Author Archives: maryjane

Your Key to Happiness

Hey Winnie,

Here’s my skirt you asked about …

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with matching book cover …

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matching tatted necklace …

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and matching apron. So farmgirl!

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Strawberries are on!

One of our favorite families from town came out Monday to raid our strawberry patch. This is the first wave of berries from our ever-bearing patch. So S-W-E-E-T, just like the girls who came to fill their freezer.

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Stress Relief

Back in the Raising Jane (Aug/Sept 2008) issue of my magazine, we featured a wonderful musician named Jo Davidson. Jo recently e-mailed us a link to a YouTube video with some of her photos set to piano solo music she wrote. Jo says, “Feel free to share with anyone who could use a calm break!” Take a minute or two out of your busy day to watch the video below as your cares melt away …

Read Jo’s original feature in the following post.

Jo Davidson: City Girl with Farmgirl Soul

Jo Davidson is a New York City-based musician whose songs have been praised as “the musical equivalent of Monet’s Tiger Lilies.”

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At first glance, Jo Davidson appears to be the quintessential city girl. Take a moment to listen, though, and you’ll hear a deeper story. A multi-talented musician, composer, and instrumentalist, Jo makes her home in New York City, but her heart is rooted in wilder places. “The great thing about the City is that you are free to be out of the box. The pace is exciting and hedonistic, and it has a distinct pulse.” At the same time, she embraces her need to connect with the natural world for a sense of peace and creativity. “There is nothing more inspiring than nature,” Jo tells me. “It is the thread woven into everything we create.”

Jo’s music has appeared in many movies, television shows, and is played on top radio stations nationwide. She was featured on an Oprah compilation CD, and her music has been recorded by artists such as Meat Loaf. Her CDs include Kiss Me There, The Simply Said Sessions and two soul-stirring instrumental albums, Tell the Story and Merry Christmas & Happy New York.

Jo is also a photographer and hosts her own online radio show called Zentertainment Talk Radio. “It’s all about exploring possibilities and inspiring others with new ways of thinking and being,” she says. This show was born out of Jo’s own personal struggle with an illness called CFIDS/ME (Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome/Myalgic Encephaloyelitis). “It is my way of making something possible for myself when many other paths at the moment are not.”

Zentertainment Talk Radio features interviews with best-selling authors, healers, environmental activists, and others who have overcome and learned through adversity. “This is a place to laugh, heal, learn, be inspired, and get connected.”

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If that’s not farmgirl spirit, I don’t know what is! That’s why Jo was naturally drawn to MaryJanesFarm. “MaryJane keeps us connected. Her magazine appeals to the part of me that wants to slow down, that wants to live in sync with the seasons. I made biscuits using MaryJane’s Budget Mix, and my whole family agreed that they were the best biscuits in the world. MaryJane even makes me want to iron, and you have NO idea how big that is! Making a difference in the world really can start with one person. MaryJane is such an example of this.”

And making a dream come true starts with taking one step. “Even if you can only see what is right in front of you, take that one step. The future is made up of a bunch of moments called NOW. The sun sets, the sun rises—always, it rises. And in the morning, we have biscuits!”

You can listen to Zentertainment Talk Radio anytime at Zentertainment.org. While there, you can also listen to clips of Jo’s songs and order her CDs. Jo posts listeners’ stories, photos, poems, and quotes on her website, and she encourages all farmgirls to share.

 

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Bird Song

Last summer, I shared a little tweet (literally) from my morning windowsill …

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Photo by Geoff Clarke via Wikimedia Commons

The “tweet” I’m talking about was the song of a Yellow Warbler who was frequenting the trees around my farm.

I recognize the songs of the warblers and several other species that sing the praises of the daily sunrise, but there are feathered farm friends whose voices I don’t know, so I was excited to discover Bird Song Hero.

Want to know what it is?

You may be surprised to learn that Bird Song Hero is an online game (you never thought of me as a “gamer,” did you?).

Granted, I’m not one to linger on the computer, but this game is really more of a fun tool, and it doesn’t take long to play. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology created Bird Song Hero to help bird watchers learn 50 common bird songs using a technique employed by the pros.

“Bird Song Hero trains you to interpret spectrograms, the sound visualizations scientists use to help them understand sound patterns,” explains the Cornell crew. “Spectrograms are used in the matching game to enlist your visual brain in identifying bird songs.”

Here’s the video that introduces Bird Song Hero and prepares you to play. It might take a moment to load, but it’s well worth it. When you get to the song of the black-capped chickadee, you’ll love the way I’ve always remembered its song: “Who did it?” “Who did it?” “Who did it?”

Visit Bird Song Hero to try the full chirping challenge.