Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Jacinda Jenks!!!
Jacinda Jenks (fairlady, #5732) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning an Intermediate Level Aprons Merit Badge!
“After making my half apron, I used the same apron pattern to make a full apron. This apron is also reversible, with black and yellow polka-dots on the back. I also used jumbo rick-rack for the bottom and large for pockets.
I like how bright and cheerful the apron turned out. My fellow farmgirls loved the fabric; my husband, on the other, hand prefers the half apron fabric. I love it.”
The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,788 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—8,160 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ
Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …
For this week’s Farm Kitchen/Self-Sufficiency Intermediate Level Merit Badge, I got out my beloved collection of Mason and Bell jars. Why, you may ask?
Are you crafting, Jane?
Making a chandelier?
Organizing your buttons?
Filling them with homemade bath salts?
Giving DIY brownie mixes away to the neighbors?
Well, I could be (and I do, because let’s face it, these purty glass jars have endless possibilities), but no. I am actually—gasp!—using them for what they were intended for: canning.
I know.
Shocking.
First up: spaghetti sauce. Yum! Who doesn’t love a big bowl of noodles, covered in marinara? Gosh, you could even skip the noodles part and eat a big bowl of marinara.
Call it Italian Stew. Who’s with me, farmgirls?
Anyway, though, for my most favoritest spaghetti sauce in all the land, I called up Gramma Barbie. Her newest Chihuahua, Puddles (a name she found endearing, but which turned out to be oddly prophetic), was making a real ruckus in the background, so I hope I got it right.
Gramma B’s Sketti Sauce
My fingers licked and my tummy happy (hey, somebody had to lick the bowl), I moved right along to my next feat of gastronomical genius. (Don’t you enjoy my humility? I know I do.)
Pickled Jalapeños
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?
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.
