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Across the Fence:  MaryJane wannabees  |
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Sandra K. Licher
True Blue Farmgirl
1106 Posts
Sandra
Horseshoe Bend
Arkansas
1106 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 17 2008 : 12:31:56 PM
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You gals are a hoot! You make me smile and I too was wondering if MJ had been on Oprah yet? She had that 'pretty woman" actress and her friend doing a "green" show but that was nothing compared to MJ and what she's done in her life! And Jami I agree with you...if all the "city folk" moved to the country it would get too crowded! So more power to them!
My mother was green years ago as anyone who went through the Depression was. They lost their farm and my mom went to the city and became a nurse and put herself through school. She used to save bread bags and when I was little she's put them over my shoes and then I put my boots on and it was so much easier to slide on the boots ( days before shoe-boots were invented) and she would save, wash and re-use foil and many other things. That generation was my parents and MJ's parents and many others and now finally we're getting back to that. There's a saying I love that I want to embroider..."Use it up, make it do, throw it out or buy it new" and I try to do them in that order. I SO relate to you guys when you talk about a day well spent and working hard. There have been so many times I could not relate to other women...I'm sure they thought I was NUTS and maybe I am but finally I have found others who get the same satisfaction out of hard, physical labor, getting dirty, and loving the land and nature. Thank you all for sharing....it's like a warm hug to find other women who make me finally feel welcome.
Sam in AR..... "It's a great life if you don't weaken!"
Farmgirl Sister #226 |
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LunaTheFarmLady
True Blue Farmgirl
448 Posts
Luna
Rineyville
KY
USA
448 Posts |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Jun 17 2008 : 1:09:51 PM
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I'm just enough of an anti-establishment gal that if Maryjane did end up on Oprah or Martha, I might not be too keen on MJ anymore...that's just the way I am, though. I refuse to buy books that have the "Oprah's bookclub" sticker on them...I don't hate Oprah at all, I can just pick books on my own.
That said, I'm really glad that newspapers are giving people lists of local farmers markets, and folks like my sil, who's schooling herself about my nephews allergies related to food, and buying into a organic cooperative. She's not going to do the work to grow it, but she can support a local farmer just the same. I like that I'm seeing more gardens, and that folks knit, sew, etc...and are giving homemade gifts. But often I'm just like...."well, DUH." A few weeks ago, someone asked me how worried I was about my garden--if it was difficult to get it started and how hard it must be to take care of it. And, then, they asked, what if stuff doesn't grow? I thought about it for a second and said, "well, you know, my great grandmother and grandfather gardened to sustain their household, and they never starved to death, so I bet I won't either." So, yeah. DUH. It just seems like common sense to me, but then, when you go to grocery and the teenage check out girl says, "what is this?" pointing to a bag of baby spinach lying on the scanner, maybe the more mainstream MaryJane can get, the better!!!! NEXT UP, MTV!!!!
My dad grew up in the depression, and I think we were very realistic in our household. I remember when all stores started giving plastic bags out...my mom saved hers, and they were an unruly mess. So, he took one of the empty washing detergent bottles, cut the bottom off, mounted it on the inside stair to the basement, and voila! You pulled the bags from the "pourer" and stuffed them in at the bottom(which was now the top). Today, Danny Seo (the Green consultant for Country Home) would treat this like it was a miracle of ingenuity and recycling-greenability! My dad would have said, "Duh. It's just common sense" or more likely, "use your head for something other than a hat rack!"
So, in sum, I'm grateful to Mary Jane for simply making more of us remember our roots and for giving us tools to use our heads for more than just hat racks--for common sense. I just wish "green" wasn't a brand...but that's consumerism, and honestly, if you could sell a "green" or "organic" instant house/garden/lifestyle in a box, folks would buy it.
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
Edited by - KYgurlsrbest on Jun 17 2008 1:17:03 PM |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Jun 17 2008 : 2:48:03 PM
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I do think "green" has become more a PR term for profit than anything else. In the 70's, we got concerned for the environment and acted. We turned off the AC. I often used oil lamps instead of lights in the evening. It was the early days of "compact" cars. We used paper bags or cloth bags for groceries...foods were not so heavily "packaged" with all the stuff that goes in the trash when we get home...we used cloth rags, towels, and napkins. We dusted with rags, too, that could be washed and not thrown away like swiffers. We used our paper bags to put garbage in, not plastic bags. We hand washed the dishes, and rinsed them in a container of water instead of letting the water run. Glass was returnable, and plastic milk jugs were "new". So green today is not what environmentalism was then. And our environmentalism then may have been silly to some who grew up in the 40's. They re-used everything and it was normal. They had fireplaces, and washing machines with no motors (wringers).......it would be a big shock if folks really had to "do without" now. I see photo ads for being green and it makes me smile, because there in the photo is a dishwasher, a fridge with a water dispenser, a wine cooler, and you know the AC is on and they are trying to say the house is "green"! Gosh, I sound like an old fogey here!
Just a thought: It is not outside the realm of possibility that MJ turned Oprah down already....... :)
Another thought: Also, let me say that any attempt to help our world, PR or not, can only be a good thing!
Farmgirl Sister # 31
www.blueskyjeannie.blogspot.com
Psalm 51: 10-13 |
Edited by - jpbluesky on Jun 17 2008 3:12:00 PM |
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Jami
True Blue Farmgirl
1238 Posts
Jami
Ellensburg
WA
USA
1238 Posts |
Posted - Jun 17 2008 : 2:53:14 PM
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The bleach bottle/plastic bag holder idea would be a devoted segment on a "Martha" show now...your dad should write a book of his "green" (translated sensible and out of necessity) inventions and go exploit it on Oprah. You'd have one heckuva inheritance!
I had to laugh out loud when you said you could pick your own books without O's help. I was kind of mad when she had a few books on her list that I had already read...and planted her blasted sticker on them. It just almost ruined them for me...there's always someone on the playground that spoils all of the fun.
As an aside, green business on our farm means Hay for Sale.
Jami in WA
Okay, so now I have a blog. http://woolyinwashington.wordpress.com/ |
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Jami
True Blue Farmgirl
1238 Posts
Jami
Ellensburg
WA
USA
1238 Posts |
Posted - Jun 17 2008 : 2:57:56 PM
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Jeannie, I just was visiting one of those "frugal" websites about going green and saving money and living on a dime, off the land, hoopla. One of the tips on there was not using their 2 central air conditioners (they had 2!!, one for upstairs and one for down) and how much it saved them. Subscribe to our site to find out how to save more was the "catch phrase". I laughed so hard and thought that there are a lot of variables in how people interpret "going green."
Jami in WA
Okay, so now I have a blog. http://woolyinwashington.wordpress.com/ |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Jun 17 2008 : 3:15:45 PM
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Jami, I'll never forget some of dad's "inventions"...now I know that they'd be in mags!!! You sound like a gal after my own heart...I know--I felt a little miffed, like women didn't know how to read before O showed them the way :) I know, they're merely suggestions, and it's helped a lot of authors...but...it's just me. And, well, maybe Jami ;)
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Jun 17 2008 : 6:14:52 PM
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Jami - you understand! Jonni - your dad sounds awesome in his logical outlook.
And believe me, girls, I don't believe you will see MJ on Oprah anytime soon.
Farmgirl Sister # 31
www.blueskyjeannie.blogspot.com
Psalm 51: 10-13 |
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LunaTheFarmLady
True Blue Farmgirl
448 Posts
Luna
Rineyville
KY
USA
448 Posts |
Posted - Jun 18 2008 : 07:07:16 AM
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Jonni and Jami
This is exactly how I feel about the Oprah book club thing. While it probably has helped promote some good authors and spread really good ideas, it just smaks of mindless followers who can't think for themselves without some some guru type telling them what to think. I find it annoying. It brings out my impatient side. I, feel, too, that I can pick out my own books. It bugs me to see her sticker on STACKS of books at B&N. I can just see the $$$$ ringing in a pocket that doesn't need it. Anyhooooo....
I love the stories about your father. He sounds great. He came from a time when people lived and thought about what they were doing as a natural part of life, not this trend following we often see today. I am reminded of my mom who made all our clothes (4 girls) without a pattern. She made her own. She had us lie down on brown paper bags from the store and cut out a t-shape around our outstretched arms to get the size right. Then she would sew and embellish it with smocking and rick rack, ...the whole thing by hand.
But also as you say, there are so many people also who are taking up the old skills and ways again, in a real sense, and making them part of their authentic life. It is spreading. This is what i call the shift in counsciousness. It's sort of like a boat....where the weight of all those of like minded thinking are moving toward a place ...the sheer numbers will alter the course of humanity. I see it as a flow of energy.
Jami, I like your definition of green business....here too :)
cheers!
Luna The Farm Lady
http://blueballmountainspindleneedleworks.blogspot.com/
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Across the Fence: MaryJane wannabees |
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MaryJane wannabees
