Fresh Egg Overture | June–July 2016
MaryJanesFarm has inspired me on so many levels. The women in this magazine are a daily source of inspiration—to be more self-sufficient and a better gardener, artist, creator, farmer, and mom. Recently, going back through my old MaryJanesFarm magazines, I was inspired to start my own business. Thanks!
– Jessi, RaisingJane.org
The Weed Dragon I found in your magazine was just what we needed—we no longer use pesticides or herbicides!
– Dyan, RaisingJane.org
My tiny farmgirl and I are so excited for spring! Like her momma, she loves pullin’ out all of our old issues of MaryJanesFarm magazine this time of year to daydream of green things and soil and fairy wings. We’re all ready to get back in that dirt!
– Jenny Penny, Facebook.com/MaryJanesFarm
MaryJanesFarm feels like a breath of fresh air. It is filled with interesting articles, inspiring ideas, stories of people, and projects. Every issue has gems to cheer me on and get me thinking of projects I want to tackle. Thanks, MaryJane! You not only inspire us to try things, you also give us step-by-step instructions!
– Jean, RaisingJane.org
Thank you for bringing such a beautiful magazine to life! It has allowed me to reflect on who I was, who I am, and who I will always be—a farmgirl from Ohio!
– Sue, Ohio, snail mail
Received two things from you today. First, your rose photo-of-the-day on Facebook. Then I went to the mailbox, and there was the Dec/Jan issue of MaryJanesFarm. For years, I have been purchasing your magazine from one of the three health-food stores I frequent. But receiving the magazine in the mail is a special treat. As usual, I began reading starting with the back cover and worked my way back through Rebekah Teal’s treasure, “Here’s The Thing,” and the ads and recipes. Not sure why, but I actually read all your ads as if they were articles. What’s up with that?! If I am ever able to drive a vehicle that allows me to tow a T@bitha, you may find me driving up to spend a night or two on the Palouse. I am just overwhelmed that you can keep surprising me with new photos and ideas. You amaze me with the quality and freshness of your presentations, photos, etc.
– Milka, North Carolina, RaisingJane.org
Thank you very much for creating tasty dried food that is LOW in sodium and cholesterol! Your competitors’ foods are EXTREMELY HIGH in sodium, fats, and cholesterol. Yours aren’t—THANK YOU! I’m one of the founders of the Great Divide Trail Association here in Canada. Our maintenance crews will spend a lot of time in the mountains this coming summer. At our base camps, we are able to get fresh food at local stores; when we adventure out further, that’s where your dried food will keep us well fed and HEALTHY.
– Lani, Alberta, Canada, e-mail
I can honestly say that I have a magazine addiction and subscribe to at least 15 magazines. None makes me smile like yours!
– Erica, Missouri, e-mail
Have waited till I am 73 years young to try to be a “back-to-nature” girl. Love your magazine, as it inspires me to the simple life I am now leading in remote Montana!
– Susan, RaisingJane.org
Your Milk Cow Kitchen book helped me realize that my husband and I CAN make our dreams come true. You are such an inspiration to me!
– Barbara, RaisingJane.org
Lollygagging | Aug–Sept 2016
Some time back, I wrote to you folks about a photo you had posted on RaisingJane.org to ask permission to paint it. Here it is: oil on board, 11" x 14".
– Deon, e-mail (TheRuralGallery.com)
[Visit RaisingJane.org to see the original photo.]
I just re-subscribed to the magazine. Still a GREAT magazine, and it felt like coming back home to find it in my mailbox this morning.
– Carol, Facebook.com/MaryJanesFarm
I love your magazine!!! You encourage me to be strong and self-reliant. My husband passed away about a year ago, and I didn’t want to live the rest of my life afraid. I just got back from a trip to the Keweenaw area in upper Michigan all by myself. I drove and stopped wherever and whenever I wanted—had a great time. I think glamping might be next!! Enjoy life and embrace the challenge!
– Cathy, RaisingJane.org
I have loved your magazine for years! I’ve shared it with my quilting and sewing friends, and they all love it. When the Milk Cow Kitchen fabric from Moda came out, I knew that I had to make this quilt! It reminds me of my Grandma Chandler and the milk-bottle delivery to her front porch in Athens, Pennsylvania. Thanks for the good memories, and now my quilt will carry them on and keep me warm.
– Linda, e-mail
What a blessing you are to the world—a ray of SUNSHINE radiating across the world. Thank you for all you do and share with others. My mother shared MaryJanesFarm with me back in 2008–2012. She was always so excited when she received her next issue. She would say, “Kate, I want to show you how you can make a hanging lamp from a potato masher and an aluminum washer ...” When she passed away in 2012, I continued her subscription and enjoy every issue. I have sent out over a dozen gift subscriptions to ladies all over the U.S. I even ordered two subscriptions so I can give one away to someone I meet who I think would cherish MaryJanesFarm and pay it forward. Thank you again for all you do. I am now #6929 Farmgirl Sisterhood member ... and how exciting to be joining a chapter in Colorado soon. Create a fabulous day!
– Karen, Facebook.com/MaryJanesFarm
We got our first family milk cow this summer and this book [Milk Cow Kitchen] has been my favorite go-to resource. I have other books on keeping a family cow, but this one is simply the best!
– Andrea, Amazon.com
I just wanted to send a note of thanks for how quickly I received my order. I ordered my food on Monday and received it today (Wednesday). Not only do you make the BEST backpacking food, but you provide great customer service also!
– Troy, e-mail
Every issue of MaryJanesFarm leaves me going back again and again to review/ponder issues or ideas brought to the forefront as only you can! Evolving from a city dweller raised near downtown Los Angeles, I finally escaped to western North Carolina and found the true mountain farmgirl I am.
Thank you, MaryJane, for sharing your pluck and perseverance; I found out what I can do/be with soooo much help in the pages of your magazine. Canning, quilting, sewing, gardening ... the list goes on and on. And the news—I first heard about pink slime in our meat on your pages. Bravo! Keep up the good work; it is truly magic.
– Christina, RaisingJane.org
I enjoy your magazine so much and look forward to “being in the moment” when I’m reading it. Love everything about it. I enjoy journaling with a bit of art journaling thrown in, and your magazine layout is certainly that: Art! Journal! Thank you!
– Pat, e-mail
Stitchin' Post | Aug–Sept 2016
This is my dear friend, Kelly (left), who I met four or five years ago through your Farmgirl Connection chatroom. She reached out to me one day out of the blue because she was driving through Spokane on her way back to Montana. She asked if she could stop by and meet me, which was totally weird but wonderful, since I felt like we already knew each other. I’m more than convinced that we slept over at each other’s houses when we were little in a past life or something. It was the most amazing experience to meet as strangers and yet know each other so well. Friendship made in MaryJane heaven!
– Julia, Washington, e-mail
After reading your Here For Life “Speculating Magazine Futures” article, I wanted to let you know that I so look forward to finding my copy of MaryJanesFarm in my mailbox. While I do a lot of online reading, there is nothing I enjoy more than holding the paper copy in my hand and my brief escape as I immerse myself in its pages! I never fail to renew. I have also gifted your magazine to a few close friends and relatives. Thank you for my “quiet getaway” from it all that I so love, need, and look forward to! You have a lifelong subscriber in me.
– Kathy, Maryland, e-mail
Note from MaryJane:
Talk about serendipity! Inspired by our magazine and the beauty of the rolling hills I call home, Lindsay Squires, who wrote an article for the Keeping in Touch section of our “Fresh Egg Overture” issue, wanted nothing more than to visit northern Idaho for her 30th birthday. So she and her husband set out on a 2,400-mile, four-day road trip to the Palouse. And during the 30 minutes they were in our food co-op eating lunch, I stopped in for supplies and met Lindsay face-to-face, much to her delight. Here’s what followed
. . .
Exactly a month ago, I was blessed beyond measure to meet you in the Moscow Food Co-op. That abundant moment in time will remain a treasured memory all my life. Your gracious message that followed and the photo of the stunningly rendered sourdough chocolate cake sheathed in Palouse wildflowers was an even more astonishing surprise. I was like a little girl when I opened your e-mail, leaping about and clapping my hands together in sheer delight.
In the days since, my husband and I moved into our first home and have taken into our care the small plot of land around it. It means something to be entrusted with a piece of soil. I have planted purple salvia, fragrant hyssop, whirling butterflies, red birds in a tree, and honeysuckle—all tenacious yet tender, straining through rugged Colorado soil below while inviting sweet pollinators above.
Tending these small joys with my hands, I also hold onto great dreams. I think of you and what you have accomplished—living and being, working and creating, serving and sharing, all woven into a thing of beauty. Perhaps you remember being like me, on the yearning edge of a big dream. Your life inspires me that it is possible. Thank you for touching this 30th year of my life so indelibly!
– Lindsay, Colorado, e-mail
Earning your Merit Badges gives me so much to look forward to. I feel so good reading your magazine and Sisterhood newsletter and working on the badges—they are life’s lessons on improving our minds, skills, and knowledge about so many things. Thank you!
– Peggy, e-mail
I LOVE mixed-media art and keep trying to create some of the amazing things I see people do. Your Mail Art theme for June [click on Farmgirl Mail Art at MaryJanesFarm.org/snitz to find out more] led me to thinking of the garden. And orange cried out for carrots.
– Sara, California, Farmgirl Connection chatroom