For a chance to win a FREE copy of the Palouse Prairie Field Guide, tell if you’ve read the Little House on the Prairie series (and how old you were when you read them) in the comments below. I’ll toss your name into a hat and draw a lucky winner sometime mid-August.
Read all about the importance of prairie in the Aug/Sept issue of MaryJanesFarm. Stay tuned for more magazine-related giveaways. If you’re not yet a subscriber to my magazine, MaryJanesFarm, subscribe here for $19.95/year.
For a chance to win a FREE copy of the book, Origami Farm, tell me about your experience with origami in the comments below. I’ll toss your name into a hat and draw a lucky winner sometime mid-August.
Read our article about Farm Origami and learn to fold a cute little chick in the Aug/Sept issue of MaryJanesFarm. Stay tuned for more magazine-related giveaways. If you’re not yet a subscriber to my magazine, MaryJanesFarm, subscribe here for $19.95/year.
For a chance to win a FREE copy of the book, Creative Lettering and Beyond: Inspiring Tips, Techniques & Ideas, tell me about your favorite creative endeavor/passion in the comments below. I’ll toss your name into a hat and draw a lucky winner sometime mid-August.
Read more about calligraphy in the Aug/Sept issue of MaryJanesFarm. Stay tuned for more magazine-related giveaways. If you’re not yet a subscriber to my magazine, MaryJanesFarm, subscribe here for $19.95/year.
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Cristy Marxsen!!!
Cristy Marxsen (#6637) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Beginner Level Aprons Merit Badge!
“I made an apron! The apron is adorable. I found the fabric and pattern on a quilt run this past weekend. I think the attached dishtowel is just too cool!”
In the June/July issue of MaryJanesFarm, “Fresh Egg Overture,” I led you here to my daily journal for a chance to win some special giveaways. Following, you’ll find the winners of all three giveaways. Thank you to all who participated by leaving comments, and stay tuned for more giveaways in each issue of MaryJanesFarm. If you’re not yet a subscriber to MaryJanesFarm, subscribe here for $19.95/year.
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The winner of my “Shuttercraft, Fresh Egg Overture” giveaway (for a gorgeous pair of FREE robin cutout painted wood shutters from Shuttercraft) is Sandy Worley, who left this comment in response to “Tell me about your favorite bird.”
“The shutters are wonderful! I’m making curtains for my sewing room that have all types of lovely birds that would be perfect with those shutters. I have jars and jars of buttons around my bird decorations to enjoy while I’m sewing/quilting. Cardinals have always been my very favorite, but we have darling little sparrows that nest on our patio … and we treasure their devotion to their babies.”
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The winner of my “All American Clothespins, Fresh Egg Overture“ giveaway (for 20 FREE beautiful, handmade clothespins from All American Clothespins) is Christina Pierce, who left this comment in response to “Tell me how hanging laundry on the line makes you feel.”
“We live as grid free as we can, so hanging laundry is one of my luxuries I enjoy. I don’t own a dryer, so hanging laundry is all I have but I don’t mind, and I wouldn’t trade it for a fancy dryer for nothing, because I love the smell of the clean laundry in your hands and the chance to reconnect with nature as you’re outside … even in the winter months, although I do have a indoor line for rainy days. I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way.”
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The winner of my “Simply Stitched, Fresh Egg Overture” giveaway (for a FREE copy of the new book, Simply Stitched (featuring 20 beautiful, original embroidery motifs, plus projects and instructions), is Marion O’Neill, who left this comment in response to “Tell me about one of your favorite needlework projects.”
“I like embroidering kitchen towels. I love the designs from the 1930s through the 1950s. I especially like the bluebird and chicken designs, but I was happy to find an old World War II aircraft mechanic pattern that I made for my friend Anna, who is an aircraft mechanic. It featured a cat in overalls with a tool box, and it said ”Keep ’em Flying.”
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The winner of my “Liberty Quilt, Fresh Egg Overture” giveaway (for a FREE beautiful MaryJane’s Home Liberty Quilt is Debra Byam, who left this comment in response to “Tell me your favorite place to take a nap.”
“I don’t take naps very often, but when I do, I like to take one on our porch in our swing, or if it’s in the winter, I usually end up in the recliner. This is my last magazine and I love it so I have to renew again. Even my husband will read this magazine and likes it. We live in town and are trying to move outside of town. We have bees, so we sell honey and I make other stuff with the honey and I am looking a getting some chickens. I love them. Anybody have any advice about what are the best and so on? I live in southwestern Minnesota.”
To our winners, make sure you check your emails for one coming from MaryJanesFarm.
We’ve talked in the past about passing—dying, and doing it your way.
But what about those precious months, weeks, days … moments … leading up to the big event?
If you could suddenly hear the ticking of your life clock, what would you do with the time remaining?
Many people, right or wrong, throw themselves desperately at the feet of the medical profession, hoping beyond hope for a cure. They are willing to suffer through brutal treatments to try and extend life, often trading quality for a shot at quantity.
But not Norma Bauerschmidt.
Photo courtesy of Driving Miss Norma on Facebook
Last fall, two days after her beloved husband Leo’s death, 90-year-old Norma received the news that she had uterine cancer. Surgery, radiation, and aggressive chemotherapy were options, but she didn’t even pause to consider them.
“A tiny woman at 101 pounds and under five-feet tall, an exhausted Norma looked the young doctor dead in the eye and with the strongest voice she could muster, said, ‘I’m 90 years old, I’m hitting the road,’” recalls her daughter-in-law, Ramie.
And, by golly, Norma meant it.
Photo courtesy of Driving Miss Norma on Facebook
Norma’s son Tim knew that his mom couldn’t—or, rather, wouldn’t—sit still, living out her days in the quiet of a home she had shared with Leo for most of her life.
But what did that mean, exactly?
“Having recently read Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande (please put this on your reading list), our best idea was to take her on the road with us. Norma currently is not in pain, her mind is sharp, she loves to travel, and she is remarkably easy to be around,” Ramie shares on the Driving Miss Norma Facebook page, where you can keep up with Norma’s adventures.
Photo courtesy of Driving Miss Norma on Facebook
Photo courtesy of Driving Miss Norma on Facebook
So, together, the family “hit the road” in an RV for the journey of a lifetime.
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.
