The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,518 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—7,451 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

For this week’s Stitching and Crafting/Aprons Merit Badge, I was super psyched to earn my Expert Level Badge. I had the perfect opportunity for it, too: a couple of my girlfriends were opening a bakery downtown and my plan was to make us matching aprons (the frillier, the better) and have us all wear them as we gave out their mouth-watering, moist, decadent, frosted cupcake samples, thereby luring in customers for life with our yumminess and our farmgirl style.

Lest you think I was only there for the cupcakes, I assure you … I am all about aprons and the movement to bring them back to everyday fashion.

And incidentally, I do enjoy the occasional cupcake.

Or three.

But anyway, I had a grand time picking out my fabrics. That, in itself, would have fulfilled the three-hour time commitment this badge requires, but perhaps you are not so shoppingly indecisive as I. I finally (and I do mean finally) quieted my inner voice that kept telling me the even more perfect calico was just around the next clearance table, and happily

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Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Sharon Demers!!!

Sharon Demers (Calicogirl, #5392) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a Beginner Level Heirlooms Forever Merit Badge!

“~When planning our garden, I shopped both online (localharvest.org) and locally after researching catalogs, specifically for heirloom variety seeds.

~I read Gardening with Heirlooms by Lynn Coulter and thoroughly enjoyed it.

~I love reading the history of the seeds that I planted. It is like opening an historic novel instead of a seed catalog.

~I thoroughly enjoyed Miss Coulter’s book. It is now on my wish list. I love how Lynn calls heirloom seeds “living antiques.” So appropriate! Also an inheritance of flavor and beauty from long ago. It caused me to remember a scene in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers with Howard Keel and Jane Powell. Adam is riding in the wagon with his bride, Milllie. Millie is excited on her journey to her new home, a cabin in the mountains. In her excitement, she tells Adam of her valuables: the Bible, another book, and a packet of seeds that her mother gave her. Oh, how we should be so excited about seeds!

Through the book, I obtained quite a bit of knowledge that I wasn’t aware of. It was nice to see that, due to their genetics, heirlooms are usually resistant to pests, diseases, and extremes of weather.

~I am happy to report that more than 5% of our garden is heirloom plantings.”

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,518 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—7,301 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

For this week’s Make It Easy/Carp-HEN-try Merit Badge, I decided to tackle a project I’d been wistfully daydreaming about for weeks. Now that the weather has cooled down a bit, I am spending even more time outside (everything from eating to reading to painting my nails to gossiping is done out of doors these days) and I’ve been eyeballing my old carport.

It’s a sad little carport. A bit tumble down, a bit unloved, it houses exactly zero cars and is nothing like a port. It’s more like a ramshackle weed patch, with a cover. But in my head—ah, in my head—it’s a lovely little outdoor patio.

Picture this: a level ground, grapes or ivy growing up over the trellis, maybe some large stepping stones, and a cute-as-a-button, bistro-style table and chairs. Maybe an old hutch as well, filled with outdoor enamelware and pitchers for iced tea. Some hanging lanterns, perhaps, or some twinkly Christmas lights? A mister for those hot summer evenings?

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Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Jennifer Knox!!!

Jennifer Knox (#4359) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning an Intermediate Level Buttoned Up Merit Badge!

“I love buttons! I have two jars of buttons that I have been collecting for a few years. I like to embellish greeting cards with buttons or create dolls and use buttons as eyes.

Buttons are wonderful to have on hand. A jar of buttons is also a simple, beautiful decoration. I plan on continuing to collect buttons.

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Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … the Krell family!!!

Alysha, Caleb, Emma, Ethan, and Paige Krell (Young Cultivators of Jessica Krell #5148) have received a certificate of achievement in Farm Kitchen for earning an Expert Level All Dried Up Merit Badge.

“We picked some raspberries and some Saskatoons with my family and our friends. Then we dried some of the berries and used some more berries to make some fruit leather.

Picking the berries was really fun! The hardest part was not eating them along the way! At home, we dried some of both kinds of berries and used them in our oatmeal the next day for breakfast!

Picking the berries was hard work, but we like to work, so it was fun.”

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Jennifer Knox!!!

Jennifer Knox (#4359) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning a Beginner Level Farmgirl Grammar Merit Badge!

“Two weeks ago, I dusted off my high school dictionary and looked up two weeks worth of new words. At first, I was bemused by this Sisyphean task, but soon I no longer yawped at the esse of these new words. I logged my new word friends into a notebook and referred to them during the two weeks.
Being a middle school Language Arts teacher, it was interesting to look up words as if given my own homework assignment. I enjoyed the small task and look forward to the coaptation of more words into my notebook.”

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,518 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—7,301 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

For this week’s Outpost/Fishing Merit Badge, I was inspired by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Yep, that’s right: that pigtailed whippersnapper who was always scampering off behind the ol’ log cabin to do some fishing. Yes, fishing. She was the quintessential American tomboy, and the kiddo sure knew how to eat. Those books always make me so hungry … mmm, fish!

The only other time I’ve tried the sport of fishing (Is it a sport? A hobby? An art form? A pastime?) was during an especially long employee barbeque, where I got bored, wandered off, offered to man a pole for a pal, fell asleep, and got a wicked sunburn. And no fish. So, I had a bit of PTSD to overcome, but I was all in. Committed. Eager to learn (and eat).

For the Beginning Level badge, I just needed to learn some fishing knots: clinch, Palomar, turle, barrel knot, and double surgeon’s loop. Who knew there were knots in fishing, anyway? Not me, said the little red hen.

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