Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … the Krell family!!!

Alysha, Caleb, Emma, Ethan, and Paige Krell (Young Cultivators of Jessica Krell #5148) have received a certificate of achievement in Farm Kitchen for earning an Expert Level All Dried Up Merit Badge.

“We picked some raspberries and some Saskatoons with my family and our friends. Then we dried some of the berries and used some more berries to make some fruit leather.

Picking the berries was really fun! The hardest part was not eating them along the way! At home, we dried some of both kinds of berries and used them in our oatmeal the next day for breakfast!

Picking the berries was hard work, but we like to work, so it was fun.”

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Jennifer Knox!!!

Jennifer Knox (#4359) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning a Beginner Level Farmgirl Grammar Merit Badge!

“Two weeks ago, I dusted off my high school dictionary and looked up two weeks worth of new words. At first, I was bemused by this Sisyphean task, but soon I no longer yawped at the esse of these new words. I logged my new word friends into a notebook and referred to them during the two weeks.
Being a middle school Language Arts teacher, it was interesting to look up words as if given my own homework assignment. I enjoyed the small task and look forward to the coaptation of more words into my notebook.”

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,518 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—7,301 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

For this week’s Outpost/Fishing Merit Badge, I was inspired by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Yep, that’s right: that pigtailed whippersnapper who was always scampering off behind the ol’ log cabin to do some fishing. Yes, fishing. She was the quintessential American tomboy, and the kiddo sure knew how to eat. Those books always make me so hungry … mmm, fish!

The only other time I’ve tried the sport of fishing (Is it a sport? A hobby? An art form? A pastime?) was during an especially long employee barbeque, where I got bored, wandered off, offered to man a pole for a pal, fell asleep, and got a wicked sunburn. And no fish. So, I had a bit of PTSD to overcome, but I was all in. Committed. Eager to learn (and eat).

For the Beginning Level badge, I just needed to learn some fishing knots: clinch, Palomar, turle, barrel knot, and double surgeon’s loop. Who knew there were knots in fishing, anyway? Not me, said the little red hen.

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Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Nicole Christensen!!!

Nicole Christensen (Texdane, #1155) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert Level Heirlooms Forever Merit Badge!

“For my gardening season 2012, several friends gave me heirloom plants, including different varieties of tomatoes, herbs, and flowers. I read the book Gardening with Heirloom Seeds by Lynn Coulter, and was introduced to several heirloom seed catalogs by my dad’s wife, Karen, and my friend, Valerie. I marveled how beautiful the heirloom plants were growing in my garden, and wondered how many people before me had the same beautiful plants. (Prior to these heirloom varieties, my seeds have been organic in the veggie bed).

Seed saving always seemed like it would be difficult before, but I was very inspired by some of the beautiful heirloom varieties of plants I was given by some good friends, including some farm sisters! At the end of the season 2012, I learned how to save seeds, using seedsavers.org as a guide.

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The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,518 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—7,301 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

For this week’s Each Other/Languages/Culture Merit Badge (Level Two … you heard it here first!) I brushed off my American Sign Language skills. They had gotten slightly rusty from disuse, but since all I had learned earning my Beginning Level Badge was the Alphabet and how to count to 10, it didn’t take long to jog my memory.

I had recently connected with a girlfriend—a Sister, if you will—who was learning sign language too, so we decided to meet for coffee and earn the next level together.

Solidarity, sisters!

That’s where it’s at.

And if there’s a grande, full-fat mocha with a shot of caramel, a drizzle of hazelnut, whipped cream, and a scone involved, then that’s where I’m at!

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I am so very pleased to announce our Farmgirl Sister of the Year! Meet Karen Price. Karen has been a Sisterhood member for five straight years, but this is the first year she’s applied for Merit Badges because, as she puts it, “I recently changed my occupation to allow for more fun stuff.” Karen has gone after some of the more difficult badges—like Entrepreneurial Expert, Ink Slinger Expert, and Farmgirl Spirit Expert—that require extra effort and have a net positive affect on the world.

Karen spent 18 years as a Methodist Minister throughout Michigan before settling in Fenton, Michigan, two years ago. Read her wonderful blog here.

Karen and 10 other women comprise the Dandelion Farmgirl Chapter. They’ve been meeting once per month for the past four years. “We usually make or create something. We’re very hands on, things like ‘puttin’ up a swap’ or canning or crafting. For our last meeting, we made terrariums.” Karen says she loves a good swap and has been active in the swaps on our Farmgirl Connection chatroom.

We couldn’t help but fall even more in love with Karen when we found out she fought for a change to local ordinances in her hometown to allow for backyard chickens. You can read about it here. She showed up at the city council meeting in a chicken-embellished dress. Walking around the room, she pulled white plastic eggs from her chicken purse, asking those in attendance, “Have you hugged a chicken today?”

Successful in her attempt to change the law, her hens Cagney and Lacey are now members of her family. (Stay tuned for the Oct-Nov “Turning the Page” issue of MaryJanesFarm, where our Urban Homesteader will give you tips on how to change the zoning laws in your community.)

Let’s give Karen a loud and raucous round of clucking!!!!!!

I received this darlin’ little gift set from The Red Tractor Girl—Winnie Nielsen. When she was earning her Intermediate Knitting Merit Badge, she learned to knit on circular needles, and because of that, I now have the perfect Apple Pickin’ Season accessories for 2013!!!!

Winnie must have seen the battered apple I had in my purse when we met up for lunch recently. It’s the last thing I always toss in my purse before I walk out the door. What a clever idea—an apple cozy to keep my fresh-picked apples free of bruises and scrapes. And some apple pie spice mix for my next batch of breakfast quinoa. The hat is simply adorable and the perfect fit. I’m all set. Much love, Winnie! Thank you. Thank you.

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Amanda Schrack!!!

Amanda Schrack (#5269) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Beginner Level Buttoned Up Merit Badge!

“I have numerous button stashes around my house. Some were for making hair bows for my daughter, some were for sewing and some were for crafting. I finally put them all together into one button collection.

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