In the Aug/Sept issue of MaryJanesFarm, “The Experiment” (on newsstands July 14), we led you here to my daily journal for a chance to win a free sampling of Kuaiwi Farm’s products featured in our “Every Woman Has a Story” section. Kuaiwi Farm is a five-acre organic farm in Hawaii, where owner Una Greenaway grows Kona coffee, macadamia nuts, cacao, bananas, avocados, pineapple, oranges, lemons, limes, passion fruit, and more. I didn’t get a chance to meet Una in person, but for my 62nd b-day and Mother’s Day this past year, my daughter surprised me with tickets to Kona for just the two of us. Visiting Kona was life-changing for me, especially because now I’m hooked on Kona coffee and fresh macadamia nuts:) It’s time for me to share my newfound joy in life.
For a chance to win a 16-oz bag of Kuaiwi Farm’s Kona Old Style Medium Roast Organic Coffee AND an 8-oz bag of her Raw Macadamia Nuts, tell me about a woman farmer you know (or know of) and why you admire her in the comments below. I’ll toss your name in a hat and draw one lucky winner in mid-September, when the Aug/Sept issue expires on newsstands. Stay tuned for more magazine-related giveaways!
If you’re not yet a subscriber to my magazine, MaryJanesFarm, subscribe here for just only $19.95 a year:)
I recently moved back to a town full of farmer women, all hard working and full of the kind of sense that isn’t as common as it should be. I think of one in particular because I saw her husband and her 14 month old today- now only does she raise dairy cows but she raise good, honest hard working children and always with a smile on her face.
The farm woman that I admire most is my mother-in-law, Janice Klassen.
I was a city girl until I married her son. She took me under her wing and taught many, many farm wife duties. She bakes her own bread, grows her own garden (wasting nothing). She milked cows for years (no longer), butchered chickens, and kept house while raising three children.
She is my inspiration!
It would be my neighbor and friend, Debbie – an avid horsewoman and recently widowed. She is the kind and thougtful neighbor who checks on you, shares her flowers and herbs, and decorates the entry we all share with pine boughs and red ribbon at Christmas. She is wise beyond her years and a truly wonderful person.
My great friend Roxanne is an Iowa farm girl who moved East. She brought her sunny disposition and love of the outdoors with her. You can often find me at her house making cement leaf castings, collecting black walnuts (for natural dyes) and felting raw wool. I love that every day is an experiment and an adventure with Roxanne!
The woman I most admire is my late grandmother, Cecila. She was a strong, courageous and loving woman. She had 5 children and lived a hard life trying to take care of them all during the 20’s and 30’s on a farm. She was so gentle and loving to all her children and grandchildren. I wish she was still here to pass on her stories, love and above all recipes!
Our CSA farmer, Martha, owns a 93-acre organic farm with her husband which they tend to mostly with horses instead of tractors. The days are long and humid but this woman always has a smile on her face and their produce is delicious!
My lady farmer is Hulda Klager in 1905 she began hybridizing lilacs by 1910 she had created 14 new varieties, by 1920 she had developed so many new varieties that she decided to hold an open house each spring when the lilacs were in full bloom to share her efforts with other lilac lovers, that’s how she got the name Lilac Lady. In the spring of 1948 high waters of the Columbia River swept across her property wiping out all of her lilac gardens except for the biggest trees. But at the age of 83 she set out to rebuild her garden, many people who had purchased her lilacs in the past returned starts to her so she could replace her losses, it took 2 years and a great deal of work but in 1950 she was able to open her gardens for lilac week once again a practice she continued until her death in 1960.
My most respected woman farmer (besides my mom) is my sister-in-law Kay. She has the greenest thumb, makes the best dill pickles (on my granddaughter’s thankful list at Thanksgiving), and milked cows, hayed and took care of the farm for years when my brother worked full time. She is an inspiration for many.
My grandmother grew up on a farm, but when she was grown, she married and moved to town. She always had a green thumb and a way with animals, so she was truly a farmgirl at heart.
As far as self-starting women farmers, my next door neighbor (before we moved) was really amazing. She kept a variety of animals but her primary ones were egg chickens (she sold the eggs) and beef cattle, which were in the acreage nearest our house and a constant temptation to my young sons!
I SO ADMIRED MY LONG TIME NEIGHBOR, EDNA WOLF, ( SHE HAS PASSED AWAY NOW) BUT HER GARDENS WERE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL. SHE HAD A SMALL VEGEABLE GARDEN THAT SUPPLIED THE WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD WITH VEGGIES. AND HER FLOWER BEDS WERE THE MOST GORGEOUS!! OLD FASHION ROSES, BUTTERFLY AND SNOW BALL BUSHES! THE AROMA FROM HER FLOWERS FILLED MY BACK YARD!!!
I know two local farm ladies and their daughters. Lady Mattice and Lady DeVrie. Both are major contributors of their time, knowledge, and fresh produce at our local farmers market.
The Farm Woman that I admire the most comes in two-fold – my mother Ruth and my sister Colleen. My mother raised 11 children on a small dairy farm in central Wisconsin – we had large gardens, fruit trees and many animals. I marvel in how she managed all of us kids and all that work.
My sister has always loved gardening and preserving – she has taught me many things and we have worked together on growing and preserving food. It is my intention to pass along these things to my own children.
I absolutely love Kona Coffee, not blends in the store. I was lucky enough to taste REAL Kona coffee brought back from Kona Island. My Farm Lady I admire is this great lady named Martha. She grows just about anything you can think of and loves to barter for stuff she needs, it’s a win-win :). God love her.
The farmer I most admire is my Mother In Law. She is strong and talented and happy to share her vast knowledge of the earth and its plants.