Can you think of one word that is rarely used to describe boys but may change the life of a girl forever?

While you’re thinking, watch this:

The word is “bossy,”

and it has more weight behind it that you might imagine.

“When a little boy asserts himself, he’s called a ‘leader.’ Yet when a little girl does the same, she risks being branded ‘bossy.’ Words like bossy send a message: Don’t raise your hand or speak up. By middle school, girls are less interested in leading than boys—a trend that continues into adulthood,” explains the Ban Bossy Campaign by Leanin.org, a nonprofit organization founded by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg to empower all women to achieve their ambitions.

Here are a few other striking facts from Ban Bossy:

• Between elementary and high school, girls’ self–esteem drops 3.5 times more than boys’.
• Girls are twice as likely as boys to worry that leadership roles will make them seem “bossy.”
• Girls are called on less and interrupted more in classrooms.

Want to spread the word … er … the message?

Visit Share Ban Bossy to pass along your favorite facts, tips, and quotes that promote girl power with a passion.

When searching for the perfect porridge, chair, and bed, Goldilocks realized they aren’t all equal. Some were too big, too small, too soft, too hard, or too hot!

I think it’s safe to say I’ve had the same dilemmas with hot pads. One of our farmgirl sisters recently sent along a pair of hand-knit hot pads and you guessed it, they are the perfect thickness, texture, and size, which might not seem like such a big deal, but how many times have I grabbed my pot with a too-big hot pad all askew and found myself running my hand under cold water to comfort the burn that resulted. The perfect hot pad does make a difference, and these are just right.

Here’s momma Maizy (4+ years) and her daughter Etta Jane (2+ years). Lots of cuddles and tongue lovin’ all day long. I call it cowpassion. I once tried keeping a cow-unity “licking” journal (Jane Goodall style) on all 13 of my bovine buddies, but their licking and interactions are so involved and subject to dramatic changes on any given day, I soon gave up. Who licks who is a series of complexities only they understand. Sort of like office politics or small town living. Maybe there’s a bit of gossip happenin’ here in this photo? My mother-in-law once joked, “If what you have to say about someone isn’t nice … come sit by me.”

Here’s Etta Jane (2+ years) with her only calf so far, Eliza Belle (8 months). Etta Jane is three months along with another calf. Jerseys often darken in the winter, only to turn fawn-colored again in the spring when they lose their winter coats.

And here’s Maizy with her latest addition (third calf—second calf was a boy, Otis), Rose Etta (two weeks old).

Lots of daily grooming and stimulation. Speaking of saliva baths, I remember my mother getting all five of us kids loaded into the car to go somewhere and discovering a spot on someone’s face. She’d put a bit of her hankie into her mouth, wet it, and then rub the spot off. Anyone else’s mother do that?

Today, I took a virtual vacation to Wonderland.

All I had to do was step through a looking glass …

my computer monitor, that is.

And the most wondrous thing about this Wonderland

is that it is as real as you and me,

a fabulous nonfiction for all to see …

Welcome to the Montreal Botanical Garden in Quebec, Canada, founded in 1931, where extraordinary thematic gardens make even the virtual visitor feel as if she is walking through a dream.

Photos courtesy of PoloPixel.com

Photos courtesy of PoloPixel.com

Photos courtesy of PoloPixel.com

Photos courtesy of PoloPixel.com

Daniel and Mirra of The Perennial Plate were researching fascinating food stories to investigate during their trip to Mexico, and they encountered multiple people with the same recommendation:

Speak with Amado Ramirez Leyva of the Itanoní Tortillería in Oaxaca.

Amado, they said, is the corn guru.

Photo by Alejandro Linares Garcia via Wikimedia Commons

Renowned chef Rick Bayless is one of those who revere him. “Amado Ramirez Leyva believes that corn, domesticated some 9,000 years ago in Mexico, is the basis of Mexican culture,” says Bayless’ website. “From championing the protection of ancient varieties, to cooking and grinding it into masa for tortillas, Amado just might be the corn guru of Oaxaca.”

Daniel was intrigued. “His restaurant serves only the most traditional of Mexican foods, showcasing the various organic corns, harvested by local Oaxacan farmers in their purest form. But beyond the taste of history and tradition, Amado brings a poetic truth about the power of this ancient grain.”

Watch the resulting video, “The Flower of Corn,” and feel your appreciation for this golden … well, rainbow colored … grain bloom anew.

… work. Guess what I was doing yesterday morning at 4 am?

Wake up sleepy head Rose Etta.

Today is your debut. Welcome to planet earth!

My milk cow Maizy was due Feb. 26, so starting a week ago, I began checking in on her night and day every 3-4 hours. Rose Etta weighed in at 56 pounds and there were no complications during delivery—always a relief. Every thing about her is udderly perfect and momma Maizy always does such a good job delivering her babies. I was sooooo hoping for a girl!

I spent the morning with both of them, cleaning and washing up after the birth and getting Maizy milked for the first time in a couple of months. Once all my dairy chores were done, I headed to our design studio to finalize my next fabric collection, work on our MaryJanesFarm Sister Issue, finalize the front cover of our next magazine, work with Gabe on our new HeritageJersey.org website and Facebook page, and mess around with some burlap décor ideas for the next issue of my magazine.

Oh, and also work with Brian on a new mud room we’re finishing. The idea with our mud room is to convert our farm facility into a boot-free zone. And because we all have such awesome footwear, it seemed only fitting that our daily line-up of boots show up in a properly decked out zone. Our two bootjacks are gonna get a workout. I know I’ll be taking my boots on and off several times a day but you know what? Mopping up all the manure we track across our floors is far more work.

It has long been said that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

But in this modernized age, it feels more as if beauty is in the eye of the media, and the rest of us are scrambling to live up to strangely synthetic ideals. As a grandmother to several growing girls, this issue strikes a chord.

From movies and magazines to apps, ads, and even toys,

Photo by Anoni245 via Wikimedia Commons

“beauty” has begun to acquire a positively unnatural gleam that reminds me of polished chrome.

It may be glossy, but it leaves me feeling a bit blinded.

When, I wonder, did our notions of attractiveness become so sterilized?

When did we forget that “flaws” like freckles and frizz are where fabulous flourishes?

Photo by Joe Mabel via Wikimedia Commons

If you missed the viral online video showing a perfectly lovely woman’s artificial transformation into a plasticized photo model, you may be shocked at how the images we see in the media are contorted in ways we wouldn’t even imagine. Let’s just say that leg lengthening and eye expansions are par for the course.

Befuddling, isn’t it?

Suddenly, thanks to computer software programs, models are not only impossibly thin, they are just plain impossible.

In light of such surreal standards of appearance, it’s no surprise that today’s women (and their developing daughters) are losing perspective on what it means to be a living, breathing, beautiful being.

And that is what makes me love a new video produced by Dove. While I may not love every ingredient that goes into their products, the company’s Campaign for Real Beauty has its heart in the right place, and its latest effort is something special.

Here, we find moms and daughters who are taking the media into their own hands and reclaiming their place as beauty’s beholders.

You’ll want to watch this:

While thumbing through my collection of vintage magazines, I nearly fell off my stool when I spied this ad in an August 1929 issue of Hearth and Home.

The curative powers of radium??!! Isn’t that radioactive? Poisonous? I checked my dictionary to make sure … yep, “a highly radioactive metallic element whose decay yields radon gas and alpha rays.” But it looks like, in 1929, folks weren’t worried about a bit of radioactivity. Hey, it was apparently the cure for whatever ailed you with its “wonderful curative powers.” Ah, self-health radiation treatment. Here’s an excerpt from the text:

“The wonderful curative power of Radium has been known for years. However, the benefits of this precious, health-giving substance have in the past been only within the means of persons of wealth. Since the invention of Degnen’s Radio-Active Solar Pad, any man or woman, poor or rich, can afford this treatment which offers so much relief from suffering and disease.

Degnen’s Radio-Active Solar Pad is worn next to the body day and night. It pours a constant stream of radio-active energy into the system while you work, play or sleep, helping to build up weakened nerves and tissues to a strong, healthy condition. It creates a vigorous circulation of blood, thus removing congestion, which is the real cause of most diseases.”

The ad goes on to say that they’ll send you the “appliance” for free with the understanding that they won’t charge a cent is it “fails to give satisfactory results.” The “appliance” was apparently a belt with “several coats” of “actual radium.” The effects? I can only guess. “Thousands Have Proven the Marvelous Effects Without Risking a Penny {only their health}.”

As wild as the winter has been across much of the country, you may still feel like you’re in deep-freeze mode, but small beacons of hope are beginning to sprout in mailboxes hither and yon …

That’s right—seed catalogs are arriving again, as faithful as Spring herself.

Who doesn’t fancy these powerful portents of the season to come (if in doubt, read my romantic ramblings on the subject). The glowing cover of a good catalog is something a soil-starved farmgirl can hang her hope on!

Feeling a little warmer already, aren’t you?

Alrighty then, let’s not waste another minute …

If you’re toying with the idea of planting an organic plot this year but are wincing at the thought of seed prices, consider applying NOW for assistance from the new Seed Fund Program sponsored by the Rodale Institute and Amy’s Kitchen.

Time is short, so don’t wait for the snow to melt!

What is it?

The Seed Fund partnership is an expansion of Rodale’s Your 2 Cents program, which unites producers, consumers, researchers, and educators to launch the next generation of organic farmers. The goal of the fund is to help new and transitioning organic farmers buy the certified organic seed they need for the 2014 growing season.

Who qualifies?

First-time and transitioning organic farmers.

How do I apply?

Get the details here.

When is the application deadline?

March 1, 2014.

Do the words

clothes rationing

send a shudder down your spine?

Before you run off to lock your closet, let me assure you that this World War II practice is not being reinstated.

Well, not yet, anyway.

But you might find (once the initial shock of the notion has faded) that you are pondering its practicality.

Hmmm …

Image courtesy of the Board of Trade, artist Donia Nachshen, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office via Wikimedia Commons

Clothes rationing was in fashion (euphemistically speaking) in the U.K. from 1941 to 1949, when manufactured commodities were limited. At first, each adult in the country received an annual allotment of 60 coupons, but as time went on, the number was reduced to 48. Kids were given an extra 10 coupons each to account for growth.

Image courtesy of Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer via Wikimedia Commons

According to the sustainable fashion hub Ecouterre, “You had to be judicious in your selections; a petticoat or slip ‘cost’ three coupons, a woolen dress eleven, and a men’s overcoat an extravagant thirteen. Even a pair of socks required at least one coupon.”

The kicker was that a coupon didn’t actually pay for anything—it simply represented permission to purchase a certain quantity with one’s own limited finances.

Image courtesy of the British government via Wikimedia Commons

Necessity, which we credit as the Mother of Invention, spurred a national movement of Make Do and Mend, of which my grandmother pitched in full bore. Men’s suits became children’s coats (I was the recipient of one of them) and worn trousers became vests. You see, my grandmother was of the era in which she showed up for work every day (after her children were raised) in a fancy hat and white gloves (required for her job) as a creator of sewing patterns in Denver, Colorado.

Image courtesy of Board of Trade, H Manly and Son Ltd, London N22, and Her Majesty’s Stationery Office via Wikimedia Commons

To advocate the idea of a “substitution and conversion” economy, the Ministry of Supply produced the following video clip that extolled the virtues of upcycling items—a patchwork dressing gown fashioned from fabric scraps and a shift sewn from old trousers.

“For the ladies, you may be reassured that all garments made in ‘make do and mend’ are entirely exclusive,” the narrator quips. “To the men, lock up your favorite old clothes before you leave home in the morning!”

So, you see, there is a grain of genuine sensibility here. After all, many of us live the “make do and mend” mantra as it is.

Would rationing be so ludicrous?

“The political situation may be less dire today, but scarcity, coupled with unfettered consumption, continues to be a problem,” asserts Ecouterre. “Inhumane demands, lax workplace standards, and routine abuse are the result of too much expendable income and too little social or moral accountability to rein in our impulses. Shopping has become something we do out of habit, boredom, or because we get a buzz from acquisition.”

I get waaaaay more revved about repurposing, how about you? And my favorite way to repurpose the wool from a man’s suit is to make a crazy quilt, held together using a variety of different embroidery stitches. Love the look! I did turn an old green wool army jacket into a purse once. But nothing I’ve done compares to the volume of re-use projects my grandmother and mother accomplished.