Below are the Merit Badges that were approved today.
Congratulations Sisters!!
Nancy Joplin, #8352, Nancy Joplin
Beginner Garden Gate / Horse Dreams
Intermediate Garden Gate / Herbs
Debbie Klann, #770, debbieklann
Intermediate Make It Easy / Through the Looking Glass
Beginner Make It Easy / Through the Looking Glass
Expert Make It Easy / Through the Looking Glass
Emily Nellinger, #8229, citychick03
Intermediate Each Other / Farmgirl Gratitude
Below are the Merit Badges that were approved today and last Sunday.
Congratulations Sisters!!
Debbie Fischer, #1582, Blessed in Colorado
Beginner Each Other / Languages/Culture
Beginner Each Other / Families Forever
Beginner Each Other / Lost Art of Letter Writing
Intermediate Each Other / Lost Art of Letter Writing
Beginner Stitching & Crafting / Buttoned Up
Intermediate Stitching & Crafting / Buttoned Up
Debbie Klann, #770, debbieklann
Expert Farm Kitchen / Apples
Beginner Each Other / Lost Art of Letter Writing
Intermediate Each Other / Lost Art of Letter Writing
Expert Each Other / Lost Art of Letter Writing
Expert Farm Kitchen / Icing on the Cake
Denise Thompson, #43, levisgrammy
Intermediate Stitching & Crafting / Embroidery
Beginner Cleaning Up / Recycling
Intermediate Cleaning Up / Recycling
Expert Cleaning Up / Recycling
Heather Neeper, #4701, nndairy
Beginner Stitching & Crafting / Scrapbooking
Intermediate Cleaning Up / Recycling
Expert Make It Easy / Relaxation
Expert Farm Kitchen / Get It Together
Joyce Hein, #6071, GinghamGirl
Beginner Cleaning Up / Living Zero Waste
Intermediate Cleaning Up / Living Zero Waste
Expert Cleaning Up / Living Zero Waste
Karen Martell, #8422, Jokamartell
Beginner Garden Gate / Herbs
Krista Davis, #528, maryjanesniece
Beginner Each Other / Families Forever
Tina VanDaam, #8431, TinaTina
Beginner Each Other / Calligraphy
This story made me think of the quote by Harper Lee: “You can choose your friends, but you sho’ can’t choose your family.” Meet heroine number one, Lilly, who survives daunting familial abuse only to face even more when she is sold to a circus sideshow traveling through the town in which she lives.
Lilly is a beautiful child, but because it’s the 1930s and she’s a child with albinism, she’s turned into a freakish oddity. Her family locks her away in their attic until she is sold by her mother to the circus at age 10. Having never been allowed to venture outside of her attic domain, she is terrified by her new surroundings and struggles to adjust to them. Ultimately, she develops friendships, finds love, and becomes a featured star performing with her beloved elephants in the Big Tent.
Fast forward several years to when heroine number two, Julia, inherits a horse farm, including the family mansion where Lilly was incarcerated as a youngster. As Julia explores the house, she uncovers hidden areas and secrets to which she is determined to find the answers. She finds her father’s diary. For what horrible deeds did he seek forgiveness? Who is the mysterious Lilly? Her father’s mistress perhaps? Or?
This is not a particularly happy story. However, it shines with the resilience and determination of strong women who refuse to be defeated by adverse circumstances. It also is an insightful look into the bonds created between animals and humans as well as behind-the-scenes life as a circus performer. Does Julia solve the mystery of Lilly? Well, you’ll just have to read the book to find out.
Go to Great Finds and Giveaways for the chance to be the new owner of my copy of Ellen Marie Wiseman’s The Life She Was Given.
Giveaway! There’s a clue due for this book giveaway. What is The Life She Was Given about?
I’ll put your name in my hat of names, pull one out, and my copy of The Life She Was Given will be on its way to a new home.
Tell boredom to take a hike … with Sisters of Fortune in hand. Released just six days ago, has anyone read it? Is this a book that interests you?
Craving a quiz?
Here’s one that’ll cause you to scratch your head in puzzlement before you even begin pondering the answers.
Photo by Asdfasdewdsewd via Wikimedia Commons
The following is a list of incredibly kooky laws from around the globe. Try guessing the locations that passed the laws (answers revealed next Sunday 8:30 pm 3/3/2024 ANSWERS REVEALED!!!).
Below are the Merit Badges that were approved today.
Congratulations Sisters!!
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
Debbie Fischer, #1582, Blessed in Colorado
Beginner Outpost / Farmgirl’s Best Friend
Beginner Make It Easy / Let’s Get Physical
Beginner Make It Easy / Relaxation
Krista Butters-Davis, #528, maryjanesniece
Beginner Each Other / Calligraphy
Expert Stitching & Crafting / UFOs
Hannah Frankowski, #6994, GinnyBelle
Intermediate Make It Easy / Relaxation
Denise Thompson, #43, levisgrammy
Beginner Stitching & Crafting / Embroidery
Tina VanDaam, #8431, TinaTina
Expert Stitching & Crafting / Quilling
Joanne Seruto, #7580, JoanneMS58
Beginner Stitching & Crafting / Sew Wonderful
Beginner Stitching & Crafting / Knitting
Beginner Stitching & Crafting / Cross-Stitch
Intermediate Stitching & Crafting / Cross-Stitch
Beginner Stitching & Crafting / Quilting
Heather Neeper, #4701, nndairy
Beginner Farm Kitchen / Kitchen Renegade
Intermediate Farm Kitchen / Kitchen Renegade
Expert Farm Kitchen / Kitchen Renegade
Today, I’m feeling grateful for our farmhand Abigail and want to say so right out loud. Known as Abby to her university cohorts, she’s Abigail to me. Abigail responded to a help-wanted ad I placed on Craigs List two summers ago looking for someone to help me run my B&B. Having worked hard to obtain her PhD in math and then secure a professorship at one of our local universities, she bemoaned the fact that she had “next to zero practical knowledge.”
She’s still working here part time during the school year and full time in the summer, and as it turns out, she and I make a darn good team. When needed, she pitch-hits order fulfillment in our food facility, with a smile and a willing attitude. Always. Plus she’s really good at navigating computers and I am anything but.
And when one of my granddaughters, who excels in math, said she was bored in school and needed help beyond what school had to offer, Professor Abigail came to the rescue!
And Abigail was enthusiastically willing to pitch in when I put together a team of helpers to plant native flower plugs in my prairie using an auger. It was hard, hot work, and the days were long.
And then there was that wintery day she was itching to be outside so I lent her my insulated suit and out the door she went to move help move lumber and firewood.
For my b-day, she gifted me a precious rendition of Farmgirl that she painted free hand.
Last summer, she chose our Valley Lutheran church for exchanging vows with her sweetheart. The night before her wedding, her gaggle of girlfriends camped out here in the B&B venues that Abigail fusses over.
Now you know why I’m grateful for Abigail’s friendship and help.
I have a sweet little step-back-in-time gift box looking for a home that has Donna Everhart’s book, When the Jessamine Grows, recipe cards for two of the recipes mentioned in her book (Joetta’s Switchel and Idiot’s Delight), an engraved wooden spoon, a hankie, Donna’s upcoming book-signing schedule, plus a few other bookish surprises.
My gift box is all yours if you’ll share why Donna’s book appeals to you. I’ll toss your name into a hat and voila, it might be headed your way.
I wasn’t sure what to think when I took a call from a woman late last summer representing an agency hired by a chain of retail stores saying she wanted to rent my farm for a couple of days for a photo shoot. When I hesitated, saying I didn’t really have my B&B “open” and in good enough condition for a photo shoot, she said, “They told me to beg if need be.” Once she told me a little bit more about the kinds of photos they’d be taking, I jumped at the chance to host them, thinking it would be a playful, fun-filled two days for me, my employees, and my granddaughters. I wasn’t wrong. Why? Manners. Gallant GOOD manners! They worried about their impact on plants and they cleaned. Actually, they left my farm cleaner than they found it. And one week later, one of them wrote to say she’d ended up with one of my hand towels and would drop it in the mail. “I’m so sorry.”
It was pure delight loading people and gear into the back of our farm trucks and/or our little utility “golf cart” vehicle for delivery to a forest and/or field location that one of their many scouts had picked out. Abigail and I prepped our guesthouse for their make-up/hair technicians; and I put the woman in charge in touch with a local restaurant for meal catering. It, of course, made us smile when we heard them talking on their cell phones, saying things like, “The brunette from the UK has arrived at the airport, ETA 30 minutes.”
It was hot. And dry. And in some of the shots, the models were wearing sweaters! Those attending to them rushed forth in between shots with ice packs and cotton towels for dabbing away beads of facial sweat. Did they complain? They did not. Not even once. Did my modelesque granddaughters take in every detail and nuance? They did; some of models were only a few years older.
And then, a few months later. There it was! Pieces of my farm were everywhere on their website. Their scouts really had an eye. In one instance, they chose an old tree stump off to the side of my wood shed, right next to my clothesline. Who knew!? But the photos turned out fabulous. They wore fall clothing so my farm isn’t currently featured on their website, but I did snap a few photos from the two days my farm became famously glam.
Here’s one of my granddaughters afterward utilizing her newfound skills. Right before they left, they pulled my granddaughters aside and let them pick out several outfits.
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.
