| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Apr 24 2009 : 5:23:46 PM
Were you a young girl when you first knew the country was calling to you? Were you raised on a farm? Were you always in love with the simple things of life? Tell us when you first felt in your heart that you were a farmgirl.
Farmgirl Sister # 31
www.blueskyjeannie.blogspot.com
Psalm 51: 10-13 |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Miss2Missus |
Posted - Apr 29 2009 : 11:42:00 AM
I grew up right smack between Washington Dc and Baltimore. I really didn't have much experience with a farm or what it could be like. The closest i came was a field trip to a dairy farm when i was little. But it's been the last seven eight years that i have realized that you can have a farm and not have a large one but a small family farm. It's also during this time that i have gone through a lot and for health reasons would like to be in a more natural environment. I absolutely love putting in the hard work and actually getting something out of it and being around nature. Much better and more soothing to the soul then living in a city.
Karen
http://apple-and-eve.blogspot.com/ |
| FebruaryViolet |
Posted - Apr 29 2009 : 06:09:16 AM
Jeannie, that's Ty--he's a cutie. I went to school with his wife, Jewel at Interlochen. She's...not as cute :)
Musings from our family in the Bluegrass http://sweetvioletmae.blogspot.com/ |
| CherryMeDarlin |
Posted - Apr 28 2009 : 5:10:52 PM
Reading through these posts, there are so many common threads! For one, the family background of farming. I, too, came from a family of farmers and I spent many summers in a cotton, soybean, or watermelon field. When I was little, like 4-7, it was my job to carry a gallon of drinking water to my grandparents and parents as they picked watermelons. Other jobs, more fun jobs, were packing cotton down in the cotton wagons and "swimming" through just harvested soybeans. I also remember shelling peas with my grandmother while she watched her "stories"! And my little brother and cousin teethed on fresh cut corn cobs, crawling around on a quilt under the mulberry tree while we shucked and cut corn. I believe the farm life becomes an imprint on our DNA, like a cell memory.
Another common thread seems to be Laura Ingalls. My sister and I used to play Little House on the Prairie at the creek behind our house while my daddy and granddaddy cut firewood. I read and re-read all of the books several times!
How interesting, all of our similarities!
~~Cherry~~
"A thing is as simple or as complicated as you make it." --TT Murphy |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Apr 28 2009 : 2:21:06 PM
oh, and I have been watching Dancing with the Stars. There is a rodeo rider who is doing pretty good. I hope both of his muscle disciplines can make it! He seems so nice!
Farmgirl Sister # 31
www.blueskyjeannie.blogspot.com
Psalm 51: 10-13 |
| goneriding |
Posted - Apr 28 2009 : 09:52:26 AM
Jonni, I asked about the ballerina thing on one of my horsey boards. There are some well-known and respected hosspeople on there, mostly english and some western and they agreed. A few had tried to dance and ride and in the end had to make a decision about which one they wanted to do if they wanted to get to the higher rungs. Never thought about that. How interesting!
Winona :-)
To read funny stories about my cooking 'skills', please visit http://lostadventuresincooking.blogspot.com/
For uber-opinionated, pleasurable horse related reading, please visit http://horseinfoperson.blogspot.com/
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| FebruaryViolet |
Posted - Apr 28 2009 : 09:16:29 AM
quote:
Originally posted by electricdunce
...all of L.M. Montgomery's Anne boooks, and the Emily of New Moon series. I have always loved to sew and paint and make messes of every kind.
Then you certainly channel Anne Shirley, Karin  ...we are truly, kindred spirits then!
Musings from our family in the Bluegrass http://sweetvioletmae.blogspot.com/ |
| electricdunce |
Posted - Apr 28 2009 : 08:38:48 AM
I have early memories of planting in the garden with my mother, and when I started going to ranch boarding school in Arizona when i was six, I wanted to be a cowgirl...and I grew up reading the Little House books, all of L.M. Montgomery's Anne boooks, and the Emily of New Moon series. I have always loved to sew and paint and make messes of every kind.
Karin
Farmgirl Sister #153
"Give me shelter from the storm" - Bob Dylan
http://moodranch.blogspot.com
http://domesticnonsense.etsy.com |
| FebruaryViolet |
Posted - Apr 28 2009 : 05:37:45 AM
It's true, Winona! The muscles that dancers cultivate are looooong, lean and strong, while folks who ride often have shorter, tight and very strong muscles, especially in the upper body and thigh area. Ruins the line for a dancer. Yep, tell those horsey folk to knock off the pointe classes :)...
I also wasn't allowed to ski for the same reason, but since I live in Kentucky, skiing wasn't something I did regularly....um, if at all :).
Musings from our family in the Bluegrass http://sweetvioletmae.blogspot.com/ |
| goneriding |
Posted - Apr 27 2009 : 5:57:33 PM
Ballerina's aren't supposed to ride horses?? Wow...never heard that one before! Gotta tell my horsey friends to quit getting on pointe (is that how you say it??)...hehehe...
Winona ;-)
To read funny stories about my cooking 'skills', please visit http://lostadventuresincooking.blogspot.com/
For uber-opinionated, pleasurable horse related reading, please visit http://horseinfoperson.blogspot.com/
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| Annab |
Posted - Apr 27 2009 : 4:13:05 PM
Is anyone famillar with the Firefox series?
I finally parued these last trip to te bookstore.
Great reading...too bad I'm currently in the middle of the Twilight series |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Apr 27 2009 : 10:35:30 AM
I have this old book called Frontier Women, and it is full of personal stories like the ones you all have written, only written about women who lived in the late 1800's. I really love reading them.
I hope a lot farmgirls post their present day stories, too. This is really fun! Love of the farm and land never grows old.
Lainey - what a wonderful photo!
Farmgirl Sister # 31
www.blueskyjeannie.blogspot.com
Psalm 51: 10-13 |
| goneriding |
Posted - Apr 27 2009 : 08:23:38 AM
I'm not a true 'farm'girl but more a 'ranch'girl. It seems to me from my first cognizant moment, I knew I was country and outdoorsy from the get-go. Much to my mom's consternation. When all the 'womenfolk' were inside canning and baking, I was outside with the ranchhands riding horses and working cattle. That domesticity thing has always been a bit of a millstone around my neck as I don't do it very well but point me towards the horse barn and I'm all over it.
Winona :-)
To read funny stories about my cooking 'skills', please visit http://lostadventuresincooking.blogspot.com/
For uber-opinionated, pleasurable horse related reading, please visit http://horseinfoperson.blogspot.com/
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| mulegirl |
Posted - Apr 27 2009 : 06:48:28 AM
Nice pic Elaine,
Don't you just love bib jeans. That's all my grandfather evre wore, except for a few hours on Sunday morning when he wore a suit to church which he looked just about as uncomfortable as you could be in that suit.
r
smile, follow your heart and don't look back
http://web.mac.com/rosemaryart |
| FebruaryViolet |
Posted - Apr 27 2009 : 06:23:46 AM
I came from rural folks (grandparents) and I always found that I returned to those roots in times of happiness and trouble--so nearly all the time! Though, I wasn't born on a farm, we lived in a rural community called Richwood when I was born, on a horsefarm owned by man my daddy trained horses for. Wasn't anything to Richwood, but a few dilapidated country victorians, and lots of land. Even now, I see the little winding road in my daydreams and remember the smell of alfalfa and the sweet, hot breath of those horses Daddy cared for.
My father was always a horseman (he'd been a jockey, but retired when I was born) and I was ALWAYS around horses. Always. And I wanted to be just like him--to ride more than anything in this world. I spent days putting together the best "horsegirl" (as opposed to "cowgirl") outfit, and got a new pair of riding boots every other year. I envisioned myself with a lush, sweeping spanse of land near a town I found on an old map of Kentucky called "Ruddles Mill", somewhere in Bourbon County. I dressed in Gunne Sax dresses and hats and got a pair of REAL high button shoes for my birthday, so I wore the whole get up and explored creekbeds and woods alike.
But, when I was 11 or so, I took a ballet class that changed my life--I became a ballerina. And, it turns out, professional ballerinas aren't ALLOWED to ride horses (builds different muscles) and I spent most of my days in large cities. I dreamed of grass when I lived in Brooklyn, and took every chance I could get (even with people I only tolerated) to get out of the city for retreat. It wasn't until I lived in London that I met Sarah and Phil (and their 3 girls) who had a working dairy farm in Cornwall that I felt that switch turn on, that I've never been able to turn back off...I went home with them to visit after the theater season ended and didn't return to London until it began again 5 months later. It was there, at Sarah's, that I found again what it was like to take pride in the simple things--a hard job well done, rosy cheeks flushed by a cold wind, a well-trained border collie underfoot.
Even though I still don't live on a farm (that's the goal)for now, our little acre of land affords us plenty of "agrarian" life...we harvest wild brambles, we have organic raised beds and grow countless vegetables for sustainment, and we have our own "corral" of large, horse-like dogs--so we're nearly achieving the dream!!!!
Musings from our family in the Bluegrass http://sweetvioletmae.blogspot.com/ |
| Annab |
Posted - Apr 27 2009 : 03:37:06 AM
I was born from farm stock.
Grandpa was president of the Wool Growers association and had grown up on a farm. In fact, he lost his arm in a corn picker.
Had an uncle who was a hog farmer. Brother and I spent a week or two here as we were growing up. It's where some of our fondest memories are from.
Mom always had a huge garden. I remember snapping beans every summer and not wanting anything to do with the tomatoes.
I have always been an animal lover. Probably b/c of the farm.
And growing up, there were still vacant fields where we picked blackberies , and a creek that had huge flat rocks we could pick up and search for critters beneath.
I was one of those kids who was constantly bringing home some kind of living thing every summer. Mom was so tolerant.
So I guess it was only natural to have finally found and married a farmer here in NC where there still are vacant fileds and a creek to take my dog swimming. We plant a huge garden every year. And when I started canning and preserving, it totally blew my mom away. She never would have guessed I'd be so good at it or even want to do something like that in the first place!.
I could be ok living in the suburbs, but happiest living out in the country for sure.
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| Julia |
Posted - Apr 27 2009 : 12:23:49 AM
Growing up on a farm, I guess it just stuck with me. Even when I could only have a small garden and only one or 2 chickens, or a goat, I did what I could to keep the country in me. It's amazing how even just a clay pot with salad greens in it can feel like 40 acres.
For tomorrow and its needs I do not pray, but keep me, guide me, love me, Lord just for today.
St. Augustine
#440 |
| K-Falls Farmgirl |
Posted - Apr 26 2009 : 9:25:41 PM
I was born a city girl but my parents had a back yard garden.. when I got married at 18 & had children I convinced my husband when my children were young 4,6,8(I was 26yo) to sell our home in town & buy acreage in the country. That was 1975 and I raised my children on the farm. Their father was a firefighter so his schedule made it necessary for the kids & me to do the farm work, pigs, cows, chickens, turkeys, & a huge garden, while they hated it growing up they all have the farming spirit today and would love to have their own as they raise their own children. *I divorced the Fireman and moved to the city to regroup and sadly Left the farm.but (its true you can take the girl out of the farm but you cant take the farm out of the girl. I am back to it now remarried and Retired. Loving every day here on Blue Sky Farm
Cheryl
Farmgirl #309
Klamath Falls "Charming Chicks Chapter" Mother Hen
Almost daily posts at:
http://www.k-fallsfarmgirl.blogspot.com/
Come visit the barn at http://barndoorcreations.blogspot.com/
Grandmas are mom's with more icing. |
| Room To Grow |
Posted - Apr 26 2009 : 06:20:28 AM
I moved to Maine...Near the Canadian border near St Stephens when I was 26. We lived in a small house that use to be a fishing village. One time I had a bear come and sit on my steps...and my dog played with the female wolves...neveer hurt him...But ever since then I always looked for land so I could have a farm..I love the quiet and freedom you have with owning a farm. And now I have it. We live in Plainville Ga...just starting my dream at 52 yrs young...It took sometime to get here but I am sure I will be here until God decideds to take me.
Deborah
we have moved to our farm...and love it |
| Patsy |
Posted - Apr 26 2009 : 05:57:37 AM
I was born in the city but always went to visit my Uncle Jim and Aunt Dolly on their farm. I absolutely loved it. They had chickens, hogs, cattle, horses, fields of corn, wheat and soybeans, always new kittens, dogs. They didn't have indoor plumbing and this was in the late 50's so that was pretty unusual but I loved it. My job was to pump the morning water for the coffee and dishes. I didn't mind the outhouse at all even in the middle of the night when it was snowing. That house has been torn down and replaced, the land sold off, the barn is gone and the chicken house and woodhouse is all gone too. Everytime I drive by, I see what it used to be.
Patsy
I think that if a mortal ever heard the voice of God, it would be in a garden at the cool of the day. (F. Moore)
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| harmonyfarm |
Posted - Apr 25 2009 : 9:13:48 PM
It all started late spring, early summer of 1978, when I stuck a bean seed into the ground of my very first garden and had to hike 1/4 mile into the woods to my home...
Debbie
"If you can't find the time to do it right...how will you find the time to do it over" |
| Lainey |
Posted - Apr 25 2009 : 7:44:58 PM
I can't really remember a time when I didn't want to be a farmgirl/country girl it was just in my blood. I was raised in the middle of a farming community (mostly tobacco and cattle). My grandparents lived within a few miles of us and had cattle, hogs, chickens, guinea fowl, and raised tobacco, hay, and corn. Although my father didn't farm himself, he worked full time at a factory, but he helped my granddaddy on the farm. He and my aunt were left that farm after my grandparents passed on and are working it now. They no longer raise tobacco as there's not much money in it but still have cattle.
I lived out there until I reached my late 20s and I moved to 'town'. Our town is a college town of about 30,000. I lived there until I married and moved to Sweden for a little while. After that I moved back to that town and lived in an apartment and waited for the day we could afford to buy a house. While we were looking for a home a house came up for sale that was 2 miles from where I grew up and on the same road. We bought it in a hurry and have been here nearly five years. I love it here and it just feels right being out here for now.
Here's a pic my husband took of my Dad and I on the farm one evening.
Farmgirl Sister #25
http://countrygirldreams.blogspot.com/
An Angel says, 'Never borrow from the future. If you worry about what may happen tomorrow and it doesn't happen, you have worried in vain. Even if it does happen, you have to worry twice.' |
| gspringman |
Posted - Apr 25 2009 : 6:44:29 PM
My family left New York when I was five so it had to be then. I remember a woman who had a small home with a bear rug in front of her fireplace and an oil painting she did of a lion hanging above it. Old wood stove she made candies on. There was a lake down the hill from her front yard, a creek going thru the side yard and a forest in the back where my dad would take me for walks. There were bridges made of fallen trees, houses up on stilts. She even had a chicken coop that I would crawl up into and pick up eggs. It was an old wagon like the gypsies used with lots of color. Even the smells of burning wood and mossy trees and the running creek. Going down to the neighbors and riding on the hay wagon with Clysdales pulling it and getting back to the house for a cold drink of well water in a tin cup. Yeah I've had country in my blood ever since. I loved that place.
Gail
Farmgirl #486
Zone 5
http://grammasladybug.blogspot.com/
Circumstances made us Friends.....Maryjanes made us Sisters |
| Alee |
Posted - Apr 25 2009 : 5:10:53 PM
My family had a house about 2 miles out in the country, but when I was in second grade we moved to town. I was pretty much set on getting back to the country the minute my parents told us we were moving to town. You can ask my mom- I gave my parents no end of trouble about moving!
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
| Sheep Mom 2 |
Posted - Apr 25 2009 : 3:35:44 PM
I grew up in Lake Tahoe in the mountains because my dad ran away from the farm at 16. My grandparents and all of their siblings all had farms in Northern CA. I too was fascinated with the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and always related to the pioneer way of life. When I was a hippy style teenager in the early '70's all I wanted was to do the homestead thing - a piece of ground, build my own house etc. Well, here I am 30 years later in a log house we built, with my big garden, sheep & chickens and still growing as much of the food that I eat as I can. I've raised hogs & cows off and on too. I wouldn't trade this life for anything. It's been a lot of hard physical labor and going to town for anything is at least a 30 if not 60 mile round trip which just feels normal after so many years. I can't imagine living in town with neighbors so close that they know all your business. It's hard enough with as many people that have moved in around me here. I am lucky, I got to live my dream.
Sheri |
| Bellepepper |
Posted - Apr 25 2009 : 3:15:15 PM
I was raised on a small farm. One of my grandpa's was a dairy farmer, the other grandpa lived in town but he was the gardener. I say grandpas because the grandmas just went along with what grandpa was doing. My folks always had a garden. Joined 4-H when I was 8. Back then, Sears had a garden project that would give free seeds to 4-H kids then their gardens were judged on looks. The county fair judged the production and preservation. I won many blue ribbons with my garden and produce. I have for 62 years had a garden. I also learned to sew when I was 8 years old. Learned to can when I was 8 years old. Raised pigs, chickens, beef calves. Always said I was born 100 years to late. I would have given anything to have been a pioneer. |
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