| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Judi |
Posted - Jul 27 2005 : 06:05:23 AM
Are there any farmgirls out there in the Chicago area? I live just outside of Chicago. We do have an 80 acre farm my father bought 40 years ago that is used as a getaway, but moving out there doesn't seem to be a good option for us now. So...I practice my farminess here in Riverside. I grow vegetables, good from scratch, made soap, and am interested in herbalism. Any like minds nearby? |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Moe |
Posted - Sep 08 2005 : 6:45:13 PM
Hello, all you Chicago area farm girls!
It's amazing how many of us there are right in the same area. I also live in Evanston and use my backyard as my little farm heaven. I have a clothes line where I hang out all my linens to dry and it is the most wonderful experience. I feed the critters and birds and of course do a lot of gardening. It's been tough this year with the drought. The farmer's market on Saturdays is also great. Since I use organic foods as much as possible, Whole Foods gets a big chunck of my paycheck.
I think it would be great if we get a Chicago chapter going. I would certainly be interested!!
Moe |
| Clare |
Posted - Aug 04 2005 : 2:36:55 PM
Kellygirl, She does have an email link. You have to click on her name, then in the profile box it says "click here to send an email". When you do "click there", there's a pop up box that comes up for you to type a message to this member.
This works fine unless you have pop-up blockers installed on your computer.
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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| Kim |
Posted - Aug 04 2005 : 2:22:57 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Kim
Judi and Mary Ann, I live in Hinckley, come join our chapter!!!! It's the Illnois Prairie Chapter
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
| Kim |
Posted - Aug 04 2005 : 2:21:51 PM
Judi and Mary Ann, I liove in Hinckley, come join our chapter!!!! It's the Illnois Prairie Chapter
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
| kellygirl |
Posted - Aug 04 2005 : 10:25:58 AM
Hi Maj you have no contact email listed so I will write you here. I put in an application on-line to become a Master Gardener in Chicago. Write me and let me know more about it. Do you work at the conservatory? I live in the near northside of Chicago. Hope to hear from you.
To Thine Ownself Be True |
| Maj |
Posted - Aug 04 2005 : 10:00:28 AM
Hey, Gals,
I'm a 4th-year TreeKeeper and an 11th-year Master Gardener in Chicago itself. I'll be staffing the Master Gardener office at Garfield Park Conservancy, 300. N. Central Park, this Sat from 11-1 and Sun from 11-4. They have their own - free - parking lot. If you bring anything for us to evaluate, bring a whole branch, not just a leaf.
From a mug I inherited from my granddad:
Let the wealthy and great Roll in spendor and state
I envy them not I declare it
I eat my own lamb My own chickens and ham
I shear my own fleece and I wear it
I have bread, I have bowers I have fruit, I have flowers
The lark is my morning alarmer
So jolly boys now Here's God speed the plow
Long life and success to the farmer |
| theherblady |
Posted - Aug 04 2005 : 07:41:10 AM
Kay-
Sure I know Chillicothe! It is about 20 min from Peoria in the other direction from me-I work in Peoria and I live in Glasford which is approx 30 minutes from Peoria. Do you know Bartonville...Mapleton..? I live just past there.
I bet alot has changed in Chillicothe in 20 years!! Do you ever make it back this way? I bet WA is beautiful~~And by the way...I love your sign in "therusticcottage" Do you cottage garden?
Jan |
| Nicole |
Posted - Aug 03 2005 : 7:18:56 PM
Amanda, don't feel like a poser. Some of us barely have the opportunity to connect with the earth through planting a petunia. But another good way is cooking with natural ingredients from scratch, eating seasonal foods and supporting local farmers as much as possible. We go to the evanston farmers market every saturday and are shareholders in Angelic organics-a community supported agriculture farm near Rockford. They deliver a box to drop off sites in chicago and suburbs once per week. We are part of cow share program and every 7 weeks drive up to wisconsin to get raw milk and eggs. Ever been to the Green city market?. Did you learn mandarin in SHanghai? I went in '95 so am very rusty now. Did you go to the countryside in china at all? I just drove through, but took a chinese passenger boat down the yangtse for 5 days from sichuan to shanghai. Amazing how people farm the slopes with terraces and alot of manual labor...farmers are peasants there, but community is very strong. I was impressed with that - people's sense of community even in a city of 13 million.
Nicole
Now I see the secret of making the best person: it is to grow in the open air, to eat and sleep with the earth - Walt Whitman |
| therusticcottage |
Posted - Aug 03 2005 : 7:03:25 PM
Hey Jan -- I lived in a little town outside Peoria called Chillicothe before I moved to the West Coast 20 years ago. One of the best places on earth to live.
Kay - Living in Beautiful Washington State
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face."
--Eleanor Roosevelt |
| Judi |
Posted - Aug 03 2005 : 6:13:13 PM
Kelly,
Sounds good to me! I think that a city group would be good. So far we only have a couple of responses from the city/suburbs, but who knows? Tell us about you! |
| kellygirl |
Posted - Aug 03 2005 : 10:55:23 AM
Hello all. Looking to make new friends here in Chicago. All of you farmgirls at heart give me a holler, maybe we can start a group right here in the city!! |
| connio |
Posted - Aug 02 2005 : 08:43:26 AM
Hey Farm Girls!
Ya'll make me nostalgic with all of your talk of Illinois and the Chicago area. I was born near Rockford, Illinois and grew up in small towns in the area. I now live on a tiny farm in Texas, but Illinois is where it all started for me.
Connie
cozycottage |
| Judi |
Posted - Aug 01 2005 : 05:37:04 AM
Mary Ann,
I was just in Earlville yesterday, picking up some meat from the Hoffmans. I was passing through going home to Riverside (only a few miles outside of Chicago) from my farm in Amboy. You say you have corn and beans on four sides? I think I saw your house!!
Jan...I'm glad your dreams came true...where did you move from? Were you a city girl before? How is your garden doing? I have a pretty big garden at my farm and a smaller one in Riverside. I also am trying some herbs. Cilantro and dill are tough, but basil is doing great! Just made a batch of pesto to freeze last night! |
| theherblady |
Posted - Jul 30 2005 : 09:45:53 AM
Hey girls!! You are talking about all my most favorite things...I am not near Chicago..I am in Central Illinois -near Peoria..We bought a old farmhouse last December and my dreams came true..I have a rather large garden this year and picked green beans for canning today..I too am very interested in herbs and was able to get a few planted but it has been rough keeping them alive due to no rain here. I also would love to make soap and other things from herbs. I have 2 doe goats and would like to make goat milk product someday but dont think I am ready for kidding..I only became a true country girl a few months ago ..One step at a time~~~ |
| Horseyrider |
Posted - Jul 29 2005 : 3:52:36 PM
Judi, I'm outside of a little town called Earlville, with corn or beans on all four sides. Where are you?
Mary Ann |
| Kim |
Posted - Jul 29 2005 : 10:14:05 AM
Goody, more members to join the Illinois Prairie Chapter!!!!!!!!!!
I am in Kansas until September for work, but as soon as I get back let's all meet up and get this going! I have a chapter kit at home. i tried to bring all of my Mj stuff with me but I didn't have a lot of extra room in my suitcase 
I'm a wanna be farmgirl. I live in the country but no farm...YET! I can dream!!! As MJ says "It's a condition of the Heart!"
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
| Judi |
Posted - Jul 29 2005 : 05:44:41 AM
Thanks, Jenny, I'll take a look at it. I plan to make a new batch soon. |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Jul 28 2005 : 6:57:09 PM
Hi Judi....welcome!!
I am no where near Chicago..I am in the middle of Utah. Would like to suggest my favorite soap making book though.."Soap making it, Enjoying it" by Ann Bramson.
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things! |
| Judi |
Posted - Jul 28 2005 : 6:24:10 PM
Mary Ann, that sounds so cool. Maybe more than I could ever do, but cool. If I ever have the opportunity to do a few of the things you mentioned, you'll be a great resource. I love horses also. We used to have a few at our farm, but i sold my last one when I got very busy with my son, career, etc. But now I'm a stay at home mom with two young girls and would like to get horses again. But I need to work out some logistics. I'm hoping for next year.
What town are you near? 25 miles south of DeKalb? |
| LifeSmiles |
Posted - Jul 28 2005 : 6:15:38 PM
Helloooo Mary Ann! Love your handle/username. Your (past) life makes me very jealous.
Glad to see you on the board!
Kathy
i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
-- e.e. cummings |
| Horseyrider |
Posted - Jul 28 2005 : 5:54:28 PM
Okay, now you guys make me feel guilty! I used to do these things, many years ago. At one time I grew about 100 different varieties of veggies, fruits, and herbs organically. I had a couple of beautiful Jersey dairy cows, raised milk fed pork, and had dual purpose hens. We made cheese, butter, ice cream, canned, froze and dried our produce, kept a root cellar in our 140 year old farmhouse, and life was good.
Then I got horses.
I love my horses, I really do! I train in a barn not far from me, and have six at home, too. The above used to take a ton of time, but horses take even more. My garden grew over, I sold the cows when hubby's cholesterol was high, and I got so stinking sick of eggs it was years before I could eat another one.
But as I sit here out on my deck, listening to the evening birdsong and watch the lowering sun turn my barn an even deeper shade of red, I do remember and long for those things. I just don't know where I'd fit it all in again!
I live out in the corn about 25 miles south of Celtic Coyote. She's my daughter.
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| CelticCoyote |
Posted - Jul 28 2005 : 4:03:01 PM
I know Amboy, Judi! I drive past there on a fairly regular basis...my chiropractor is in Mendota. I grew up in LaSalle County, too, and had a few friends from Amboy as well. What a small world!
Dekalb actually has public garden plots for rent each year, and they're really pretty close to where I live. I haven't taken advantage of that program yet, due to the lack of transportation & the size of my wee ones (still fairly little yet), but I think if we're not moved by next spring, I may just do that! I'm betting my boys would love it.
Right now, again due to transportation & rugrat issues, I mainly market my soaps & things to friends & family, with the occasional holiday-time craft show thrown in. The Sterling market is definitely something to keep in mind for the future, though...thank you so much! |
| Judi |
Posted - Jul 28 2005 : 3:18:33 PM
Heather,
My farm is near Amboy. I went to college at Northern, so I know DeKalb. I hope you can get a patch of land someday...could you perhaps rent a small area from a farmer near you to garden? It'd probably be no trouble to them, and give you and your kids a good project... and you something to can! I bet a lot of farmers wouldn't mind letting a family rent a small square of land for a very reasonable rate. Just think of the herbs you could grow for your soaps!
Speaking of which, where do you market your soaps? Are you within a decent drive of Sterling? They have just opened a farmers market there (some friends of mine have been involved in it since it's inception) and I'd bet they could use more vendors, if that's what you do.
Amanda, where do you live?
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| atwell |
Posted - Jul 28 2005 : 08:31:28 AM
Amanda!
Get over this "poser business"!!! Let me tell you I dont have any
chickens or goats or sheep out here on my 7 acres and my garden is small compared to most everybody out there that is gardening.. Its all about whats in your heart and THAT is what matters and the fact that you are welcome here to talk about these things whenever you want. Nobody here is going to question your qualifications!!!!
so welcome to the flock,chick!!!!We're glad you're here!!
susan
FatQuarterQuiltFarm
Long Arm Machine
Quilting ~and~
Fabric Flea Market |
| ivmeer |
Posted - Jul 28 2005 : 08:14:08 AM
I feel like a poser calling myself a farmgirl. I live in an apartment in the city, but I really love to cook from scratch using natural ingredients, and I really want to learn how to garden and sew someday. I've bought MaryJane's book, and bakeovers are an absolute revelation.
e-mail me at ivmeer@hotmail.com |
