Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Sherrilyn Askew!!!

Sherrilyn Askew (Sherri, #1350) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning an Expert Level Putting Away for Winter Merit Badge!

“I have canned tomatoes, peppers, onions, carrots, cucumbers (ad nauseam), pears, apples, pumpkin, and plums using either the water-bath method or the pressure canner (my grandmother’s). I posted in the chatroom about my canning endeavors. I dehydrated chicken and a variety of vegetables and herbs for later use, and froze countless blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries. Using my dehydrated chicken, vegetables, and herbs, I made chicken soup in the crockpot. Using canned pears and frozen raspberries, I made a fruit strudel for dessert. When my folks came over midday, they helped clear the contents of the dishes.

Having things already partially prepared makes preparing meals so much easier, especially during harvest season when time is a hot commodity. My mom even paid me a compliment.

My goal has always been to have a home that smelled as good as hers always did. Hers always smelled like home-cooked food. She told me I had succeeded, and it was wonderful.”

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,065 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—8,688 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ 

For this week’s Farm Kitchen/Know Your Food Intermediate Level Merit Badge, I channeled my despair over my non-producing cucumber plants, my acorn squashes (the bugs found them delicious), and my frostbitten cherry tomatoes, into something less sorrowful: realizing I could use a CSA for some of my veggie needs.

What’s a CSA, you may ask? Is it like CSI, Miami? Uh, no. Not so much. Less violence, more arugula. Less drama, more kale. Less movie stars, and more low-profile stars (like the oh-so-humble potato).

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and it’s positively dreamy for beginning gardeners, such as Yours Truly. You support your local farmer by giving her a set amount at the beginning of the growing season, and she gives you a hand-picked bag of produce every week. While I may have grandiose dreams of perfectly flourishing gardens, they don’t always come to fruition (get it? Fruition? Fruit? Gardening? hah), and I might need some professional help.

No, not that kind. Well, maybe that kind …

While I’m working on the hue of my thumbs (while not green, they are a shade up from the black they used to be … a nice gray, if you will), I will pledge to support my friendly, local professionals. I mean, how can you possibly go wrong with homegrown, local, fresh, organic, produce? Um, yeah. You can’t.

Did you know that most supermarket produce—besides being coated in toxic chemicals and bizarre waxes—lingers in trucks and boxes for up to a year in cold storage? Whaa? By that time, those brightly colored apples you’re so happy to find for 98¢ a pound have almost no antioxidants left in them at all. And your orange juice (that sneakily doesn’t really taste like oranges anymore) has probably been sitting in a vat for months and months, only to have some orange “flavor packs” stirred in. Aged wine? Yum. Aged OJ? Ick.

Yikes, yikes, and double yikes. Here’s where changing where you get your produce comes into play. The challenge for a lot of us is we really, really like “one-stop shopping.” I mean, come on, who wants to (and who has the time to) go to several different stores for different items? Can’t we all just grab a cart and get it all at once at McWalShop?

Well, make a small change, says I. Support your local farmers, who would love to cut you off a slice of their Golden Delicious, and who would happy to assure you it came fresh from a tree only a few hours before. You’ll taste the difference, by golly, and you’ll also bask in the warm glow that’s the feeling you get when you do something beneficial for the community.

Once you’ve picked out your very own CSA, snuggle down with a bowl of fruit and a copy of The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Your brain, your heart, and your tummy will thank you.

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Emily Race!!!

Emily Race (#3591) has received a certificate of achievement in Outpost for earning an Intermediate & Expert Level Woman-at-Arms Merit Badge!

“I am applying for both the intermediate and expert badge. I have been a hunter for around 9 years. I drew a permit to hunt moose this year and began practicing with my 270 at the rifle range. I learned to be comfortable shooting accurately. I practiced at 100 and 200 yards. I also learned about different grains of bullets that could be used and cleaned my gun.

I then went hunting with my husband and found a beautiful moose.

I became very confident using and taking care of my 270. I was ready when I found the moose to make good, safe hunting choices. We now have 325 pounds of meat we processed in our freezer to feed our family for the year.”

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,065 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—8,688 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ 

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …   

For this week’s Garden Gate/Grow Where You’re Planted Intermediate Level Merit Badge, I took a good, hard look at my lawn. I narrowed my baby blues and really considered and contemplated. And then I marinated in the knowledge of what I learned …

Photo by EliOrni via Wikimedia Commons

That manicured, square shaped piece of grass in the front of your house? The one that—may I venture to guess—is not getting much use, takes up a lot of water to keep green, needs mowing at inopportune times, and doesn’t seem to have a point in life. Am I being impudent? (Look who’s been brushing up on her grammar. Over here! Pick me!) Perhaps you’re not as bad as I am at neglecting the space out your front window, but if you are, let’s chat.

Front lawns are pretty enough, I suppose. But they’re a surprising amount of work for a little patch of green. All that watering and mowing and removing of crabgrass or dandelions (although I like to let ‘em live if I ‘fess up. I’m a closet dandelion lover).

Lawn Mower Girl via Wikimedia Commons

But, Jane, you say, I need a place for the kids to play! Can’t roughhouse in a garden, can they? Well, says I, let’s be honest. Half of us are guilty of spraying our patches of lawn with toxic chemicals just to keep it pretty and green (and keep the homeowner’s association from frowning at us). Did you know that 100 million pounds of pesticides are used on lawns and gardens each year, many of them highly toxic to humans and pets? The CDC studied over 9,000 people nationwide and found pesticides in ALL of them; the average person tested for 13 of the 23 pesticides tested.

Do we really want the rugrats playing on all that nastiness?

There are lots of alternatives to just plain grass. Let’s explore some, shall we, my little chickadees?

• Raised beds for veggies

Photo by B. Blechmann via Wikimedia Commons

• Rock garden
• Wildflower patch

Photo, Bureau of Land Management via Wikimedia Commons

• Shrubberies (go all Edward Scissorhands)

Photo by Mat Fascione via Wikimedia Commons

• Cobblestones in a pathway or even a mini labyrinth maze
• Fruit trees
• Lawn art (doesn’t have to be kitschy … although it could be!)

Photo by April222 via Wikimedia Commons

• Move some of your backyard life into the front. If your chickens have a pretty fabulous coop and they like to visit with the wandering pedestrians, move them out front. Have nice patio furniture? Don’t hide it in the back; be sociable and put it in the front. Kids have a swingset? I bet it would do your senior citizens heart’s good to watch them play from across the street.
• Herb plants, such as thyme, rosemary, mint, oregano, basil, etc. They smell a-MAY-zing when it rains! (And—helpful hint—they are perennials. Yay!)

Photo by vizpix via Flickr

• Groundcovers such as: Irish Moss, Creeping Jenny (gosh, just the name alone makes me want some), Pretty Lamium, Blue Star Creeper, Green Carpet, Stone Crop, Creeping Wire Vine, Viola, Fleur de Lawn, Black Scallop Bugleweed, Chamomile, Pink Chintz, Elfin Thyme, Snow-in-Summer, Hardy Ice Plant, and Clover. Check to see which ones are native to your area and go crazy.

One of the neatest things about ground covers? A lot of them can really stand up to traffic! This isn’t your granddaddy’s lawn, with your stereotypical elderly person shouting at the neighborhood whippersnappers to get off his lawn! No way, my peeps. This is my lawn, with your stereotypical well-dressed doll shouting at the neighborhood whippersnappers to come on over! I have tea!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Heather Neeper!!!

Heather Neeper (#4701) has received a certificate of achievement in Make it Easy for earning a Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert Level Grease Chicks Merit Badge!

“Since I don’t travel many places, I changed this badge up a little. Instead of focusing on the truck, I focused on the skid loader. It’s the most important piece of machinery on the dairy farm!

I had my husband show me where everything was and then I made sure to check all the fluids—oil, hydraulic, and coolant every week, along with checking the tire pressure. I did not keep track of the hour usage, since it varies greatly, depending on what we’re doing—like making hay, for instance.

Next stop: changing the oil. Surprisingly, it is much easier to change the oil in the skid loader than it is in my car! The oil plug is conveniently located on the skid loader rather than having to jack it up and climb under it like my car. And we save the oil for a friend that has an oil burner on his farm.

For the expert level of this badge I stuck with maintaining the skid loader. After learning to check the fluids and change the oil, I learned to change the filters—oil, fuel, and air—change tires, and grease all the bearings.

It’s very satisfying to know that I can properly care for the most valuable machine on the farm.”

Great job Heather! It’s always heartening to see a Sister taking the reins on the farm.

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is …Mary Jo Boyd!!!

Mary Jo Boyd (Quiltsister413, #5559) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning an Expert Level Knitting Merit Badge!

“While in Lincoln, NE for a business conference, my friend and I stopped in to the local yarn store and found an adorable shawl pattern that we both had to make. We purchased two skeins of Crazy yarn and got to work right away in our hotel room. It took me about a month, but I finished it.

I think it went well. The pattern was by far the most challenging one I have tried, but I enjoyed knitting a little each night and watching it grow. I got to use circular needles for the first time and found I really loved them. The edge called for an I-cord bind off which was completely new to me. Youtube videos are so helpful in these situations! I found several videos to help me through and it turned out very nice.

I taught four ladies how to knit at our last Faithful Farm Girl meeting. Each of the ladies brought size 7 knitting needles and some practice yarn and I taught them how to tie a slip knot, do a long tail cast on, how to knit and how to purl. I also provided them with two patterns for knitting dishcloths and they are off and running…or is that knitting.

The fifth person I taught to knit is actually my friend and knitting teacher. I actually got to teach her two techniques I had learned that she didn’t know. How cool is that! I taught her the long tail cast on method and also a new way to add a new color or skein in the middle of your project. She now uses both new techniques and loves them!”

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Erin McBride!!!

Erin McBride (#3762) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a Beginner & Intermediate Level Herbs Merit Badge!

“My herb garden this year had sage, rosemary, mint, basil, Greek basil, purple basil, oregano, cilantro, marjoram, chives, and mustard. The sage did not grow very well, so I didn’t end up harvesting it, but it did grow a little. Rosemary, I use for many recipes, such as crockpot rosemary apple chicken, minestrone, and rosemary bread. Mint is used to garnish, and I have plans to make a shrub with it. Basil, I use on pizza; roasted tomatoes, for freezer sauce and any recipe that calls for it. Greek basil, I made pesto out of, and I currently have some drying in my kitchen. Purple basil is drying in the kitchen, also. Oregano is used for roasted tomatoes (freezer sauce) and any recipe calling for it. Cilantro, I use for guacamole and a few crockpot recipes. Marjoram, I will dry for pizza sauce. Chives are used for buffalo turkey burgers, scrambled eggs, and my kids love to just grab a bit and chew on it. The mustard, I’m really not sure what to do with. I planted it because I had the seeds, but the only thing I’ve read about it is that it’s good ground cover and natural mulch for other plants. So I might try that.

I’ve loved my herb garden this summer. It’s right next to our side door, so I see it every time I walk out of the house. It always makes me happy. I love the fact that I’m drying my own herbs. I love that, for a little while longer at least, I can just walk out my back door and snip some rosemary, chives, or basil. Most of what I need is right there. I have all the usual suspects herb-wise for my recipes, and that’s so convenient and wonderful.”

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,035 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—8,663 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ