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Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
All proceeds (minus shipping and packing) will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo of the prop and its cost here along with a few details as to its condition. The first person to call the farm and talk with Brian, 208-882-6819, becomes the new owner of a little bit of herstory. Shipping will be either USPS or UPS, our choice. No returns.

Farm Talk

Cultivating your inner farmgirl?

Photo by Jacob Fowzer via Wikimedia Commons
Have a little fun with your friends and neighbors by throwing out a few old-fashioned farm phrases in casual—or, better yet, formal—conversation.
After all, if you’re going to walk the walk, you might as well talk the talk, right?
I guarantee that you’ll get a giggle from the puzzled expressions you receive in return.
Here are a few dandies to dabble with:
- Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
- It’s gonna be a toad strangler (translation: a big rainstorm is coming).
- Every path has a few puddles.
- Trouble with a milk cow is she won’t stay milked.
- Fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight, and bull-strong.
- If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.
- Don’t kick a fresh cow chip on a hot day.
- Always drink upstream from the herd.
- It don’t take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.
- It’s hotter than a hen on a hot rock.
- The second mouse gets the cheese.
And, by all means, don’t skinny dip with snapping turtles!
While you’re on a roll, you can beef up your down-on-the-farm vocabulary with this glossary of farming terms.

Neck ‘n Crop

“Does the hitch come with the truck?”
Glampin’ Jane was fielding questions from a prospective buyer with a hankerin’ to haggle.
“Yes, ma’am. The whole shebang,” she assured.
“How about the seat covers?”
“You bet,” Jane agreed. “The full monty.”
“I’m gung-ho about going glamping in a pick-up truck,” the customer confessed.
“Will you throw in that little luggage rack for a couple hundred more?”
This gal drove a hard bargain, but Jane was set to sell,
lock, stock, and barrel.
Jane extended her hand.
“It’s a deal,” she said. “Take ’em both, neck and crop.”
Whoa …
Neck and crop?
That’s right:
the whole enchilada,
nine yards,
ball of wax ……….
The origin of this uncommonly uttered phrase is sketchy, but most say it had something to do with a horse (or maybe a rider) taking a spill.
I would have guessed it had something to do with a chicken.
Featherbrain!
In any case, “neck and crop” has come to mean completely, wholly, altogether, and at once.
Done!