First off, thank you for this opportunity! My mother told us about flour sack material used for little girls dresses. My mother was a quilter that used 1930’s fabrics almost exclusively, said it reminded her of her childhood home. I now have her fabric and a quilt, memories close to my heart.

I was fortunate and blessed to grow up with the loving role models of BOTH sets of grandparents, as well as my parents, in my life. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we had gardens (flowers and vegetables), loved picking berries, fishing for brook trout, and hunting for deer. Mother Earth gave us all we needed, including knowledge that was handed down from generation to generation. Processing wild meat, canning fruits and vegetables, sewing our own clothing, gathering our own firewood, baking wonderful Finnish-American foods, and making our Christmas gifts by hand. Learning how to sew on a treadle sewing machine, how to knit and crochet, and Grandma’s gift of rag-rug making . . . all of these gifts have blessed the lives of my siblings and myself. I thank the dear Lord above, for all of this. Call it nostalgia? I call it “family”.

It isn’t nostalgia at all. It’s a reminder of how to live well, and it’s a snapshot of how I actually do live; growing good food in a beautiful garden, caring for my neighbors and community, showing kindness and feeding the chickens. It reminds me to keep doing what I’m doing and just keep getting better at it.

I love your magazine. I didn’t grow up a farm girl, I was a city girl from New Mexico. I listened to my grandfather’s stories of his childhood days in rural Missouri starting in 1910. For me those were days of family. Of growing your own food. Of making your family clothes and quilts. Of neighbor helping neighbor. It was a life I wanted. Still do. So when I got married I wanted all those things but sadly didn’t achieve all of it. I can a good part of my families food, garden, quilt, try to help my neighbors, and love my family dearly. Even at age 65 I still strive to obtain what I read in your magazine. A way of life that God is helping me fulfill.

I connect with the content of Mary Jane’s Farm magazine because I grew up on a small cattle farm in the Midwest. I especially like craftiness of the magazine and helpful hints for the day to day.

My grandmother grew up in rural Texas during the depression and married a honky-tonk man. They divorced when my mother and uncle were very young during an Era when divorce was not common. My grandmother had to leave my mother with my great-grandmother on the Texas farm while she went to beauty school to learn a living. The farm was self-sufficient and they relied on themselves to raise what they ate including collecting eggs for breakfast each morning. My great-mother made their clothes at home from material that was available, including feed sack material. My great-grandmother was the person the local doctor asked to help him with his calls to patients, and she took in over 13 local orphans during the depression and war Era. Eventually my grandmother finished beauty school, and came back for my mother and uncle. She started her own business. It is the self-sufficiency of my great-grandmother and grandmother that I think of when I read about the farming and craft stories in Mary Jane’s. My mother ran her own business, and so have I. In my opinion, Mary Jane’s provides a connection to a strength of spirit found in rural America, and makes me proud of the women in my family who over came adversity to support family and community.

I grew up on a farm in the 30s and 40s. We had very few clothes and they were all homemade. My mother worked very hard to keep food and clothes for her 4 kids.she had big gardens chickens and made biscuits twice a day. We used lots of flour and a blessing when the patterned sacks came to be. They were all so pretty she would pick what she could use to make my dresses and my brothers shirts At about same time chicken feed also was in printed sacks. Two of those would make her a dress. She made aprons, bonnets underwear all out of the pretty flour sacks. When she passed away she left me with a quilt top, most every square was a scrap from a flour sack. Lots of them I could remember the dress I wore. I put that quilt top together and hand quilted it into a real treasure of memories for me. A prized possession. When looking for quilting material I find myself picking little flower patterns thinking they look similar to those flour sacks. Thank you so much for the article loved it.

I have been a follower of Mary Jane since her first book. Everything from the crafts, recipes and the stories are what draw me in and touch my heart. I am always inspired and find something to make in each issue. Thank you!

I have loved the magazine for years! The sewing and quilting segments are my favorite. I have been sewing since my grandma taught me over 50 years ago. I love making useful and beautiful items for family and friends. I have made tea cozy’s from flour sack fabrics in the past. I have so many ideas swimming in my head about what could be made from these flour sacks! Thanks for such a wonderful creative magazine, I am delighted every time it shows up in my mailbox!

The beauty and simplicity of Mary Jane’s Farm is a reflection of the memories my momma shared with me of her childhood. As a child of the Depression, she developed (and passed on to me) a kind of practical creativity- using what’s available, even if it is someone else’s cast-off, to make what you need and to make it beautiful to boot. The articles, stories, and pictures remind me of her and inspire me to value the simple beauty of a life lived fully and well.

I love all things vintage. I enjoy reading about simpler times. I think I am an old soul person. Restoring and repurposing. Rescuing old quilts and giving them new life. Displaying my great grandparents photos (who I never met) rather than storing them in a box. These are all things I’m passionate about. Your magazine speaks to all these things. Back to basics.

I connect with the nostalgia of MaryJanes Farm because it reminds me of my Granny and all the “old ways”. I’ve learned a lot of the old ways from Granny, but at 95 years old, there are a lot of things she can no longer teach me. MaryJanes Farm fills in a lot of those gaps, plus brings me a lot of “new” things too, things that will be the “old ways” one day for my daughters.

I love your magazine for the crafts, recipes and farm girl articles. I love needle arts, reading, and gardening and this magazine has it all. I could read it from cover to cover. It is a wonderful escape from the world today.

First of all I really enjoy MaryJanes Farm magazine. Brings back lots of memories. My Grandmother did a lot of sewing, crochet and so much more. She made aprons with the sack cloths and used pieces for quilts or to cover homemade pillows. When worn out nothing wasted, she would make the rag rugs too. I have a couple of them, one not quit finished so I’ve been trying to finish it myself. Love the colors and simplicity. Thank you for bring back simple life but so meaningful. Gods blessings to you and your family. 🤗

I love Mary Janes Farm magazine, it truly brings back many wonderful memories of growing up on our little country farm in Wisconsin! My dad grew the most incredible vegetable gardens while my mom tended to her beautiful flower gardens. Growing up in rural WI we didn’t have a lot of money but we did have a roof over our heads & lots of good homegrown food to eat. We had a small farm with milking cows. Pigs, goats, chickens as well as our pet dog, Cubby a beautiful borderline collie, cats & my rabbits snowball & cottontail.
My mom & grandmother were wonderful seamstresses & made all of our clothes growing up which is the main reason for me writing this because I read about flour sacks & a chance to win a stack of vintage flour-sack fabric & brought back precious memories of our handmade clothes which were made from these beautiful printed flour sacks. Your June-July issue just arrived today in my mailbox & I was so excited after reading it I had to call my older sister & tell her all about it and I told her I was going to order a subscription for her as I knew she would enjoy your magazine as much as I am! Thank you so much for for creating this awesome magazine!

Love your magazine! There are so many reminders of how much simpler life can be and I needed this. Thank you. The flour sack fabric was used in quilts that my grandmother made and my husband’s grandma made. They were mixed with old sheet fabric and work shirt fabric to make beautiful works of art that are still useful today!

It is fascinating to me to study the role fabric has played in our history. As an artist myself I was immediately drawn to the article about flour sacks and how they were used during the war years. the patterns are wonderful and the story about them is so interesting. I love that the flour sack companies responded by making more beautiful patterns on their sacks for people to use in their projects once the flour was gone. I love everything about Mary Jane’s Farm magazine and as an artist I especially enjoy all the vintage illustrations throughout the magazine. The whole magazine is a work of art! While other magazines get put into the recycle bin, I can’t bring myself to part with a single issue of Mary Jane’s farm. Thank you for such a beautiful and informative magazine, you speak to my soul in every issue.

Catherine, your last sentence is so true! Like you, I grew up picking mountain berries and rode in the back of an old 1950s chevy truck with family. Warm memories of “field trips” knows no bounds, including herbcrafts because of my strong commitment to family tradition with home remedies being passed down that are very meaningful to me. I love how you describe your “field trips” from childhood that are similar to mine–so nostalgic!

Have not read Little House on the prairie series,watch all the tv series.

Yes, Read these aloud to my children when I was in my late 20’s. Have probably seen every tv episode too. My mother’s side of the family grew up in the Dakota’s and Minnesota. 1800’s to the first part of 1900’s. My grandma was born in a sod house.

I didn’t read the Little House books until I was a stay-at-home mom in my 30’s. Now, I have my first granddaughter and am looking forward to reading them with her. The prairie has always been one of my favorite places.

Oh my gosh, Little House on the Prairie series were my favorite stories. I don’t remember how old I was when I started reading them, but I was young. I would start with the first one and read them in order and when I was finished with the last one I would go back to the library and start all over. I would be upset sometimes because when I would go back to check them out they would already be checked out and I would have to wait. I bought my own set when I got older and I read and told my children about them. I’m rambling but I just loved those books.

I started reading the series almost as soon as I could read, around 8 years old! I was given a copy of “Little House in the Big Woods” about that time. I loved the illustrations by Garth Williams, and I read the books over and over during the years.

Wow! that rose is stunning! Would love to have that in my yard! 🙂