We’ve all heard how important it is to eat a diet high in roughage. Likewise, “roughaging” (spending time outdoors) is essential to our mental health. Even if it’s a settee on the porch, we need it, gotta have it. I aim to be the reason you pulled your bedding out the back door last night.
Winnie Nielsen says: For this of us here in the deep South, Fall becomes the time when being outside is such a welcomed relief from months of heat and humidity. Here in north central Florida, we do have some deciduous trees so there are glimpses of color where the southern Red Maple, Shumard Oak, Hickory, Red Oak, Dogwood, Elm, and a few other species grow naturally among the Pines, Live Oaks and Palm trees. Our leaves, however, tend to come in late November and December when the rest of the country is ready to put up a Christmas Tree!!
Kellie says: This is my second Fall in North Carolina…on the coast….originally from Ohio where the Falls are the most beautiful but learning to enjoy the warmer weather and longer days of summer here….Fall is not really Fall til sometime close to November 🙂 I am blessed though…learning to love life again : )
Winnie Nielsen says: Flower colors are always so inspiring!
Winnie Nielsen says: Megan looks beautiful in that photo! Talk about Farmgirl romance.. this setting screams that message!
Looove this image! I find it inspiring, and gives me yet one more incentive to hit the road!
I am glad I found it on FB, because now I am delighting in this journal! 🙂
bob verkamp says: I would love to buy this print. any help?
I took Lily out glampin’ a few weekends ago to a Forest Service campground near a beautiful Idaho lake with white-sand beaches. I have to say that I have a new appreciation for campgrounds. I’ve always tried to avoid them, but this was a Butters family reunion, and so a bona fide campground seemed like the easiest thing to do.
As it turns out, I loved it—the sounds of all the people coming and going, the voices of children, babies laughing, people singing around their campfires, guitars, even dogs barking! Walking around the campground at night, I saw every kind of nationality, family size, RV style and size, kids on skateboards, people on bikes … and in thinking about it afterward, what I loved most about it was how happy everyone was. They were, for a tiny fraction of their lives, exactly where they were hard-wired to be. Outdoors.
My Airstream is named Lily because of a beautiful vintage painting that adorns her bedroom partition.
As were leaving the farm and getting on the road (my husband driving his own truck/camper), I looked behind me to see if we were still a convoy, but he’d disappeared. My son and his wife were in a Jeep with a teardrop trailer in tow and my daughter and her husband were in a truck pulling our Tabitha. As it turns out, my husband had hopped out to pick a matching pink lily from my garden for me to enjoy all weekend. What an aroma they give! My lily smelled like a lily all weekend. (And my husband is a big ole sweetheart!)
Slacker came too.
And four of my grandgirls.
Here are some glamour shots of Lily adorned in her vintage gelatin molds. They always put a smile on people’s faces.
And some interior shots I’d taken earlier. I actually bolted a 4′ cast-iron bathtub to the floor. I use a propane on-demand hot-water heater to fill it. Luxurious! And the floor is a portion of a basketball court that was up for grabs from our local building recycler.
The linen curtains and bedding are made from some rather ugly curtains on sale at Bed-Bath-Beyond that had big 2″ grommets in the tops. I cut those off and used an entire extra curtain to make the ruffles. Love linen fabric that is gauzy like these are!
oh my! So girly and fun and I want your bathtub ! Mine at the farmhouse has this hideous brown tinted glass sliding door thing and you can’t even read in the bath its that dark . And no matter how clean you think you are you look brown in the bath!
Karlyne says: I’ve taken off a couple of sliding glass doors (yes, one did come down on my shoulder, which, luckily for me, did not hurt anything), and installed shower curtains instead. Not only are they prettier, they are waaaaaay easier to clean. Want me to come help take yours down?
thanks karlyne,that is so sweet! but I rent this farmette and cant do that kind of change- landlord likes that I keep it just so- bummer. But, the rest of the place is very nice , like the huge 18ft by 19 ft custom solid oak kitchen, stone cottage, waterfall, and old growth trees.
Karlyne says: Maybe if he saw the pictures of Lily he’d change his mind? But, anyway, it sounds like the rest of the place is lovely!
As we say in Lancaster County ” yepper” – oh did I mention the stream and the glacier rock field with boulders the size of volkswagons?
I got alot of different nature all over this 3 acre place.
Oh MaryJane I just have to add, the use of beautiful vintage aluminum trays for outside decoration on the AirStream is just pure genius!
Winnie Nielsen says: Wow, your Lily Camper is the BEST! The white colors make it seem so peaceful and restful inside as well. I often think of camping as stuff all jumbled up in coolers and various sacks trying to stay dry under tarps. Camping in this trailer must be entirely different which is quite appealing to me!
MaryJane says: Maybe you should stay it when you come next year:)
Winnie Nielsen says: If I get to choose, which I am not asking to do, I would want to stay in a wall tent. But, whatever is best for you will be fine for me! I will be so excited to visit that I will be happy anywhere you put me. It can even be a sleeping bag in the cow barn with the girls!
Karlyne says: I am beyond jealous of Lily! Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! And the bathtub is sheer genius. Genius, I say!
I’ve been dreaming of camper life for a long time. Even tiny house living gets more appealing the older we get. We made the iron wreath for your giveaway a year or so ago. Now it looks like our son and his wife are moving to Idaho. I may need to move our business there too! The mountains and lifestyle seem to be calling my name!
Karlyne says: Wow, Robin! Whereabouts in Idaho? It’s beautiful here, and the people are superb!
Much further south in Idaho but as newlyweds they’d probably enjoy a few hours drive between us through the mountains! Haha. I’ve been watching documentaries & doing a little research. It seems like our work would fit well. It may be adventure time!
Karlyne says: Nothing ventured, nothing gained? No guts, no glory? A life lived in fear is a life half-lived? Ok, that’s about all of the platitudes I can think of. Let the adventure begin!
Connie-Killarney says: Now that is the way to Glamp! Grand girls and a tub! the beautiful surroundings! what more do you need! Love it!!!!!!
Judy Cole says: Oh, this is just beautiful, and homey. I could go camping, and g l a m p i n g,(spell check made me do it) in this little gem. My Partner would not say “No” to staying in this, either.
Ruth says: Lily is lovely! You’ve inspired me with ideas galore!
Sandi says: What an absolute darlin’ pictured with Slacker! I’m so glad you had a wonderful campground experience. John and I have been traveling the East Coast in all sorts of campgrounds since I last wrote for the ‘Outpost’. I don’t believe we’ve ever had a bad experience. I’m sure Lily gets lots of attention when she pulls in anywhere! Thanks for sharing your lovely home on wheels! Happy Camping! Sandi
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.
Now THAT is a beautiful barn. It would go perfect with my Red Tractor!
Beautiful, now that’s a barn!
Or this. I could use this, too.