What’s a crankie?

Crikey! It’s called a crankie. (New to me.) Isn’t that what I usually feel like on Fridays? Looks like the early version of TV to me. Thanks to Sue Truman, who mentioned this Sustainable Seattle video on my Twitter account. This is so cute, and you know I love anything “farm”!

  1. drMolly says:

    Crankie as in like the old-time cranked picture shows??

    Nice & a great message.

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Smallknot

Do you know that feeling you get when you’re strolling through the farmers’ market in, say, late September, and you spy a piece of fruit that is so fresh, so RIPE, that your mouth instantly waters remembering a taste you haven’t tasted for a year, so you pick it up, inhale its fragrance in a deep breath, close your eyes, and sink your teeth into it?

That’s the sensation I felt when I got wind of Smallknot.

What’s Smallknot??

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  1. Terry Steinmetz says:

    This is way cool! I hope more small businesses will find out about Smallknot

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FREE Glamping Stickers

They’re here! Another batch of free bumper stickers for International Glamping Weekend 2013, June 1 and 2. Head on over for details on how to get yours!

  1. Maile Tyrrell says:

    Luv To go glamping one day;-)

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ZomBEES

It’s happened … the zombie apocalypse is upon us. Oh wait, it’s the zombee apocalypse.

Well, it is getting close to Halloween. Wait, this isn’t someone bee-ing funny. I do find it a little bee-musing, but apparently bees are in trouble in yet another new way.

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  1. Terry Steinmetz says:

    Whoa! Do they know where this parasite originated? It is scary to think that a fly can destroy so many bees that are needed.

    • ace says:

      Hi Terry! From what I have read it’s a parasite that’s native to North America. Honeybees were imported by European settlers. The flies, called Apocephalus borealis or scuttle flies, are common coast to coast. They have just recently started affecting/infecting honey bees. -ace

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Miss Wilma

Don’t miss Miss Wilma’s Christmas Show comin’ right-up-just-around-the-corner in November. Get the low-down here. And if for some reason, you haven’t met or heard of Miss Wilma, below is the feature we ran on her in 2005 in an issue of my magazine. (She’s still sewing for us, claiming she’s burned up several sewing machines:)

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    I wish Kentucky were closer to Florida because I would love to meet Miss Wilma in person. As the delighted and surprised recipient of her pillows, it would just be perfect to thank her in person. Her story is just like one would read in a novel based on southern rural life. I bet she has some wonderful stories to tell.

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Wish Upon a Tree

When you wish upon a …

 

Tree?

 

It’s not the quintessential target of our secret desires, but, hey, Jiminy Cricket doesn’t know everything!

 

In the UK, a wish might just as easily be cast upon a tree as a star.

 

Well, maybe not quite as easily, seeing as how there’s a fair amount of pounding involved.

 

Take a look:

 

Photo of Wish tree coins in Cumbria, England, by Rosser1954 / Wikimedia.

 

Curious coin-studded tree trunks can be found throughout the woodlands of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The trees are ancient, long past the days of leafing. Instead, they seem to sprout generations of hopes and dreams in the form of shillings and sixpence. In her published diaries, Queen Victoria mentioned visiting an oak tree festooned with coins on an island in Scotland, and the tradition must have started long before that because a 14th century florin coin was found lodged in another Scottish “wishing” tree.

 

Who says money doesn’t grow on trees?

 

Centuries of passersby tapping coins into tree trunks have …

 

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  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    How totally cool is this tree??!!

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photo-of-the-day

  1. carol branum says:

    I will be demonstrating sewing on on a treddle at Wyatt Earp Days Oct 13 Lamar Mo.We are also having a Civil War reenactment that day,celebrating 150 years since the Civil War.I will be on the square dressed in an old fashioned dress. Crafts will be on the square,and the reenactment will be off of hiway 71 behind Walmarts.
    I am kind of excited about that,and hope we get a good turn out from all over the United States.I have been sewing all week trying to get ready,hope to take some photos that day.Wyatt Earp is originally from Lamar.Have a great day,Carol Branum

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National Sewing Month

Happy National Sewing Month! National Sewing Month was started in 1982 to ensure “the recognition of the importance of home sewing to our Nation.” If you have any sewing projects you’re working on, send ’em on in and we’ll get them posted!

E-mail your pictures to ace@maryjanesfarm.org.

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    My grandmother had a Singer just like your photo. I often wonder what happened to that machine when they moved in with us. I don’t have any sewing projects on tap but perhaps I should rethink that notion in honor of the month. There is not much time left to finish a project but perhaps something for an upcoming MJF swap would be in order. Thanks for the news!

  2. Pingback: Quilting | Raising Jane Journal

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fences … in Dr. Seuss cadence

On the way to South Dakota for a glamping meet-up and greet-up with the lovely ladies of Glampers on the Loose, we began to notice a common element alongside the road during our trek.

Fences.

So many fences. Of all shapes, sizes, and shades of brown.

Some were old.

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  1. Betty in Pasco says:

    Love your fences. When my ex- and I moved out to the NW, I was telling him about fences and how those fences with all the stones piled around the posts were in respect to a pioneer who had died on the way. Being the city-boy that he was, he believed me. I agree with you that no two fences are alike.

    Betty in Pasco

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Emoticons

So maybe I am a little late on the trend … but these emoticon things are crackin’ me up like yesterday’s egg scramble. A quick way to show computerized emotion, these little push-button faces are the Internet equivalent of gestures, facial expressions, and body language. Surprisingly, these aren’t something new; emoticons (referred to below as typographical art) go back as far as 1881!

Emoticons printed in 1881 in the U.S. magazine Puck. Puck no. 212, p. 65. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Here are the more modern versions of “typographical art.”

Smiley face : )

Smiley face = )

Upturned smile :] …

Smiley face with nose :0)

Smile with sunglasses B )

Double-eyed wink >.<

Big smile! : D

Smile ‘n’ wink ; )

Sticking tongue out : p

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  1. Elizabeth says:

    Too cute MaryJane! I often use this Happy Face 🙂 when I am happy to hear the news; soft~heartedly joking; or just plain happy! Love the key stroked angel 0:) you shared. Will share this with a computer-pal (kind of like a Pen~pal) who loves to use the animated angel with flapping wings:-) Thanks a lot; believe I will copy & paste your list to Word. Hope you are enjoying a great weekend!

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