I’m calling you out!!!! On a roll … call, here’s where you can read about the amazing accomplishments of Sisters who earn Merit Badges. “Hear YE!”
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Cyrie Wilson!!!
Cyrie Wilson (Pixiedustdevil, #6941) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning an Expert Level UFOs Merit Badge!
“I went through my UFO box and weeded out old projects that didn’t interest me anymore, or they had lost irreplaceable pieces. Then I pulled out my bag of chicken potholders, and some jeans that needed patched.
I took about 3 more pairs of jeans and patched/repaired them, using recycled fabric from old jeans. I’m fussy like that; I see no point in tossing clothes if they can be repaired.
Finally, my biggest job was finishing 2 sets of chicken potholders that my sister requested. She requested them a year ago. Shame on me! I finished them in time to give them to her for Thanksgiving.
I’m used to fixing my jeans, especially the corners of the back pockets. One hole even came undone after washing. So I reinforced it with all the powers of ‘overkill’ that I could muster. That solved the problem.
As for the potholders; I’ve made so many that I’m tired of making them, so my sister’s will hopefully be my last for a while. I didn’t really like the colors (I didn’t choose them), but as long as my sister was happy with them, then that’s fine.”
Lisa Bell says: These are adorable!
Kathy Gaughran says: Oh how wonderful great job your sister will love them always and think of you every time she uses them.
We always feel good when we finish a project that some one has been waiting for I have an afghan I have been working on for three years my husband hopes he will receive it this winter I hope to do so.
Happy holidays
Nielsen,Winifred T. says: Cyrie, this potholders are adorable! I am sure they made your sister very happy too. Congratulations on tackling your sewing room and making sense out of everything for moving forward. Isn’t it amazing how projects and bargains can pile up on you?
Shirley Romig says: Is there a pattern for the chicken potholders
Marilyn Berger says: I love your chicken potholders! Something our quilting guild could make if we had a pattern…Can I buy a pattern from you or would you share your source? Thanks so much!
Lisa Von Saunder says: Love those chickens! too cute for words!
Kris says: OMG these are the cutest pot holders I have ever seen. Wheels are already turning for next Christmas! Is the pattern available to purchase?
Jen Parsley-Kellenbarger says: Hello, I’m Jen Parsley-K…. A born and raised country girl, my mom and dad always tried to have a micro farm…you know, chickens, rabbits, gardens etc..pop hunted & fished regular..my mom handcrafted many things..of which I’m proud to say most of my clothes. Hence I LOOOVE CHICKENS & sewing. So I would love your pattern for the chicken pot holders!? Where would I find it?
Sincerely,
Jen the Hen, (thanks to grandpa Parsley)
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Sherrilyn Askew!!!
Sherrilyn Askew (#1350) has received a certificate of achievement in Farm Kitchen for earning an Expert Level Unprocessed Kitchen Merit Badge!
“I hosted an “unprocessed” party and helped my sisters discover ways to make some of their favorite processed foods organically, specifically candy canes. Candy is as much art as science, hard candy especially. The key is in the temperature. We did one batch with beet juice and one with cranberry juice, and the color difference, as well as the flavor difference, was significant.
We had a bit of a learning curve about kitchen thermometers (meat thermometer vs. candy thermometer), and the importance of having an accurate one. One batch of candy turned out fine, but the other batch burned. Candy canes with cranberry juice tastes delicious, though.
We talked about divinity and caramels, and the problems encountered making each one (granularity) and how to prevent them.
Candy making is an art, and homemade candy with organic ingredients is the bees’ knees.”
Winnie Nielsen says: Gosh, Sherrilyn, what an interesting project with your HenHouse group. I have never tried making candy as I know it is tricky and easily turns into a pile for the trash. Your idea of using cranberry juice sounds perfect for candy canes too. I bet you all had such a fun time together. I can see how making organic candy is definitely the Bee’s Knee!
Sylvia Jacobus says: The candy canes are truly delicious. Grand kids will be lucky to get them!! Fun to make with Sherri.
Karlyne says: This should be a magazine cover!
Lisa Von Saunder says: finally a photo of the Grandgirls! We have all missed seeing them. And last year’s Christmas cover with Stella and Mia was so sweet. I was so disappointed that they werent on this year. love the terrarium
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Cyrie Wilson!!!
Cyrie Wilson (Pixiedustdevil, #6941) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Beginner Level Scrapbooking Merit Badge!
“Instead of making a scrapbook (too expensive!) I made a shadowbox collage. My father and I went to Universal Studios Hollywood and the WB studio tour. We had planned this trip for a year.
I papered over the backing of the frame with acid-free paper, and used acid-free glue and ink. I printed a few photos to wallet size, wrote a few funny stories on labels, and gathered trinkets from the trip.
After assembling the collage, I papered the back and stapled the backing to the frame with a staple gun.
It was difficult to fit so much into such a small collage. There wasn’t even a backboard on the frame, so I had to measure and cut one. Aside from that, it turned out well.”
Winnie Nielsen says: Cyrie, this collage turned out better than a scrapbook! It is a work of art with everything cleverly fitted into the frame. You are going to love having this picture on your wall for years to come.
Winnie Nielsen says: Do you cut down a tree from your farm at Christmas? They all look like green soldiers protecting the farm. Idaho is the home of so many beautiful evergreen varieties.
MaryJane says: Meg and Lucas went to the very site of today’s photo (a local tree farm) to bring home and decorate a tree last weekend. Yes, I walk out my door to find something, smaller and smaller every year–I let the kids do big trees.
Winnie Nielsen says: Our local Christmas trees here in Florida are mostly Southern Red Cedar. They have very light branches that can’t take much weight. Plus, they have a terrible sticker type foliage that means you have to put heavy work gloves on the do anything with the tree. Other types of local trees include a southern Pine that can be pruned at tree farms. They have that sweet pine smell but rapidly turn brown and die once they are cut so they won’t last long. I have used that tree several times when my children were small since we could go and cut one down locally. But then everyone decided that only a Frasier Fir would do and then it was three against one. If it were up to me, I would do the local pine and select one that was small enough to make into a table top tree. I’m with you, small is best!
Lisa Von Saunder says: I have 2 kitties who treat a real tree as a big plaything. In fact this year with BB King my new now 8 month kitten, I am not doing a big tree at all. Even the ” forest ” of smaller trees I put out that have real wood with bark trunks are too much of a temptation for him. Ah well , the house looks festive anyway and the really good glass ornaments are on a reproduction German feather tree.
Today I will go buy pine roping for the front porch of my whlte farmhouse.. And go to my “secret” 3 story high ancient holly tree to cut branches that are just overwhelmed with red berries.
Winnie Nielsen says: Do your birds take residence up in these houses in the Winter?
MaryJane says: Not in the winter but in the summer they sure do.
Sharon Cooper says: This is so adorable. Love this bird house and the nostalgia that floods into my heart when I see this. Thanks for sharing.
The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 7,200 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—10,226 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane
Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life…
For this week’s Farm Kitchen/Icing on the Cake Expert Level Young Cultivator Merit Badge, Nora, Piper, Andy, and the Hostess with the Mostess (that’s me) all joined forces.
For the good of cake.
Yum.
Now, we had all gone through rigorous training to bring us to this day. After all, we had baked our way to success (and one or two failures) through the Beginner and Intermediate Level Badges, and so thusly, henceforth, and so on and so forth, forever and ever, amen, we were set.
(My waistline? A whole ‘nother kettle of fish.)
We had made our homemade, from-scratch cakes earlier and then we read through the badge requirements for this, our final cake badge: woe was us … we were supposed to decorate the said cakes and take photos.
Umm, hello? Those cakes had been digested in our tummies for a while now.
So, we did the next best thing, considering the holidays were upon us …
Andy, Nora, Piper, and Jane’s Gingerbread/Pretzel Houses
Supplies suggested:
Now, depending on whether you want to eat your creation or just stare lovingly at it all season long, you will want to choose your ingredients accordingly. Piper and I were more about the architecture of the thing and we had our own snack stash nearby, so we skipped the homemade icings and used hot glue. Shh. Don’t tell. Andy and Nora, on the other hand, were all about noshing on their houses like Hansel and Gretel, and so we made sure they got their hands on most of the good-for-you organic treats, and homemade “cement.”
“Cement” for gluing houses together:
Beat 4 egg whites with 1 t cream of tartar till stiff. Gradually add 4 cups powdered sugar (I said, gradually, Andy!) and beat five minutes. Will harden quickly, so keep a towel or plastic wrap on it when not using.
The pretzel sticks/rods are adorbs for making log cabins. Coconut can be edible snow, or can be tinted with green food coloring to make grass. You can also use half-and-half, pint-sized or half-gallon-sized, empty containers for your house frames. Paint, or decoupage, and then add your candy décor. Rock chocolates make excellent chimneys.
photo by Jeff Markham via Wikimedia Commons
We had ourselves a little Christmas village when we were done. Were they cakes necessarily? In the purest sense of the word? Cakes, per se? Okay, maybe not precisely … but what is cake but something that brings people together in the kitchen? And that we did, me and my elves. And I’d say, it was joyful and triumphant.
Lisa Von Saunder says: I always liked the “log cabins” built out of pretzel rods and icing, etc. There are all kinds of houses to be made, from graham crackers is an easy one. thanks for the cute story MaryJane.
Winnie Nielsen says: I love those darling gingerbread houses! One year when I was “room Mother” for my daughter’s Kindergarten class, we used graham crackers instead of gingerbread and made the cutest and easiest houses with the classroom. We were all covered in icing!!
Karlyne says: I think we just may have to do this…
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Becky Gilson!!!
Becky Gilson (Bearprairiechick, #6695) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a Beginner Level Gaining Ground Merit Badge!
“I read worms eat garbage. I found a worm factory on craigslist and keep it in the kitchen. I also started a compost bin for the garden.
I started with worms I found in the yard, and they are thriving and multiplying in their new home. The compost is coming along nicely, and I plan to purchase bulk worms for it from our local supplier this spring.”
Winnie Nielsen says: Looks like your garden is going to be a happy place for your plants come Spring! Let us know how it goes for you next year. I hope you have great results and healthy plants!
The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 7,200 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—10,226 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane
Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life…
For this week’s Out There Kids/Whistle While You Work Intermediate Level Young Cultivator Merit Badge, Piper and I took our newly honed and finely tuned grass-whistling skillz to new heights.
Namely, the tippy-top of her tree, because, well, we had been threatened with bodily harm by all of our respective family members if we so much as blew another blade of grass within their hearing again.
Boy, talk about tough critics.
Lisa Von Saunder says: treehouses and singing and whistling with grass, it doesnt get any better than that!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY FELLOW FARMGIRLS OUT THERE!!
Karlyne says: Oh, I do love those lyrics!!!
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.
That sled brings back memories of snow days spent sledding down our neighbor, the Tills, backyard slope. The entire neighborhood group of kids of all ages gathered on school snow days, Saturdays, and Sunday afternoons for hours of great fun. The hitch about the slope was that there was a good size creek at the bottom so you had to be able to steer the sled not to end up in the drink! My neighborhood friend and next door neighbor, Bobby Anderson, and I always sledded together. Usually, I would either sit behind him or lay down on top of him because he was able to steer the sled better than me!! LOL!! We were best of friends all of our childhood.
I have my brothers and my sleds,
I’m going to be 51 on the 22nd.
And yes I still go sled riding using
our sleds. My son used them too.
They’ve held up to some rough sled
riding lol and lots of laughter.
Looks like fun!!
oh yeah the flexible flyer, what memories! We would go sledding at my best friend’s Grandmother’s place it was a double hill we called ” camel’s hump” If you built up enough speed you could do both hills in one run. Hot ovaltine and grilled cheese sandwiches afterwards .
Love the simple way of life and fun that we don’t always get in our busy life.
We love pecan pie! I put pecans in almost everything for that added delishisness!
This brings back many memories!
We used to use a slide with that on our own little hill! Then the silver round metal coasters! Fun with lots of snow!
We have a family recipe for homemade ice cream that I love. It’s a lemon custard and every time I get out the ice cream maker I just can’t get myself to try a different recipe! It has memories of many birthday celebrations for our family.