Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Sabrina Scheerer!!!

Sabrina Scheerer (sobyn, #3275) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Beginner Level Crochet Merit Badge!

“1. I already know how to crochet.

2. I made chicken-themed pot holders for my project. These were double layered and required the two layers being crocheted together. It was fun and took me about 5 hours to make the mom and two babies. I also made the amigurumi chick in egg, all of these were for an MJF chatroom swap!

3. I taught my daughter to crochet. We did a simple dishrag with double crochet stitches. I got a picture of her working on it. She decided it would be better as a baby blanket than a dishrag!

It was fun to explore new crochet techniques and to teach my daughter. I look forward to the other levels of this badge.”

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,188 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—8,837 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ 

For this week’s Outpost/Pampered Pets Beginner Level Merit Badge, I was inspired by my new pooch, Mr. Darcy. A lovely (and loving) black Labradoodle, Mr. Darcy was having some joint problems, and some skin problems. Also, he has a flatulence issue that’s eye-watering, to say the least.

Labradoodle by Guy Frankland via Flickr

While I had made a commitment to myself to read food labels, watch my health and diet, switch to organic living, and take my supplements, I hadn’t actually applied my knowledge to my four-legged friends yet.

Mr. Darcy looked up at me, woefully, from his bowl of crunchy, dry, soy-based nuggets one evening. I swallowed my locally sourced rainbow trout and felt guilty.

Not guilty enough to fry him up one of his own, mind you, but darned close. Close enough to let him lick my plate, and close enough to make me promise he wouldn’t have to finish that 50-pound sack of questionable dog food languishing in my garage.

My quest for natural pet care was afoot. As I absentmindedly scratched Mr. Darcy behind his ears the next morning (trying politely to ignore his serious dandruff problem) I thumbed through the yellow pages, which in this day and age means I was surfing the web. First I checked out some testimonies and stories from pet owners who had switched to holistic and natural veterinary habits.

In the beginning, I wasn’t quite sure I understood the idea: would they be sticking needles in Mr. Darcy (I didn’t think he’d go for acupuncture),

Photo by Kyle Hunter via Wikimedia Commons

lighting candles,

Photo by Sander van der Wel via Wikimedia Commons

and practicing yoga with him (not with those hips of his),

Photo by Caroline Klebl via Wikimedia Commons

or chanting things while lighting feathers (he does love a good chicken feather)?

Types de plumes. Larousse pour tous, 1907-1910 via Wikimedia Commons

Naturally, I was being overly dramatic in my assumptions, and I learned this from the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association:

“The (AMVMA) explores and supports alternative and complementary approaches to veterinary healthcare and is dedicated to integrating all aspects of animal wellness in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.” The techniques promoted in holistic medicine are minimally invasive and incorporate patient well-being, lifestyle, and stress reduction. Holistic thinking is centered on love, empathy and respect. Use of blood tests, x-rays, and similar objective diagnostic techniques is minimized in favor of sensitivity to the animal. Nearly every form of medicine and therapy used in alternative medicine for humans is also used in holistic veterinary medicine.

A healthy diet free of additives is central to a holistic approach. Holistic veterinarians believe that, through nutrition, most disease can be prevented.”

Why, that didn’t sound weird at all! In fact, it sounded like common sense. Excitedly, Mr. Darcy and I booked our first appointment with a recommended holistic vet. Although, to be honest, since getting rid of our nasty bag of toxic additives we used to call food, and supplementing with more healthy fare, I’m not sure we’ll even need that appointment … Mr. Darcy’s skin is getting glossy and smooth (and dandruff free) and his joints seem to be those of a puppy’s again. Plus, he hasn’t cleared a room in over a week, if you know what I mean.

Coincidence? You decide.

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Starletta Schipp!!!

Starletta Schipp (#1927) has received a certificate of achievement in Cleaning Up for earning a Beginner Level Going Green Merit Badge!

“I started by collecting all the non-green cleaning products in my home and ended up with a whole laundry basket full – yikes! I spent a lot of money on cleaners.

Next, I created my mission statement: Continue reading →

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,188 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—8,837 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ 

For this week’s Make It Easy/Candlemaking Beginning Level Merit Badge, I burned my collection of store-bought candles down to the nubbins. Nubs? Stubs? Well, no matter; the point is, waste not, want not, so although I don’t intend to purchase a lot of chemical-laden candles anymore, I still wanted to use up the old stuff (and recycle the containers, of course … wink, wink, nudge, nudge). With the rather confusing and somewhat headache-inducing aroma of Peach-Gardenia-Pine-Maple-Cotton lingering throughout my living room, I settled down for a long winter’s nap some serious researching into the lost art of candlemaking. Three pieces of knowledge were needed for Yours Truly to earn this Beginning Level Badge and I was hot to trot. I was also hot because of all the smoke, but that’s probably a coincidence.

• What kind of wax should I use (or maybe even more importantly, not use)? It turns out, in my digging for the truth, that there are several options. Among the most popular: soy-based, paraffin blend, beeswax, vegetable, and coconut. Now it doesn’t take an Expert Level badge earner to be a little wary of the paraffin wax. (Can I get an amen, sisters?) Paraffin emits all sorts of chemical-laced odors, and that’s not surprising, given that it’s basically a compound of mineral (crude) oil. And if I’m gonna burn my house down while attempting to mask the smell of my jogging shoes, I want it to be organic smoke, right? Ha ha, just a little candle humor there.
• What kind of smelly good stuff should I use? Behind Door #1 we have: essential oils. These come in just about every scent your proboscis can imagine, and if you can’t find the one you’re looking for, you can mix and match. They are a little on the spendy side though, so unless you are, say, making two dozen tea lights and you don’t care that they’re all French Vanilla, you can go for Door #2: open up your pantry/backdoor/garden gate. Lavender … pine needles … coffee beans … cinnamon. But take it from me, not all together in one candle. Lilac Pancakes are just weird. Voice of experience here.
• What kind of coloring should I use? Those leftover tabs of dye from last Easter’s egg debacle? Food coloring? Organic food coloring? Those just might be the bee’s knees (minus the Easter-egg dye), but you know what they’ve been using to dye candles for centuries? Things like paprika, comfrey, beets, tea, rosehip powder, lavender, and spirulina powder. Well, unless you’re looking for a neon green, glow-in-the-dark, totally unnatural color, of course. But if you are, you probably wouldn’t be reading this, would you, my little all-natural beauties?

Armed to the teeth (or rather nose) with my education, I was all set (and uber-excited) to put my information into motion. And my motion into a potion. And my potion into … lotion? Nah, that’s a different badge. Candlemaking Beginner Level Badge: check! Candlemaking Intermediate Level Badge: coming right up …

Sororal (suh-ROHR-uhl): of, relating to, or characteristic of a sister or sisterhood; sisterly.

Photo by mrgreen09 via Wikimedia Commons

Amen to that, sister.

Find out about our Farmgirl Sisterhood here. We’re 6,000 strong and growing!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Katie Wright!!!

Katie Wright (#5600) has received a certificate of achievement in Cleaning Up for earning a Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert Level Shopping Green Merit Badge!

For my Beginner badge:

“I have used reusable bags for years and enjoy them. I also use two wonderful baskets, one long, with a low handle, and sturdy (pretty blues), and the other made by local Amish people with a wooden bottom and leather straps. When I walk into County Market, they see me coming and some of the younger ones call me the “basket lady,” not bag lady, even if I have bags also.

I have some purchased bags for shopping, one even from Africa, but I enjoy the ones I have sewn and also crocheted and lined. I keep them stacked in my baskets in the trunk of my car. Even my husband has begun using them and says that he just doesn’t like those “plastic” bags anymore. I even take my baskets into auctions with me. So, yes, I have at least six bags and the two baskets I use faithfully.

For my Intermediate badge:

I make a mixture of Dawn dish soap and vinegar, which I use to clean counters, bathrooms, and cutting boards. I don’t like the smell of many purchased products, plus they are expensive.

It benefits me to use this product instead of purchased products, not just because it is less expensive, but the smell does not affect me like some purchased products. I found some years ago when my asthma got worse that much of the problem was smells from the toxic ingredients in cleaning products as well as health and beauty products. At that time, I started to go green with things and am happy that my asthma is better due to it.

For my Expert badge:

I do not belong to a local farmgirl group, as I have yet to find one in my rural northeast Missouri area. I do, however, glamp and have rural country women who enjoy my love of camping, but who are not yet convinced to join the Sisterhood. With that said, I earned this badge by using reusable bags, making reusable bags, and sharing them with friends, plus giving them out to local shoppers randomly in grocery carts with a note to use reusable instead of plastic.

I was able to receive the joy of giving and also the joy of watching people pick up a cart and take up the bag, read the note with it, and smile. I also saw some customers talking with each other about their free bags and then later at the cashier, telling them about the free bag and that they planned to use it again and again.

My thought is that I having used reusable bags for a long time, even having my husband be a believer in them, and am stunned at how many people still use the plastic bags given at the stores. I am always sad to see so many bags go out in carts, each bag only having a few items in each. What a waste of our resources. I continue to preach and teach by example the using of reusable. I have my daughter-in-love now using reusable bags, and she has also become a recycle person (I believe my grandson helped with those ideas, as he has helped this grandma take recycling into town).”