You know that pondering tilt of the head a person gives a work of art they’ve just completed? Writing about your life is that exactly. You step back, pick up your paint brush, apply a dab of compassion here, a brush stroke of flair over there. Putting your life on canvas allows you to see what your life looks like through the eyes of others.
Going Granny (actually my grandkids call me Nanny) is my best achievement yet! Here’s a phone message my barely two-year grandgirl left for me on my 58th b-day. I guarantee it; this will make your day.
to stop and smell the flowers. Just a friendly reminder from Miss Mia, who had no idea the adult meaning behind it when she asked me as we rushed through our day if she could please stop and smell the flowers.
Appears that Miss Mia and I are on the same page; I hope she always keeps that nature~first spirit:-)
Mia is so right to stop and enjoy those daffodils! They just scream Spring and happiness and beg for someone to stop and enjoy their subtle fragrance.
How we always learn something from the younger ones!
Hubs took a load of bedding and fixtures to our store in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, yesterday. Why?
“They un-paved paradise and they put up an awesome park … oh, lalalala.”
I Love this kind of news! Sounds better for all mankind…& wildlife too! And your employees can now take lunch or a break in a nice green setting. Sounds great for adults & kids alike:-) Hope you enjoy your new indoor/outdoor spaces!
How exciting….more Mary Jane!
Please tell me that the store will be open the weekend of 6/7-6/9???? I am heading out to Idaho all the way from New York, to meet up with some glamping farmgirls, and have plans of visiting the store. Oh please tell me it’ll be open?????
Mary Jane, I am currently planning a trip to Idaho to spend time with my friend and visiting your store in Coeur d’Alene is at the top of the list of “going to do”! At present we are talking about my visit being sometime in the 3rd week of July!
I so remember “They Paved Paradise and put up a Parking Lot” wafting through the dorm hallways! It felt empowering to be a part of the early 1970s when our generation felt like we were so “enlightened” and going to make the world a better place. I am not sure we were very successful!
Yup, I’m with Laurie . . . will be LITERALLY! “Birdie” and I plan to take Laurie down to your store and check it out. We were there in 2011, but it’ll be exciting to see your changes. So, I can tell you that these THREE FARMGIRLS are headed your way that weekend!!!!! And, any other farmgirls we can find along the way!!
‘Twill be exciting!
CJ
I consider myself so lucky that I will be MOVING to that area this year! Can’t wait until your store is just down the road 🙂
Thanks Mary Jane- I just breathed a sigh of relief! Lord knows I certainly wouldn’t want to come all the way to Idaho and not get my fix of Mary Jane! LOL
CJ, Robin and I will definately be there, and of course we will be doing our glamping thing all weekend long together. I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. After all the fun I had with CJ, Robin and the other farmgals in Arizona, I just couldn’t help myself, and had to meet up with them again in Idaho. Oh how I would LOVE to meet up with you too!
Hugs,
Pingback: Sweet Dreams, Little Store! | Raising Jane Journal
Unpaving paradise … I think Ft. Collins is headed in the opposite direction. http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2016/04/19/fort-collins-council-woodward-silos/83237676/
I am having much difficulty finding out if your store in Coeur d’Alene is open yet. There is nothing to indicate on your website. The phone number listed does not work. I stopped by in early May rather than bother your privacy at your farm because the website suggested that was a better idea. There is one brief yelp review that someone had actually shopped there but I still don’t know if it is worth the trek from Montana?
Can you inform me please? Hours of operation if indeed it is operating?
What were my son Brian, SIL Lucas, and the guys from our food facility hauling onto the second floor of our building yesterday?
Why, my very own crafting …
bed!
Years ago, I found a gorgeous brass bed in an antique store, but when I got it home to put into one of my B & B units, it was an odd size. Sized in between a twin and a double bed, I couldn’t find a mattress to fit it. Planter box? Nah, too gorgeous to be outside. As I was finishing up my new Pay Dirt Farm School classroom where I plan to teach sewing classes, I thought, “Why not turn it into a crafting table on wheels?”
Right after it was put into place (it wouldn’t fit up the staircase—the reason my husband lifted it with the tractor to the height of our guys waiting on the roof), we received an order for a pair of our Raising Jane knickers. So Saralou, our resident seamstress, crafter, and graphic designer, gave my idea a test run.
I figure a bed is all about dreams, right? I dream a world in which I teach dozens of young women the joy of sewing, including my grandgirls. How and when did you learn to sew?
Love the bed/table! I know very little about sewing, but oh so want to learn! How I wish I lived closer…
This is a great way to use an antique bed with the limitations you discovered. I learned to sew with a needle and thread when I was about 8 years old. By the time I was 12, and entering the teen years, madras shift dresses were all the rage and I wanted one. My Mom used the opportunity to teach me to use the sewing machine and I made my first madras jumper. It was an easy pattern and I was thrilled! I so remember proudly wearing it to school with a yellow peter pan collared shirt. There were compliments and I was hooked on sewing. Your idea of a sewing school is a wonderful idea!!
That is beautiful!!! Great idea and great plan!
CJ
How fun! And a great way to repurpose a bed. The best part is that you can make the table to your height. Hmmm. I’ll be bargain shopping soon!
I think it was in home ec, in junior High and High School. Then later I took a 5credit, 5 day a week class in college (Cal Poly, fondly known as Cow Poly). I haven’t sewn much since, but I want to mend things, and make aprons. I also want to make flannel nightgowns with PRESHRUNK MATERIAL. Apparently the clothing industry doesn’t know about preshrinking flannel (@#*&%).
I’m inspired now to try other things too.
I learned at about 8 yrs of age from my Mom was a 4-H leader and an amazing woman who knew how to do almost everything besides being an accomplished seamstress.
I began I’d guess around the age of ten making clothes for my barbie. Then it was home ec in grade school four years, then all through high school and soon after began sewing for others as well. Although I think I was born with a needle in hand. I remember making my own dresses all through grade school.
Took my first sewing lesson in 9th grade home economics class…..so many years ago. Been hooked ever since.
Love this idea…awesome! My grandma, where I stayed quite often, had a box full of scrapes and sewing stuff we could play with whenever we wanted to. Later when I was like 12 she showed me how to do a 9 block quilt. I have my great grandmothers sewing machine. Wish I could use it more 🙁
I took sewing in high school but mainly I learned from my Mom who made everything from bed sheets to Bras. Sewing was my salvation after my husband had a heart attack followed by a stroke and I couldn’t leave him alone. Now I have given up sewing, but I did that one other time as well. I will pick it up again at some point. (Darned computer takes up all my time. haha)
I love your idea of using the brass bed for a crafting table.. Perfect. I too have a brass bed with wierd rails but the right size. The rails are upside down so the springs set on top instead of down in. Son-in-law came up with the idea of using L brackets to hold the springs in place. Works like a charm.
I started sewing in the 7th grade hom ec class and I’m still sewing. Have been sewing for over 50 yrs and its one of my favorite things to do. Love what you did with the bed frame. I agree it is much too nice to keep outside.
Love the bed and the table idea!! I was 9 yrs old when I begged my mom to let me so something for me. She had already let me use the sewing machine to work on doll clothes. She finally bought me blue and white check material for a blouse and a pattern and said ok here it is. She would check on me but let me do it all by myself. Wonderful memories.
I learned to embroider at an early age. It’s a funny story. I must’ve been been a precocious child. My Mother ironed on designs to several tea towels. I still remember the look on her face when I finished them in one day. It was a look of horror and surprise from one who’d hoped to keep me busy for a lot longer than that. As for sewing, I learned in high school and make scrub tops to wear to work. Wonderful work table.
I love it! You can hang quilts on the head and footrails while creating new projects. Lovely!
I learned to sew when I was about six years old, at my mother’s knee, so to speak. I started by hand (and still have one of my first projects – an apron for my dolly), and later learned to machine sew on my mother’s old Singer blackhead machine. I took summer lessons at a Singer store for five years, from age 10 to 14, then took a class my senior year in high school, where my teacher encouraged me to make a 3-piece, plaid wool suit. Later, I took some college courses in Home Ec, taught it in a high school and an adult sewing class at a college, spent two years as a Home Economist for a fabric store chain, and now teach lessons for a sewing store and in my home. I LOVE passing along my love of sewing to others!
“Picture this,” invites night-beguiled blogger Moonfairy,
“It’s a warm summer night …
tree frogs and crickets are singing their night songs,
and the full moon is casting its glow on the landscape.
You wander through the moonlight until you come to a place
that seems to glow …
It is your very own moonlight garden,
and creating one is easier than you think.”
Cloud Study, Moonlight by Albert Bierstadt, c. 1860, via Wikimedia Commons
I’m entranced—how about you?
I wandered serendipitously into the magical world of moonlit gardens while wrapping up the latest issue of MaryJanesFarm, June/July 2013.
The theme of the magazine?
“Midnight Hour.”
So, I simply had to know …
One of my absolute favorite times to sit outside is a couple of hours before sunrise. As you may have noticed from my posting times here, I am an early riser:-) I love to sit outside & just be among the quietness before dawn. Sometimes I think I hear a hummingbird fly to the feeder hanging not more than 2 feet away from me…? And in the deepest of our hot sticky, summer months a swarm of bats will circle for…? mosquitoes (we always have lots of those here) & before you know it, one of the bats will swoop around one of my planters sitting right next to me! The first time that happened I nearly fell out of my chair.
Oh, & nighttime is a wonderful time to take pictures of your garden (true, as in your article & links) the flowers look enhanced & the blemishes of the plant seem to disappear:-) I also adore my white bloomers & intentionally try to sniff-out fragrant bloomers to plant for the bees, butterflies & me. I’ve often found bumblebees hugging/latched onto a flower as early as sunrise until it warms up a bit & can fly/move. Some creatures seem to enjoy traveling through town just as the sun breaks in the morning. It is at that time of day that I have seen: a raccoon family moving along the road & seen deer walk the sidewalk as if someone had an invisible leash attached (I really thought it was a Great Dane at first sight) & have spotted a scraggly looking coyote ( & foxes) which take the same path the deer followed.
We have a friend that finds planting at night (midnight or later) very relaxing; she once planted over 100 tulips bulbs at that time. Moonlit gardens are indeed~enchanting:-)
I never heard of moonlit gardens?? Where have I been? I have seen the lovely gardens in Fort Myers at Edison and Fords homes. They are quite lovely in the daytime for sure. So many beautiful blooming flowers create amazing landscapes around the two homes. But the moonlit gardens conjure up those fantasies of fairies and gnomes and other folk figures dancing about. Something similar to these gardens are canoe trips on the area rivers at full moon when the landscapes are transformed with the river and hanging Spanish moss. It is indeed enchanting!
Reading this post reminds me of the beautiful moonflowers my mom and I raised one year. The blooms are large, smell sweet, and are a joy to photograph! They seem mysterious, but are so pretty, the white in contrast to the green vine.
How enchanting & romantic! I may try this one in the place where I plan to put my glamper on our property.
Pingback: Lunar Gardening | Raising Jane Journal
Happy National Wear your Pajamas to Work Day!
From a few of the (very comfortable) ladies of MaryJanesFarm!
Aren’t you girls just the cutest!!! Just like a farmgirl . . to wear her workboots to bed! 😀 😀
Super cute! I wear two different pajama outfits to work regulary. I get away with it because the pajamas look similar to regular pants sets and they aren’t sheer and the pants are really long and are flared and drag the floor. I kinda feel sneaky doing it like I’m getting away with something but they look so nice nobody has ever said anything to me. I guess it helps that I dress them up with jewelry and really high heels, LOL! Here’s to being comfy even at work!
All of your guesses were simply great yesterday. Your comments here and on the MaryJanesFarm Facebook page ranged from hog-bristle scraper, ice shaver, something that turns bulls into steers, vintage light-saber, kegel exerciser, old-style razor, vegetable peeler, cheese slicer, light magnifier, fancy cattle prod, colonoscopy tool, to cleaning item.
What fun! Then there were the smartie-pants that knew it all along (must be a generational thing).
Turns out … it’s a …
I really do like that design. I own a 20 year (+) Corning-ware set that I bought from Woolworth & Lothrop shortly before they went out of business years ago; I use those pieces, a lot. My CW set has handles which you can clip on for stove top use & remove for oven use but your handle looks like it could actually go into the oven(?).
For years now, I have searched for a true Corning ware shop (we use to have an outlet just across the bridge here) but cannot locate one here or online now? If I had my way, all of our food would be cooked in glass or glazed ceramic. Hubby only uses our small stove top CW pot for cooking his oatmeal:-) I’m using our CW sauce pans for oven use today & their glass domed lids. I love that you still have that nice sauce pan MaryJane & that it is in such great condition! Thanks for sharing Megan & happy treasure hunting:-)
Oh, P.S:-) I believe hubby mentioned recently that they will soon faze out Pyrex…? I really hope they don’t do away with Pyrex too. My husband bought another (just-in-case) Pyrex measuring cup for us when he first heard the news about Pyrex but this new cup already looks different & the glass is a tinge yellowish~not pristine & clear like they made them before?
How very cool !! The photo makes it so plain as to the function. It was a great idea for providing a flexible item to use with many existing dishes! Too bad they still are not readily available today.
Wow! That is really cool!
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!! What a relief to finally know it has a mate :o)
Here’s information from Wikipedia on Pyrex (and it explains why recent Pryex doesn’t hold up the same).
Older clear-glass Pyrex manufactured by Corning before 1998, Arc International’s Pyrex products, and Pyrex laboratory glassware is made of borosilicate glass. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, borosilicate Pyrex is composed of (as percentage of weight): 4.0% boron, 54.0% oxygen, 2.8% sodium, 1.1% aluminium, 37.7% silicon, and 0.3% potassium.]
According to glass supplier Pulles and Hannique, borosilicate Pyrex is made of Corning 7740 glass, and is equivalent in formulation to Schott Glass 8830 glass sold under the “Duran” brand name.[11] The composition of both Corning 7740 and Schott 8830 is given as 80.6% SiO2, 12.6% B2O3, 4.2% Na2O, 2.2% Al2O3, 0.04% Fe2O3, 0.1% CaO, 0.05% MgO, and 0.1% Cl.
Pyrex glass cookware manufactured by World Kitchen is made of tempered soda-lime glass instead of borosilicate.[12] World Kitchen justified this change by stating that soda-lime glass was cheaper to produce, is the most common form of glass used in bakeware in the US, and that it also had higher mechanical strength than borosilicate—making it more resistant to breakage when dropped, which it believed to be the most common cause of breakage in glass bakeware. Unlike borosilicate, it is not as heat resistant, leading to an increase in breakage from heat stress.
The differences between Pyrex products depending on manufacturer has also led to safety issues—in 2010, the Consumer Product Safety Commission received several complaints by users reporting that their Pyrex glassware had shattered at high temperatures. The consumer affairs magazine Consumer Reports investigated the matter after obtaining copies of the complaints, determining that the complainants had in fact been using World Kitchen-produced Pyrex products, and had incorrectly assumed that they would have the same characteristics and strength as their borosilicate counterparts.
Thanks for the information on Pyrex, Vivian! It seems nearly everything nowadays is being made with cheaper quality material. I truly do not mind paying extra for a product that will more than likely last a lifetime & won’t poison us in the process.
Most of the knock-off Corning-Ware products in my home have cracked at oven temperatures higher than 350 degrees. The cracking in & of itself is dangerous enough but there is also the possibility of the interior materials (most likely made with poisonous products) seeping through the tiniest of cracks & into our cooked food.
…Now, I’m just waiting for our recycling center to post a day for accepting this kind of…garbage.
Have you ever sat with someone who had an inquisitive ear (of corn?) and you’ve tried to explain what scientists are doing to our food to create genetically modified organisms?
If you’ve ever struggled to keep that explanation under 5 minutes, I hear ya.
Watch this one-minute excerpt from the Genetic Roulette movie for a pear-ed down explanation.
This makes me so sad, it’s science gone very bad. Brings to mind the old saying, “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”. Thank you for bringing this out into the public awareness zone & reminding everyone just what’s at stake.
These latest discussions here about GMOs have helped me understand it even better. Thanks Mary Jane for sharing all of the information lately. Greatly appreciated!
I loved this. Thank you Mary Jane for sharing once again with all of us! I have terrible allergic reactions to GMO products. I’ve always thought that my reaction to beef was in direct relation to all the pesticides, etc. Thank goodness that we garden, can, freeze, hunt & fish. On a similar note, my grandgirl was diagnosed with copper poisoning last year from the water in their town of Columbus, IN. She ended up in the ER when her vomit was blue. The ER docs called the CDC for more information to help her. The CDC told the docs that with all the pesticides & herbicides running off from the farms into community wells, it is no wonder. The worst states are Indiana & Iowa. She now drinks only purified water including at school.
I heard a few weeks ago (on a cooking show!) that the pesticide GMOs in corn cause the insects who bite into it to intestinally explode. And I wondered, “Is this why I often have an upset stomach after eating tortillas, especially?” So, I completely cut corn out of my diet and only let a bit of organic back into it recently. And, yes! I feel super again.
This video really supports my theory!
Terry, I’m so sorry about your granddaughter; we live in farm country, too, and have a whole house water filter for our “city” water, which is, frankly, disgusting!
Check out the envelopes piling up in Brian’s office that have come recently with SASE requests for a free bumper sticker for International Glamping Weekend.
Glamping Farmgirl mail is adorable!! So creative!!
When we’re looking for photo props, we go rummaging around the farm and through what we call “the prop room.” Mom has collected some fabulous vintage items over the years. We do, however, come across some strange things. This particular item raised some eyebrows and garnered some confused stares this week.
We took turns making guesses. (Of course, Mom knows what it is.) Now, it’s your turn! One end is thick glass.
Vegetable peeler??
I’m not sure? It looks like a handle for…something? Can’t quite make out the writing on the metal part? Looks like it’s in good condition? Can you give us a guesstimate on the age of the item too, once you reveal its purpose? Thanks
Looks an awful lot like the handles that were made for Corning Ware baking dishes, so you use them on the stove top as well.
I’m guessing Cheese Slicer.
The cheese slicer is wrong. Is using the internet cheating? I found it, but I don’t want to spoil it. It’s fun seeing what everyone comes up with. So keep guessing everyone.
I believe that is a removable skillet handle.
I found that old glass handle in an antique shop and I tried it on every vintage dish I have (and I’ve got a’plenty) … but no fit. It was like going through ye oldtyme fairytale village and trying to find the right foot for Cinderella’s glass slipper :o) I’d LOVE to know what that pretty old handle FITS!!!
This is mysterious. Would it have something to do with heating or cooling something where the glass part is inserted?
Is it for taking pie plates out of the oven?
It looks like it may have been usable to magnify light in some way.
It’s some kind of tool. The thingy on the side has a release that works the two prongs. The glass would transfer heat? I still can’t figure the whole thing out yet? Some kind of farm tool….fancy cattle prod?
Pyrex baking/ cook pot handle. I have one and still use it!
Oh Heather, You got it!! I have one too! It’s the oddest looking thing, especially when you come across one in an antique store without a pot to go with it — makes people say “what in the world is this!”.. lol.
Pingback: What IS this thing? Revealed | Raising Jane Journal
Before I saw the answer I would have said a magnifying tool ! Thanks, it was fun trying to figure it out. Hey, maybe we should alternate asking what something is but about things we have that we really don’t know what it is ! I must admit I have several ” Things” that I picked up here and there just because I liked it, and still don’t know it’s use! Thanks, Tami jo
Oh, I like this view! What’s growing in your garden patch? Nice rolling hills of green you have there & I think I see a pond to the left just beyond the tree? And could that be an outhouse or a tool shed behind the garden? Both seem like a good choice:-)
How far is this spot from your home? And it looks like you may have another garden patch on the other side of the bend? Do you keep a garden patch in various spots along the driveway? Nice idea & great view too.
The front, freshly-mulched patch is one of two lovage crops that we dry and put into our packaged meals. Further down is a new perennial flower patch and in between still needs to be rototilled but it hasn’t dried out enough yet. And in the distance is empty infinity! The shed is our Country Club/tool shed. I took the pic from the top floor of our facility.
Wow, stunningly beautiful! How lucky you are to have such a view to enjoy. Idaho looks to be so rugged and peaceful all mixed together. I cannot wait to see some of the state myself this summer! Whoop!!
Now THAT’S some wide open… so beautiful MJ… Someday I’ll come see you there!
We’ll keep a tent flap open for you!
PERFECT! 🙂