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farm_romance-8314

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    So gorgeous! I love these flower photos!

  2. Irene M Schlaefer says:

    Love the bee!!

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Secret Life of Bees Merit Badge

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,518 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—7,451 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 Garden Gate/The Secret Life of Bees Merit Badge, I had to rethink the way I thought about bees. Here’s the buzz:

The little guys and girls are disappearing. Vamoose. Puff. Like a magic act gone awry, our furry little pals are MIA. At first (I admit grudgingly) I was secretly like, who cares?

I know. Harsh.

But right behind their eight-legged buddies, bees were not high on my list of favorite animals. Puppies, yes. Kittens, sure thing. Chickens and horses and lions and tigers and bears? Oh my. But bees? Come on! They buzz by, making me yelp in fear and perform strange dance moves at odd times, and let’s be honest: we’ve all been stung once or twice, am I right?

But the more I learned, the more I began to be fond of the itty bitty creatures. I mean, they’re working hard for us. I happen to LIKE fruits and veggies. I don’t want to live off Doritos, people! Not to mention, I am real fond of local honey. My morning toast would be lonely without it.

You know what they say: you never know what you have until it’s gone.

Sniffle.

Sigh.

Weep.

Short of dressing up like Pooh Bear, complete with honey pot atop my head, I didn’t know what to do. So I headed over to http://www.vanishingbees.com/ and watched a short documentary, narrated by the lovely and talented Ellen Page. There ARE things we can do to entice our bees back to us, and I was determined to do my part.

Plant a bee friendly garden. Well, I can do that. Not a prob, Bob. I got out my handy dandy trowel, turned my soil, and got to work. I was surprised to learn that the bees and I enjoy the same kinds of plants, too …

wild garlic

sage

pumpkins

rosemary

fruit trees

blackberries

and tons of others. We were made for each other, me and the bees. Talk about star-crossed. Romeo and Juliet had nothing on us.

*stifles sobs*

I worked all afternoon making sure my garden was bee friendly. I thought about putting up a Vacancy sign, but decided that might make me look a little desperate. I settled for checking out Sue Monk Kid’s Secret Life of Bees and dove in. My knowledge grew, and hopefully – though it might take a little while – so will my honey pot.

But don’t get too excited. I am so NOT planting a spider friendly garden next.

Though I am quite fond of E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web.

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    My daughter gave me Sue Monk’s book and it was such a fantastic read! Because bees are small and just sort of do their thing despite all of us in our daily rush to whatever, I never really stopped to think about them or their importance until I linked up with Mary Jane’s Farm. When you take a zoom lens and get up closer to bees, a whole new world opens up and a new connectivity to plant life unfolds. Bees are amazing!

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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 … Kristina Nelson!!!

Kristina Nelson (FieldsofThyme, #800) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning an Intermediate Level Get ‘er Done Merit Badge!

“I helped my 16 year-old daughter (farmgirl) put in new goat fencing.

IMG_7277This project took many hours of work. First, we had to build new goat stalls in a different barn, put up temporary fencing, then build the final fencing. It took over 2 years. We put in 330 feet of fence for the goats, and today they are enjoying fresh grass and lots of room to roam.”

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    Congratulations Kristina!! I remember from your blog posts that building this goat pen was a long and hard process. Your goats look so happy in their green pastures and I bet they provide rich milk too!

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Let’s Get Physical EXPERT Merit Badge

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,518 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—7,451 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 Make It Easy/Let’s Get Physical Merit Badge, I stepped up my game. Literally. The neighborhood kids had gone back to school and left me in the dust, so to speak. We had had some majorly epic games of Kick the Can, Basketball, and Cul-de-Sac Roller Derby, and now they had abandoned my fitness goals for algebra homework.

The nerve.

Well, I sadly waved goodbye to my summertime friends, and sorrowfully Kicked the Can all the way back to my house. Alone. I was going to have to come up a new plan for my Expert Level Badge, and quickly. You know, before the ol’ muffin top and love handles found me again …

Mmmmm, muffins.

No, no, Janie, my girl, sez I, have some will power! I can, I have, and I will again. Although, did you know that if you lick the frosting off a cupcake, it magically becomes a muffin? And we all know muffins are healthy.

Note to self: write diet book.

I scoured my local community for new fitness options. A softball team, a 5k, a Bike-A-Thon—I was up for anything. Well, not anything anything. As a general rule, I try not to run unless I’m being chased by a bear, and even then, it’s iffy. I would probably just throw it a cupcake and hope for the best.

And then I saw it. Ballet! How had I not thought of this particular field before? It was genius. Not only would I tone my calves, but I could break out the ol’ tutu and really rock the bun look. I signed myself up for a Beginning Adult class and laced up my dance shoes. Well, not precisely; I was sad to learn pointe shoes only go to the more advanced ballerinas. No matter. How hard could twirling and pointing my piggies be?

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An hour and a half later, I staggered out into the sunlight, my tutu dragging, my pink tights soaked with sweat, my toes sore, my bun lopsided, and the words of a Russian lady, who I believe may or may not have been speaking French, echoing in my addle pated brain. What a harebrained scheme I had committed myself to. What had I done? This class was battement-ing my derriere and it was only Week One!

A tiny, glittery dancer pirouetted by as I leaned against the wall, trying to get up the energy to find my car. She leapt across the street and cheerily waved at me. I glowered. This was obviously not her Week One. I panted for a bit, and finally attempted to move off the wall. Unfortunately, I could not recall how to make my feet move. I longed for a cupcake.

Or a bear.

I decided I would live here. On the side of this building. It was a nice building. And it was holding me up, so we were feeling pretty close. Sadly for me and my plan, my ballet teacher found me as she was locking up.

“You go now!” she told me, with her hands on her perfectly turned-out hips. “You go home and stretch.”

Obediently, I began to move my stiff muscles towards my car, amid suggestions (and demands) that I suck in my stomach, lift my head, relax my fingers, and then repeat—this time faster.

If I live long enough, I think I’m going to sign up for something less murderous. Like rugby.

 

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    Hahahaha!! I used to take adult ballet classes through the community college during my late 20s. It is a great way to stay in shape BUT, it does takes it’s toll on your feet. I changed out my leotard for gym shorts and tennis shoes and bought a membership at the gym. The good news with that membership?? There is a hot tub to soak out those aching legs and muscles after those ridiculous zumba or aerobic classes!!

  2. Karlyne says:

    Rugby! Brilliant!

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photo-of-the-day

farm_romance-10946

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    When I was in college, my favorite horse to ride at the school barn was a lovely grey like the one facing us. He was a super ride and jumped like a dream!!

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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 … Sherrilyn Askew!!!

Sherrilyn Askew (#1350) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning an Intermediate Level Heirlooms Forever Merit Badge!

“Thirteen of the 20 different plants I grew in my garden this year were from heirloom seeds. As I am harvesting this year’s crop, I am saving a sample of seeds from the best of the plants. My goal is to eventually have seeds from plants that grow well in the Pacific Northwest and are prolific. My chosen reference for this project is “Seed to Seed” by Suzanne Ashworth.

The latest 104This book has been invaluable in my quest for heirloom seeds that will do well in our growing environment by helping me to understand what characteristics I need to look for in each plant and what environment each plant needs in order to produce such as temperature ranges and number of hours of light or dark. My tomatoes, broccoli, kolrhabi, and other heirloom plants turned out to be super performers!!!!!”

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    What a lovely basket of heirloom veggies! They look so beautiful and perfect all nestled together. I bet your success turned into many great meals of healthy and delicious recipes. Congratulations Sherrilyn!

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Aprons Merit Badge

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,518 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—7,451 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/Aprons Merit Badge, I was super psyched to earn my Expert Level Badge. I had the perfect opportunity for it, too: a couple of my girlfriends were opening a bakery downtown and my plan was to make us matching aprons (the frillier, the better) and have us all wear them as we gave out their mouth-watering, moist, decadent, frosted cupcake samples, thereby luring in customers for life with our yumminess and our farmgirl style.

Lest you think I was only there for the cupcakes, I assure you … I am all about aprons and the movement to bring them back to everyday fashion.

And incidentally, I do enjoy the occasional cupcake.

Or three.

But anyway, I had a grand time picking out my fabrics. That, in itself, would have fulfilled the three-hour time commitment this badge requires, but perhaps you are not so shoppingly indecisive as I. I finally (and I do mean finally) quieted my inner voice that kept telling me the even more perfect calico was just around the next clearance table, and happily

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  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    I love this idea! Three fall aprons for a bakery opening?? What could be more perfect! I have the intermediate level Apron badge and it was the best learning task for me because I have been making fun aprons for Farmgirl swaps! Mine are pretty simple but with so many adorable fabrics, you just cannot go wrong.

    Speaking of bakery, this week I went to visit a friend of mine who runs a tiny bakery out back of her gift shop. Baking has always been a love of hers and adding a bakery to her business just made sense. We worked together at the same healthcare system for a few years and I wanted to share with her that I had retired. As we chatted, she was whipping up more of her signature Sour Cream Pound Cakes for a group of realtors who were having an event the next day. My eyes drifted down into the display case and there were Pumpkin Streusel Cheesecake Bars!! I kid you not! So, I Immediately bought one and can I say there were simply perfect! The only thing better would have been if I had read this post about the aprons and taken her a fall apron just for fun to celebrate retirement. Of course, that might be the perfect excuse to go back for another one of those pumpkin delights!

  2. Karlyne says:

    About a zillion years ago we owned a bakery, and I traded bread (we made fabulous bread!) for frilly aprons to a down-on-her-luck mom. I was too busy at that time baking and trying to get a couple of hours sleep each night to do much sewing, and I remember those aprons with fondness!

  3. Rev. Dolores Smith Gibbs says:

    Can you move to Cherokee County? I’ll be your partner in crime! That sounds like so much fun!
    Seriously, that’s why I bought. 2 years subscription, and I’m telling everyone about your wonderful magazine, nice and cleancut!

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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 … Sharon Demers!!!

Sharon Demers (Calicogirl, #5392) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a Beginner Level Heirlooms Forever Merit Badge!

“~When planning our garden, I shopped both online (localharvest.org) and locally after researching catalogs, specifically for heirloom variety seeds.

~I read Gardening with Heirlooms by Lynn Coulter and thoroughly enjoyed it.

~I love reading the history of the seeds that I planted. It is like opening an historic novel instead of a seed catalog.
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~I thoroughly enjoyed Miss Coulter’s book. It is now on my wish list. I love how Lynn calls heirloom seeds “living antiques.” So appropriate! Also an inheritance of flavor and beauty from long ago. It caused me to remember a scene in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers with Howard Keel and Jane Powell. Adam is riding in the wagon with his bride, Milllie. Millie is excited on her journey to her new home, a cabin in the mountains. In her excitement, she tells Adam of her valuables: the Bible, another book, and a packet of seeds that her mother gave her. Oh, how we should be so excited about seeds!

Through the book, I obtained quite a bit of knowledge that I wasn’t aware of. It was nice to see that, due to their genetics, heirlooms are usually resistant to pests, diseases, and extremes of weather.

~I am happy to report that more than 5% of our garden is heirloom plantings.”

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    My first introduction to heirloom veggies were the tomatoes. Wow, what a difference those plants produce! I am also fascinated with heirloom apples. Recently, I obtained a book from a grower in Maine who has spent his entire work life tracking down and trying to restart the many heirloom varieties of apples that once grew in orchards and backyards in central Maine. Fascinating! Now, to take a trek up to his orchards in the fall and purchase some from his CSA! The problem? It is a bit of a trek in the car all the way up the east coast from Florida and I would need a car to bring home the bounty. That trip is currently on my bucket list of things to do in the near future!

    • hi Winnie , I wrote to you a while back right before you went on your voyage. It was after the apple photo of the day. Anyway I wanted you to know about a very nice book mostly about Apples ( and heirloom plants and veggies) called:
      ” Taste Memory- Forgotten Foods, Lost Flavors, and Why They Matter” by David Buchanan. I think you will truly enjoy it.
      Also the best book on Heirlooms, in my opinion, is ” Heirloom Vegetable Gardening” by William Woys Weaver. It is out of print but used copies are usually available on half.com or amazon. It is wilely considered the ” bible” on heirloom vegetables. Hope you find these books and get to read them.

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photo-of-the-day

farm_romance-10349

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    Nice boots! Wow!

  2. Kim Platt says:

    Those are nice boots! Love the trimming.

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Carp-HEN-try Merit Badge

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,518 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—7,301 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 Make It Easy/Carp-HEN-try Merit Badge, I decided to tackle a project I’d been wistfully daydreaming about for weeks. Now that the weather has cooled down a bit, I am spending even more time outside (everything from eating to reading to painting my nails to gossiping is done out of doors these days) and I’ve been eyeballing my old carport.

It’s a sad little carport. A bit tumble down, a bit unloved, it houses exactly zero cars and is nothing like a port. It’s more like a ramshackle weed patch, with a cover. But in my head—ah, in my head—it’s a lovely little outdoor patio.

Picture this: a level ground, grapes or ivy growing up over the trellis, maybe some large stepping stones, and a cute-as-a-button, bistro-style table and chairs. Maybe an old hutch as well, filled with outdoor enamelware and pitchers for iced tea. Some hanging lanterns, perhaps, or some twinkly Christmas lights? A mister for those hot summer evenings?

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  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    This is a great idea for those who have an unused carport! I saw once in a magazine where someone took an unused garage and converted into a huge dining/sitting room. With the door totally up, life blended in with the yard which had a woodsy setting. The photo was taken in fall so the colored leaves were everywhere and dinners were eaten outside in this space where the woods met the door and mixed together. There were lanterns for lighting and comfy pillows in chairs and an eclectic mix of furniture. Easy, free style, open and useful, this idea makes new spaces to be enjoyed. I love what you did in 20 hours with this badge challenge! It is a fabulous, low cost way to have a new place to enjoy! Are you serving coffee when friends drop by? I take decaf.

  2. Karlyne says:

    Hmmm. Do you two usually put garlic in your decaf? Must have quite a kick!

  3. Terry Steinmetz says:

    I now am inspired to get at those little things that will change other things around in my life. Time to get busy. Now where to start?

  4. Kay (Old Cowgirl) Montoya says:

    I am so glad to see you did not plant Ivy. That is not your friend. Believe me when I say that, we had to places side by side one had a white Lilacs the other a pink Rhodadendaron. I decided to plant Ivy. Well, for awhile it looked very nice and then I noticed the girdling of the Lilac tree. I cut it back only to grow faster. Finally when we just were beside ourselves with it, we decided to get rid of it. Wow. That was a huge undertaking. We dug and dug, then we sprayed the nasty stuff. Which was hard for an organic minded women to do. But it was the only way. Then we thought we got it all, oh no, two years later it popped up in my flower bed quite a long way away from it. I have pulled it up and am going to let the people who buy my house deal with it. He is not an organic gardener.
    Please for the sake of our fields and hills and mountains do not plant it.
    Thank You
    Kay

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