badge, I started paying attention to my feet. That’s right, my need-a-pedi-stat feet, in my new Spring sandals. Why, you may ask? Well, I’ll tell you. Because up until now, I have been committing plant-icide. And not just on weeds, no, no! I’ve been guilty as charged for the heinous murders of FOOD.

Yes, food. Now, color me innocent (a violet or pale pink, I believe) but I really had no idea how many plants can be nibbled, munched, cooked, and snacked upon. In fact – get this – it’s easier and smarter to learn which plants cannot be eaten, and go from there. When I started out earning this badge, I had my handy-dandy sticky note/memo pad at the ready. I thought that would be appropriate and perfect for my short list of a handful of edible plants. Wrong. Turns out I needed page after page of full size paper to keep a running tally.
gladsome-MBAJane

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  1. Elizabeth says:

    OK then, I’m back now from checking the garden. No sooner did I start to read your suggestions & off I went into the garden to see what is available:-) Not that I need much encouragement or coaxing to go out & play in what could very well be, my favorite place & space:-) But I do see now why they say, the power of suggestion is so strong:-)

    Your garden salad sounds yummy. And I remember reading about your Dandelion Wine from one of your books; it intrigued me so that I made a copy of the recipe before I returned the book to the library…along with about 12 other must have copies of other experiences & ideas/true gifts you shared with your readers. Thanks again, to our lovely Spring Beauty, MaryJane Butters.

  2. Winnie Nielsen says:

    What an impressive list of native plants to consume! I must admit I am quite leery about doing such a thing for some reason. My only foraging experience was with my Girl Scout Troop when my Mom taught us how to find Sassafras plants and take the roots, clean them and boil into Sassafras tea. We were all impressed and did that skill for our primitive camping badge, I think. Your Dandelion wine sounds interesting too. I have heard it used to be quite common on farms during the early 1900s. I wonder if there is an easier method by skipping the yeast part and just adding Vodka and allow to sit for a few weeks?? It could be dubbed “The Sister’s Recipe!””

  3. Terry Steinmetz says:

    I love to forage as well. Right now the snow is covering everything–we just got another 10″-so I won’t be foraging for another month or so. But then the leeks will be ready and so will the violets!

  4. Karlyne says:

    So funny to see the dandelion wine recipe right after I told the kids that you could make wine from them! These are the same kids that brought me in a bowlful of dandelion flowers the other day and we roasted them with the baby kale. Not too shabby!

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Hear Ye!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … CJ Armstrong!

CJ Armstrong (ceejay48, #665) has received a certificate of achievement in Outpost for earning an Expert Level Glamping Merit Badge!

“My daughter and I call ourselves the “4871 Glamping Farmgirls” and have taken our glamping setup on the road more than once. Our locations in 2012 were:
-Black Canyon City, Arizona, in March
-Priest Gulch, Colorado, in July
-Flagstaff, Arizona, in September

Each time, we set up a 10×10 EZ-UP canopy and glamped it with all kinds of pretties. We also set up a nice tent with a screened porch and glamped it as well, including lace all along the edge of the rain fly, around the edge of the porch opening, etc. Continue reading

  1. Laurie Dimino says:

    Hooray for CJ!
    I was fortunate enough to get to glamp with CJ at her Arizona Backyard Glamping weekend last month at Robins house. I personally got to experience how wonderful CJ makes glamping- and her glamping decorating and details are amazing! Such fun!

  2. CJ Armstrong says:

    Thanks Laurie! I was totally impressed by the fact that you came on an airplane all the way from Long Island, NY to Arizona to “see people you’ve never met before”. AWESOME! Laurie was also our “tea expert!
    Farmgirls Kim, Robin and Laurie in this photo . . . what a grand time we had!
    Thanks again!
    CJ

  3. Terry Steinmetz says:

    Sounds like so-o-o much fun! I’m dreaming that I’m there with you.

  4. Winnie Nielsen says:

    I read about these fun times on the Connection and wish I could come along!! Everyone has so much fun!!

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