We need to find meaning. We need to be useful. We need to know that who we are matters. I give, you give, we all give.
Winnie Nielsen says: Old barns always hold treasures from the past and hopes for the future.
Happy Apple Pie Sunday, MaryJane! I hope you have time for some apple pie Witt the family today. Ashley sure can make up some delicious recipes in the Bunkhouse Kitchen!
MaryJane says: Happy Apple Day Winnie!!! I am up early working so I have time to celebrate. Today is also a sewing day for the grandgirls, Meg, and me. They want to make doll blankets using their four new Featherweight sewing machines a dear friend gave to my grandgirls. It’s going to be an apple crisp and stitching themed day for us. (Just a few fresh raspberries tossed in with the apples.)
Winnie Nielsen says: Sounds perfect to me!! My apple pie is baking and I used your mini apple pie filling recipe with a traditional crust from the cast iron cookbook. it smells sooooooo delicious! Have a fun with the girls today and enjoy that apple raspberry crisp.
MaryJane says: We are sewing up a storm! The sun is shining. Life is good.
Omg that is so beautiful, and perfect. Gives such a peaceful feeling. I love butterflys.
Thanks for sharing!!
Winnie Nielsen says: Monarch?? Right now we are having lots of beautiful butterflies in our yard too. I am so happy to see our birds and butterflies weathered the hurricane and life is going on as usual.
Speaking of hurricane, we got power on last evening following a day with 5 utility trucks working! They had to replace a pole about 3 houses down that was broken by a falling pine tree. Those big trucks are so cool to watch dig a new post hole , remove and insert the new pole, and replace and wire up the transformer.
What a long and hot/ humid day those men had. I am so glad to have AC aback because Thursday and Friday nights were next to impossible to get to sleep. Plus the house was starting to smell musty and everything felt sort of damp. Terrible for my allergies too.
Now I understand Tropical Storm Maria is on the same track towards the East Coast of the US and weather conditions in the Atlantic are the same favorable ones that whipped up Irma into the monster storm she was. I wish I was living in a non hurricane state these days . Lol!!
Lisa Von Saunder says: Lovely! So pleased as the monarch butterfly garden this season was a huge success. the monarch caterpillars ate every single milkweed leaf. they have disappeared, think they are now pupating, yay, more monarchs !
Winnie Nielsen says: Gosh, this photo makes my mouth start watering just thinking about how delicious these apple must be. Are they ripe enough for you to eat?
Just another morning here at the laundromat only this time I stopped by our local grocery store for a free cup of coffee to go and I found an electrical circuit today to keep my phone powered up. Life is good! The weather has returned to being very hot and humid so I decided laundry early was a better strategy since these places have no AC. Plus I can get clothes home and on the clothesline before the rains hit later today. Farmgirl strategy!! You know, will am learned no that you meet really nice people here who are cheerful and helpful . Some are regulars and others are power loss refugees like me.
Have a great weekend !! I hope we get power back but till then, it is candle and led lantern living and cold showers before bed to try and keep cool while sleeping!!
MaryJane says: Wow, wonderful, detailed update. Definitely, you’ve farmgirled up, Winnie. And free coffee. How kind and generous. And yes, we are eating apples. Our fruit ladders up up and we are harvesting both apples and Asian pears.
Winnie Nielsen says: How fantastic the apples and pears are ripe at the same time. Buckets of deliciousness abound!!
terry steinmetz says: Glad to hear that Winnie is making the best of a hard situation.
What kind of apples are those? Do they have white and pink insides?
MaryJane says: Good morning Terry. They are white on the inside but I don’t know what kind they are. I lost my fruit tree records in my house fire. What I do know is I got a good laugh yesterday from Tractors with Personality. Thank you for sending it my way! I intend to share with hubby.
And I should add the apples are delicious, melt-in-your-mouth-crisp.
Lisa Von Saunder says: Maryjane, did your dear dog pass away? I am so very sorry if that is true. I know that the love from an animal is the purest form of love yet
MaryJane says: Thank you, Lisa. Yes, very unexpectedly. Walker was my daughter’s family dog but he had moved here a few months ago when they moved to the farm. My daughter rounded up some photos and wrote about his 11-year run here, http://www.farmgirlsisterhood.org/MJFSisterIssue/NewsletterImages/2017-09.pdf (it takes about 30 seconds to load).
Lisa Von Saunder says: Here is my favorite dog poem by Harold Monro:
LITTLE friend, your nose is ready; you sniff.
Asking for that expected walk,
(Your nostrils full of the happy rabbit-whiff)
And almost talk.
And so the moment becomes a moving force;
Coats glide down from their pegs in the humble dark;
You scamper the stairs,
Your body informed with the scent and the track and the
mark Of stoats and weasels, moles and badgers and hares.
We are going Out. You know the pitch of the word,
Probing the tone of thought as it comes through fog
And reaches by devious means (half-smelt, half-heard)
The four-legged brain of a walk-ecstatic dog.
Out through the garden your head is already low.
You are going your walk, you know,
And your limbs will draw
Joy from the earth through the touch of your padded paw.
Now, sending a little look to us behind.
Who follow slowly the track of your lovely play.
You fetch our bodies forward away from mind
Into the light and fun of your useless day.
—–
I think this says it all about dogs
Winnie Nielsen says: I was so sorry to read in the Sister Issue about the sudden passing of Walker. When we lost both of our yellow labs, it felt like a huge empty hole in our days. How we missed their friendly wagging tails and happy to see you faces. I know it is indeed some very sad days at the farm for everyone.
Jeanette Williams says: As I sit here sobbing, after reading what Megan had written about Walker, I am so very sorry to here about his passing. I am absolutely dreading, like any fur parent, the day that my precious Golden leaves us. She is my constant companion. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.
MaryJane says: Thank you Jeanette. Hugs.
Winnie Nielsen says: They say that the prettier the insect, the more poisonous it is. Or is this an Idaho Lady Bug?
Did you get to see the Eclipse today?? It just finished here at my house at 2:47. It got so dark outside! I remember seeing it in 1963 when I was 12 and we made those boxes to do the viewing. It was also in the Summer.
BB king says: Ah, Black hollyhocks ! ( alcea nigra ). Thomas jefferson loved them. And I do too.
Winnie Nielsen says: I have never seen these black Hollyhocks and they are quite stunning. How cool that our Thomas Jefferson loved them too!
Madelyn Shields says: I love the brilliance of these black Hollyhocks. They are magnificent and very inspiring. It is extemely interesting that Thomas Jefferson love them too.
Winnie Nielsen says: Are these currents not yet ripened?
MaryJane says: They are ripened berries on my honeysuckle vines and aren’t edible, just beautiful! Some of my honeysuckle vines/bushes have red berries.
BB king says: Wow never saw these berries before!
Winnie Nielsen says: Birds are just the most fascinating and beautiful creatures on Earth.
BB king says: and this little guy is a what?
MaryJane says: She or he is a little wonder filling the air waves with glorious song. Some sort of wren????? He’s pure joy:)
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.
What a lovely heather vest this little bird is sporting for Fall. What is it?
Lovely heather vest bird? Not sure. Now where is that bird book of mine? Good morning Winnie!
I was just going to ask, too! Is it a wren? My book is not available until later today…