Young Cultivators Merit Badge: Let’s Go To Town, Beginner Level, Part II

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,861 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,721 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane 

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

For this week’s Each Other/Let’s Go To Town Beginner Level Young Cultivator Merit Badge, I was still in the library …

… where I had misplaced one small child, two Young Adults, and a couple of elementary-aged bookworms. Not to worry, dear readers, my local librarians are amateur sleuths in their spare time (evidently, detective skills are required in order to become a Children’s Librarian), and the little ankle biters turned up posthaste. One had snuck into Story Time and was sitting on the lap of a mom (who had several children and didn’t seem to notice the extra thumb-sucker), one was gleefully scanning books at the Self Checkout machine, and the teens had found the coffee shop.

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  1. Patricia Dean says:

    Coffee Shop!! Our library just has books….and terrific librarians! My girls and I are there at least once a week for interesting kid’s programs and books.

  2. Winnie Nielsen says:

    When my girls were little , we used to take advantage of the story hour for each of their ages as well as family movie night in the children’s room. Kids were able to show up in their jammies too! Everyone piled on the floor with blankets, pillows and settled in for a kid friendly movie. It was so much fun, free, and a great way to enjoy great books, songs, and stories. Ahhh, Libraries are the best resource a community has!

  3. Cindi says:

    Nancy Drew! Such memories that brings back of entire weekends spent in my room turning page after page after page. Those books… well, they saved me. Back when I was a kid they didn’t know about dyslexia. While it is to a mild degree, I was still classified as a “poor” student because of my very slow reading. Then my mom came home from one of her weekend flea market runs with a couple of the original Nancy Drew books (from 1932-ish!).Give a child something they find a real interest in and watch them fly! I still have my entire collection of Nancy Drew books. What wonderful seeds you sow MJ!

  4. Growing up in a small southern town, it was mostly the bookmobile (as I have mentioned before in previous related posts). We also had a small library in a converted church with wonderful stained glass windows. I was so disappointed to realize later in life that all libraries don’t have stained glass windows.
    My new town has a teeny tiny library that would probably fit into my kitchen but the people working there are so nice and helpful .I was there the other day and the books were so squeezed tight on the shelf it was all I could do to get the latest Susan Wittig Albert mystery off the shelf.
    OOh and this week was the library book sale! Held at a nearby church, alas no stained glass windows. I went twice and loaded up on the popular mysteries and novels on Wed. and then came back on the last day when it was all the books you could put in a big grocery bag ( the old fashioned ones with handles). I got about 20 pristine garden related books, including a huge English coffee table book .Now I have most of my Christmas gifts and then some. I have a neighbor just learning to garden and I got a whole slew of step by step beginner gardening books for her.
    yes ,I ADORE libraries.

    • Cindi says:

      Oh my gosh, how I would love to live there. If I was in your town, we would both have a reputation for walking away with the most bags of books. I love it. 🙂

  5. Amy Cloud Chambers says:

    I love the story of how kids discover the magical library! My granddaughter especially likes it when we sit together at the “tiny tables” (her words) and look at books. I’m a huge L.M. Montgomery fan. Right now I’m reading the Emily if New Moon” series.

  6. Karlyne says:

    I feel so desperately sorry for kids who’ve not had library cards. Libraries should be one of the best memories of childhood, and so hooray for you, MBA Jane!

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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 … Debbie Klann!!!

Debbie Klann (#770) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Beginner, Intermediate & Expert Level Knitting Merit Badge!

“I have been knitting since I was in grade school. I found this cute wrap scarf and some beautiful, silky yarn with beads and thought they would make a good pairing.

I worked on this on a 2-day trip with my husband to get some seed for the farm. It was an easy pattern to do and went quickly. It was nice to bring home a finished project.

1

My daughter found this Hunger Games-inspired cowl on Pinterest and asked if I would make it for her for Christmas. I had to research to find the right yarn … I ended up with some super-chunky baby alpaca … SO soft and warm! It was made on size 35 needles. I had to learn to do the herringbone stitch to make this. It was super-easy once I got going and I love how the stitch looks.

I was pleased with how it turned out, and so was my daughter! She wears it to work on really cold days and stays perfectly warm.

2

This shawl almost made me lose my mind a few times … but I learned SO much! I had to learn a new way of casting on so that I could later add the lace edging. When a pattern tells you to use a contrast yarn to do so … DO IT!!! I did not! There was no way to see the cast-on chain, so I ended up unravelling the shawl and reknitting that part. The lace edging was knitted separately and added on with a 3-needle bind-off … another new technique.

It took a lot to finally finish this, but I am so happy that I did. I love how it turned out. I know that it took at least 50 hours from start to finish. In my years of knitting, I have spent many hours knitting with my mom and friends, and have taught at least five other people how to knit. I think with knitting, you are always learning and you are always teaching each other. That’s one of the things that I love about it. And the relaxing click, click of my needles at the end of the day!”

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  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    Debbie, you have made some beautiful items with your knitting badge! Congratulations on getting all three levels of your badge and having fun creating such lovely things that you can enjoy. Your work is incredible!!

  2. Amy Cloud Chambers says:

    Debbie, congratulations on your beautiful work!

  3. Amanda McCardle says:

    Gorgeous!!

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photo-of-the-day

farm-romance_0162

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    Spring green and deep pink have always been a favorite combination of colors for me. The detail of these leaves and flower are stunning!

  2. Terry Steinmetz says:

    I don’t recognize the tree/plant. So what is it?

  3. Laurie Scott says:

    So pretty.

  4. Amy Cloud Chambers says:

    Those colors really are something! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a gooseberry bush.

  5. Gaye says:

    Yes finally spring!

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photo-of-the-day

farm-romance_7437

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    Daffodil awakening?

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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 Stitching & Crafting for earning an Expert Level UFO’s Merit Badge!

“For a variety of reasons, I just don’t have many UFOs left sitting around waiting to be finished. That generally isn’t my style anyway, but because of health challenges and other things I’ve been purging, recycling, and cleaning up my project room.

During the summer of 2011, my daughter and I had the privilege of going on the “Women of the Wild West” road trip which took us through Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. We met many farmgirls along the way, enjoyed a lot of activities and adventures, and ended our journey with a stay at MaryJanesFarm B&B and a Farmgirl Tea Party.

I had made memory books for both of us to take along. We asked each farmgirl we met to write a short note in the books and we also made notes, etc. I had taken a lot of photographs, had some prints made, and have been carrying this project around in my project case while glamping or traveling, hoping to get time to work on it. I also had included scissors and adhesive products and other embellishments to finish the book.

This project required sorting, selecting, and cropping photos as well as mounting them in the book and making journal notes to correspond with the photos.

It has taken well over the required 30 hours to complete.

Photos of this project are included in the UFO thread in the Stitching and Crafting section: www.maryjanesfarm.org/snitz/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=71440

I’m so glad to have this project finished and be able to enjoy the book, looking back at the photos, reading the notes, and smiling at the fun and fond memories of this wonderful trip with my daughter.”

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  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    WhooHoo CeeJay! I know you shared this earlier this week on the Forum and it is a beauty. Love that FarmGirls on the loose theme too. This is a wonderful keepsake of great times and memories with Robin and your friends. You did a beautiful job and I know you are going to enjoy looking through it time and time again!

  2. Denise says:

    CeeJay that is awesome. What a beautiful job you did!

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Young Cultivators Merit Badge: Park Place, Beginner Level

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,861 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,721 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane 

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

For this week’s Out There Kids/Park Place Beginner Level Young Cultivator Merit Badge, I channeled my inner child (and also Nora and Andy) and we went to the park.

Not having had kiddos myself, I was totally immersed and enjoying the whole “playdate” experience. I mean, I’ve scheduled playdates for my doggies and maybe one or two for the chickens (Chickens are social creatures, too, you know!), but I hadn’t seen any human ones in action. There were mommies sipping on lattes while their offspring climbed trees and daddies taking business calls while their little ones went down the slides. It was like a Norman Rockwell painting.

If Norman had had Andy and Nora with him, though, his paintings might have been a little less perfect. More like they were painted by a totally distracted adult being run ragged by two adorable urchins. Did Norman have children? Must Google that.

photo by David R. Tribble via Wikimedia Commons

Anyway …

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  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    LOL!!!!Kids are amazing reflections of ourselves!!

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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 … Wendie George!!!

Wendie George (#6918) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Beginner Level UFOs Merit Badge!

“This is a great badge to earn. It’s a real feel-gooder. It feels great to finish a project that has been nagging at you.

The first part was a bit intimidating. Organizing and putting all my UFOs each into their own container or bag was a bit of work. It has started the whole process of cleaning and reorganizing my entire craft room. This is also a good thing. I purchased a bunch of clear plastic totes and placed one project into a tote/box. I then made the list of any supplies still needed to finish it and put the list inside the box on top of the supplies. I had a bunch of chalkboard stickers, so I put one on the front of each box and labeled the box with the project inside. While cleaning, I also made a box labeled “donation” for projects I no longer had interest in doing.

The second part was to finish one of the UFOs. I chose to finish a baby quilt for a coworker that I started about a month ago. The quilt top was pieced together, but that’s as far as I had gotten.

I feel I have succeeded in bagging and tagging all my UFOs. I also made a quick list of them all so I could start to cross it off. I am not going to admit the total number of UFOs on the list. I will just steadily work at finishing them while not creating more. Today I mailed the box of donation items to my Aunt. She is heavily involved with the church and many other quilters and aspiring quilters. I will let her spread out the projects to others who are willing to complete them (most were never started).

I started to finish the quilt by sandwiching the top to the cotton batting with a teal minky backing. I chose a quick method of quilting the layers together, “stitch in the ditch.” I used my machine for this. I added the pieced binding onto the front by machine, and hand-quilted it to the back. The final step to complete the quilt was to embroider a tag for the back. I have a Viking machine that kindly embroiders the words for me. I then hand-sewed the tag onto the back. One UFO down, a “few” to go!”

IMG_20160329_192244996

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    Wendi, this completed UFO is very pretty. I love the simplicity and the summer like colors you used. You did a great job and I know you are going to enjoy using this or gifting it! Congratulations on tackling that UFO pile and making a winner!!

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Young Cultivators Merit Badge: Icing on the Cake, Beginner Level

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,861 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,721 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane 

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

For this week’s Young Cultivator Farm Kitchen/Icing on the Cake Beginner Level Merit Badge, I sat down with the two whippersnappers in my life (Nora and Piper) and we made ourselves a list.

Lists are my life.

I brake for lists.

Me and lists forever.

Lists: A Love Story.

Normally, the rugrats scoff at my list making, but this one was one they could get behind. And in front of, and across from, and so on and so forth. Why, you ask? Because it was a list of Things You Could Put On a Cake (T.Y.C.P.O.A.C. for short).

Who wouldn’t want to keep adding onto a list like that?

photo by James Petts via Wikimedia Commons

We were going to need more paper …

Frosting went without saying, though surprisingly, none of us are fond of it. We all agreed it is what’s under it and on top of it that could float our boats, culinary-ly speaking.

Nora, Piper, and Yours Truly’s T.Y.C.P.O.A.C.:

  • Powdered sugar dusted over a paper doily would make a lovely pattern.
  • Glazed nuts are a delish alternative.
  • Dislike of frosting can be remedied by cream cheese. Turns out, we all swoon for cream cheese icing.
  • Coconut makes a wonderful presentation, and if you tint it with green food coloring, you’d have edible “grass.”
  • Marzipan is fun to shape into creatures and such (and tastes a bit better than most fondants).
  • Pretzels
  • Dried fruits
  • Candy (Well, come on. They’re kids. Not gonna get away without some candy.)
  • Peppermint sticks
  • Graham crackers, either in pieces or ground into crumbs
  • Gummy worms or bears
  • Edible flowers: nasturtiums, dandelions, day lily, squash blossom, lavender
  • Small toys (do not eat)
  • Coconut, brown sugar, butter, and nuts, all spread on top then broiled under the broiler until bubbly
  • Homemade whipped cream
  • Meringue
  • A dollop of yogurt or sweetened sour cream
  • Marshmallows
  • Sprinkles (use them one at a time to make an “embroidery” like pattern)
  • Cereal (think Trix, or Fruit Loops, or Lucky Charms, but look for their organic alternatives)
  • Chocolate that has been drizzled into shapes, then hardened
  • Cookies
  • Chocolate rocks
  • Cinnamon sticks
  • Orange-peel curlicues
  • Chocolate shavings (or white chocolate)
  • Raisins
  • Berries
  • Small sprigs of pine tree branches make a pretty forest
  • Fruit leather cut into shapes
  • Crumbled Oreos (the organic kind, of course!)
  • Chocolate-covered coffee beans
  • Popcorn
  • Poppy seeds
  • Candied ginger
  • Star anise
  • Birthday candles (What? We were getting tired, and our hands were sore from writing.)

After all this brainstorming, we were seriously famished. Ravenous. Starving. Our bellies were rubbing our ribs. Our tummies were rumbling.

In short? We needed cake. Stat.

 

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    I like how your lists ended up with needing cake. Now that is a proper list if I every heard of one! Hmmm, I think I need to find a way that all of my many lists have delicious endings!

  2. Who doesnt love cake? Although I am in the European tradition of cakes, not gooey and not so sweet. Think the good fruitcakes ( nope not the American kinds) and cakes that don’t need icing really.Italian Pennetone is my idea of cake heaven.

  3. Karlyne says:

    Now I need cake. Or as Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest says it, “caaaaaaake”.

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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 … Connie Bergstrom!!!

Connie Bergstrom (#6861) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a Beginner Level Backyard Farmer Merit Badge!

“My first chicken was Burt, a Rhode Island Red rooster. I have had him for about 5 years. He has several lady friends, as we own around 50 hens and 3 roosters, including him and his son, Willie. We also have a Barred Rock rooster named Farmer who has a flock of his own Barred Rock and Cuckoo Maran hens.

We also have Orpingtons, Black Australorps, Buff Brahmas, RIR, Americanas, and New Hampshire Reds, and currently are raising up some Banties, Favorelles, Sexlink, RIR, and Orpington pullets. We feed organic cracked corn and hen scratch, occasionally free range, and they love scraps from the garden and the kitchen.

I absolutely love it. I sell our eggs; we get approximately 5-15 eggs a day when they are not on strike because of the Texas heat.”

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  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    What pretty brood of chickens, Connie! Your project sounds like it is not only fun but a great way to enjoy fresh eggs and sell a few to pay for chicken feed. I bet you make some awesome omelets for breakfast too!

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photo-of-the-day

farm-romance_9156

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    This early Spring view of the cow barn must be how it looks in Idaho where new green grass is poking out of fresh snow dusting. For this Floridian, it is a unique and pretty way Spring gets started. Old Man Winter…. your efforts are losing out day by day!

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