Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
For the second week in a row, my featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Mary Fitzpatrick!
“There is a local store that sells cultures and other cheese-making supplies. She also sells cultures to make sour cream, yogurt, and Keifer grains, as well as teaches classes on cheese-making. I have always known that once I moved to our new hobby farm and I would have access to raw milk, that I would want to learn how to make all of the above. Now that I am recently retired and settled on our hobby farm … I’m excited to learn all I can and make my own. I first started with yogurt. My first attempt was a disaster; I threw it out and tried again. My second attempt was awesome! I first started by warming the milk.
Saralou and Ace were carpooling last week when, with a sudden stop, they pulled over to see up close a little fella who was crossing the road S-L-O-W-L-Y. He almost got pancaked by a car!
They scooped him up and brought him to the farm. As it turns out, Yertle, as we call him (from the Dr. Seuss book, Yertle the Turtle) is the only turtle breed indigenous to the state of Idaho.
Check out what’s under the hood! Pretty fantastic markings. Apparently it’s turtle mating season right now, so this guy was probably crossing the road to find a lady friend. Why did the turtle cross the road?
After a fun photo shoot we released him (he wasn’t a huge fan of the indoors) in the pond here at the farm. He’ll sure have a good time this summer eating the enormous amounts of tadpoles that hatch there.
I’m thinking I better not miss this one. How about you? The marriage of Junkin’ + Glampin’ is happenin’ June 14 & 15 on Valley Chapel Road in Walla Walla, Washington, and you’re invited. Check it out at loveofjunk.com and then get yourself signed up for one of their campsites or just auto on over for a weekend of junkin’ (better bring an empty trunk, though).
The average cost of health care per person, per year, in the U.S. is skyrocketing. But stats show that our health, as a nation, is on a rapid decline.
So, what gives? Watch the new documentary, Escape Fire, The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare.
To watch the full documentary, you can purchase it through iTunes for $17.99 or go to their website here and click on “see the film” for more showing opportunities.
Escape Fire has already won a large number of awards, including Best Documentary (Newport Beach Film Festival), React to Film Social Issue Award (Silverdocs Film Festival), and Human Rights Award (Full Frame Film Festival). It was also nominated at the Sundance Film Festival for the Grand Jury Prize.
Leave it to a bunch of hens …
Those garrulous girls can be heard
all around the farm.
Squawk!
Is a raccoon causing the ruckus?
A weasel, perhaps? Stray dog? Barn cat? Eagle? Owl?
The uproar sends me running every time,
tripping over my feet and bushes along our pathways,
to see what’s ruffling their feathers.
And more often than not,
what do I find?
Just a coop full of cachinnating chickens …
What’s so funny?
Photo by Jeff Kramer via Wikimedia Commons
Cachinnate (KAK-i-nayt): a verb meaning to laugh very loudly or immoderately.
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits 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 and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
