I’m calling you out!!!! On a roll … call, here’s where you can read about the amazing accomplishments of Sisters who earn Merit Badges. “Hear YE!”
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
The featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Darla Armstrong!!!
Darla Armstrong (cowgirlup@21 #4391) has received a certificate of achievement in Outpost for earning an expert level Fishing badge.
“This summer, I caught my first Chinook salmon in a river in Haines Alaska. It was an awesome experience! I hooked three others but I never reeled them in. (This is the photo, I am with my son ).
We did not eat this fish but the night before I did and it was unreal! It totally spoiled me for fresh salmon! There is nothing like it!!”
Want to learn more about MaryJane’s Farmgirl Sisterhood? Click here.
Have you checked the energy use of your lightbulbs lately? I bet you’d be surprised to find you could be saving LOADS on electricity with the right brand. (Plus, you could earn a Cleaning Up merit badge:)
I am head-over-heels for this Philips brand of lightbulb B-E-C-A-U-S-E I have tried and tried to like fluorescent bulbs but I just can’t get used to them. I have soooooooo mourned the loss of incandescent bulbs. Guess what? This one COMPLETELY lights like an incandescent. Once it’s turned on, you can’t tell the difference. Wow. When I first discovered it—talk about exorbitant. One BULB was around $100 dollars. Like any price-minded shopper, I have been keeping my nose to the ground waiting for a price-drop. Last week, it happened. And I brought three of them home.
Winnie Nielsen says: Well, this is good to know. I am not in love with what is available either so this is well worth trial. Maybe our local Home Depot or Lowes will have them on sale over the holiday shopping season. Thanks for the update!
The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 4,649 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—5,730 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 …
Earning this badge was one I was looking forward to, and one I could have earned dozens of times over when I was just a little sprout: spending time with the senior citizens in my life. See, as a youngster, whenever I went through a phase (cheerleading, clarinet, ballet, choir, underwater basket weaving), I would take my new skills to the local retirement home for polishing. I found there to be a good mix of love and support, and tell-it-like-it-is truthfulness, disguised in blue-haired ladies and no-haired gentlemen. It was nice for them, and valuable for me. I made lots of friends of the grandparent variety, and they got a little something to look forward to after school on Fridays. At least I think they looked forward to it …
Winnie Nielsen says: Spending time with seniors is both challenging and rewarding. We are often surprised at how really hip they are! Those of the Greayesy Generation that fought in WWII have the most amazing stories to share.
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
The featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Barbara Roberts!
Barbara Roberts, (Healthy Eating #2237) has received a certificate of achievement in Farm Kitchen for earning a beginner level BakeOver MakeOver badge.
“Using MaryJane’s special recipe edition of her magazine, I tried out a few of her recipes for BakeOvers. Using what was at the end of the season from my garden, in a “must-go” manner, I put whatever I had in a base of sautéd garlic and onions and added crab meat which we had just bought. On top of that I put raw Havarti cheese which made it decadently wonderful
I took two of them (a dinner one and a dessert one) to two different Craft-in nights we had with the Farm Girls and let them try out the flavors.”
The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 4,649 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—5,730 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 …
This last weekend was the last weekend I felt good about hiking. After all, winter is coming, and though I have First Aid Kits ready in my car, I have no desire to be eaten by bears (or are they hibernating?) or get stuck in a snow drift, or miss my favorite holiday movie on the Hallmark Channel. So, I dusted off my best flannel shirt, laced up my boots, and set off on an adventure of the hiking and exploring and Merit Badge-ing type!
I was on the lookout for three things for this badge: my state tree, my state flower, and my state bird …
Terry Steinmetz says: Poor MBAJane! Poison Ivy is no fun! But she got to eat s’mores & that is always yummy!
Mary Beth Schwarz says: Good for you Jane! Part of the fun is trying to do these interesting things for the Merit Badges. Sorry I missed your S’mores! Mary Beth
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
Today’s the day … no excuses!
It is officially World Kindness Day. So all those times when you’ve heard of folks doing a Random Act of Kindness or RAOK and thought you ought to do the same, today is your day—the perfect day to surprise someone with a little bit of kindness. Hmm, what will it be and who will be the unsuspecting recipient? Kind of fun to go about your day with the intent to make someone else’s!
Megan says: 🙂
I didn’t know kindness had a day of its own. 🙂 Thanks for the notice. I have a little project going on here that fits the theme. The other day on the way home, I noticed an injured dove walking lamely along the road. Apparently, she’d been grazed by a vehicle. She didn’t appear to be mortally wounded. I placed her inside my jacket to quiet her and took her home. Inside of 10 minutes (after being put into a chicken cage), she was eating and drinking. So began this little re-hab project. I don’t know if she will be able to fly again. I hope so, I’d like to set her free. I feed lots of doves on open feeders mounted on my garden-yard fence. They are Collared Doves that resemble Mourning and Turtle doves. If this little beauty [she’s a she] does not heal up as hoped, she may get to be a pet. I had no idea how popular doves are as pets … nor how easily tamed they are … nor how long-lived they are. Well, anyway … kindness is a two way thing. It is as good for the giver as the receiver 🙂
Megan says: I agree! I so enjoyed sending/sharing little words of appreciation to friends and loved ones all day. It can only perpetuate a good mood to go through the day thinking of all the ways you appreciate folks! And gorgeous little birdies that survived the worst of it. 🙂 Glad to hear your little gal is doing well.
Winnie Nielsen says: What a great reminder that we should make every day a day of RAOK !!
Megan says: I agree! Yesterday felt so good, I was back at it again today. You’ll see my next post shortly. 🙂
Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …
Now that my first aid kits are put together by yours truly, and installed, I am moving on to Part II of this particular badge. I hadn’t expected the first part to have been so time consuming, but I confess, I may have spent an inordinate amount of time picking out the prettiest boxes and arranging all my things inside. You can always be less fussy; after all, it’s about safety, not color-coordinating your Band-Aids and Q-tips.
Part II seemed easy enough: Check your smoke detectors.
At first, I kinda wanted to skip this part. I mean, trust me: they work. I know this because they like to …
Terry Steinmetz says: I know exactly how MBA Jane feels. Being short myself, it is always more difficult to reach those higher places.
LOL… I totally get it. Those smoke alarms get dusty, too. If you keep the sensor area dusted, it lessens that 2am wakeup call! 🙂
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
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.
Oh salmon are so-o-o good to eat. Wish we had them in our area. Darla looks like she really enjoyed the fishing.
Awesome Chinook! We recently moved to WA state. I can’t wait to fish!