Here’s where you can count on me for a quick pick-me-up post from one of my 12 categories, penned in honor of us girls and that letter of the alphabet we’ve all laid claim to, G. My goal is to gladden your heart and add some glisten to your life.
I meant to run Ashley’s hot cross bunnies recipe this morning so you’d have time to work it into your Easter menu. I’ll leave the chili up just in case someone saw the luscious photos and decided it was perfect for Saturday night’s movie fest.
Here’s a hint from Modern Farmer: “Home to around 3,000 people and roughly half-a-million sheep, [this] British territory is a major wool producer. Besides being one of the only places in the world where sheep and penguins routinely share pasture, [this place] bears the distinction as the nation with the highest percentage of certified organic land.”
If you’re thinking New Zealand …
Photo by MartinStr via Pixabay
You’re close—well, hemispherically speaking, anyway—but no cigar, sister.
The location where sheep and cattle share space with penguins (and occasional beached sea lions) is some 5,200 ocean miles east of New Zealand, just around the tip of South America’s Cape Horn:
Image courtesy of Eric Gaba via Wikipedia
The Falkland Islands.
“You’ll see sheep walking right through the middle of the penguin colony, and the penguins don’t even turn a head,” Falkland farmer Mike Rendell told Modern Farmer with a chuckle. “You don’t see a cow going up and licking a penguin or anything like that, they just get on with their own lives. They don’t seem to have any issues at all.”
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Marcy Lundy!!!
Marcy Lundy (#170) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Beginner Level Cross-Stitch Merit Badge!
“I have been cross stitching for years. When I saw this pattern, I knew that I had to make it. I love cats … well, I really love all animals. And I thought this bookmark was perfect!
I love how it came out! I don’t like turning over book corners, and I just know I will use this a lot.”
There I was, surfing the Web in search of one of my old Raising Jane posts,
and Google introduced me to a group of four musically gifted mavens who call themselves
Raining Jane.
Of course, I forgot the task at hand and wandered off—ears first—to find out more.
These California songstresses, who describe their genre as “lady rock for owners of cats,” have a talent for singing from the heart in a way that dresses up ordinary details and somehow makes you want to celebrate being a woman. Or, maybe it’s just that they’re so darned good at wielding their array of instruments (guitars, cello, cajon, sitar, bass, and heavenly voices). Just beautiful.
“In an era of overnight sensations that fizzle as quickly as they spark, and a time when music seems often overshadowed by a side show of special effects, it’s a relief to know that there are still bands out there that are the real thing: bands who play their own instruments, write their own songs, and have the musical chemistry that can only come from playing and touring together for over a decade,” the band writes on their website. “This is Raining Jane.”
The women of the band (Mai Bloomfield, Becky Gebhardt, Chaska Potter, and Mona Tavakoli) launched their musical career with a UCLA concert in 1999, and although they have received notoriety for collaborating with popular singer-songwriter Jason Mraz since 2007, they hold their own with the soulful solidarity of sisterhood and have four independent albums under their belts.
Here’s one of their older tunes …
In addition to their musical work as a band, the Raining Jane ladies are passionate about community outreach. In 2010, they started Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles, a non-profit dedicated to empowering girls through music education.
On their Facebook page, they say, “Every morning in the Raining Jane van, we raise our teacups to toast, ‘Welcome to your life.’ We aim to make tasty lemonade out of whatever it is we can find out there in the world … We are interested in good people who like to do good things. Those things include (but are not limited to): creating, music, having fun, helping others, dancing, eating delicious food, expressing gratitude, skipping, whistling, etc.”
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.
