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A Farm of My Own:  Everyone's story.  |
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breederdreamer
Farmgirl at Heart
6 Posts
Amanda
Palomino Valley
NV
USA
6 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 18 2005 : 8:13:06 PM
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I would love to know what everyone has by way of space and animals. Also what you are dreaming of, and how far away you are from that. I'm a sucker for those sort of things:) From what I've read, everyone's homes sound wonderful. From vineyards to black snakes snaking up, it's all very neat.
I myself have very big dreams, hundreds of acres and barns and pastures to support as many as 200 mares from all over sent to me to be bred to my own stallions and cared for by my own farm. But, for now, I dream small with my true intentions lurking in the back. I am a new third branch to an established ethics based dog kennel. I truly believe life would be empty without dogs:). I also have a lot of other house pets. Cats, birds, rats, ferrets, and fish. My small 2.5 acres is only the start though. I'm also preparing for mustang adoptions this spring and summer.
Someday I will wake to find hundreds of acres full of pregnant plump mares, giddy yearlings, and testy stallions. Someday. |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - Apr 21 2005 : 09:54:47 AM
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Lorij,
I have decided the same thing as for how long I will have to live to accomplish all of the things I dream of accomplishing. It made me laugh to see you say it out loud. I have a saying taped on my fridge that says:
Visualise this thing you want to accomplish,
see it,
feel it,
believe in it,
make your mental blueprint,
BEGIN IT !
I have had to set priority to my list of things I am visualising. I have so many mental blueprints that I have had to put several into a holding pattern so I can accomplish the ones most important. One thing I have noticed is that when I do this priority setting I find that a lot of the other things on my list just seem to happen as the most important one is being worked on or the need for it just goes away. In deciding what is most important I automatically delete those things that would scream for my time and try to make me feel as if they are more urgent than the important things. I have found that these urgent things are not urgent at all and often not even important. This way the big things in my life get done one by one and I can see progress. The urgent things that really are urgent seem to fall into the important file as necessary and do not impede the flow.
Any way, I also agree that what we dream of often changes with age and maturity, experience and pain. Learning to master the dream and make it fit the situation as it is makes for a joy filled life no matter what your situation.
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Apr 21 2005 : 10:28:29 AM
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Lorij, Your simple wisdom and words speak volumes..."today is built on those dreams and what it took to accomplish them". I like that! Eileen, I like your idea of "mental blueprints". Wise women reside here...
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
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Kim
True Blue Farmgirl
146 Posts
Kim
Pflugerville
Texas
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Apr 21 2005 : 5:44:33 PM
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My dream is to have a farm with chickens, goats, a brown milk cow, and cats and dogs. On my farm I will use one of the old barns as an artist gallery and a place where all of my friends who create things, can promote their wares, including all of my friends here! I'll also have a little antique shop called "The Farmhouse"
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
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ThymeForEweFarm
True Blue Farmgirl
705 Posts
Robin
An organic farm in the forest in
Maine
USA
705 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2005 : 03:05:46 AM
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Kim, can I bring my rocking chair and cross stitch? Your plans sound lovely.
Eileen, I think the last item on your list is the most important. I'm so good at planning, images, thoughts, ideas. It's the doing it that slows so many down. It takes a degree of courage to put all the planning into action.
I am a market farmer with 45 acres. We have 60 Barred Rock laying hens in a hen house that was an old cabin. This year the windows are getting shutters if I can find them in a yard sale, and window boxes. The hen house is red and the shutters and boxes will be white. An addition to the cabin is home to Penny, my Gloucestershire Old Spot sow. We have a small barn that will be red when I get the siding installed this year. The barn is home to six Bourbon Red turkeys, five Silkie roosters, a Dexter cow and two Toggenburg goats. The rabbitry is on the north side of the barn and houses seven rabbits. A small addition to the front of the barn holds six runner, one rouen and three mallard ducks. There's a large pen near the barn with another rabbit. We had more cattle, 14 more goats, a dozen more pigs and hundreds more rabbits until two years ago. My dream had been based on farm animals. The reality of cost vs profit was a hard one.
I've turned from livestock to two acres of organic gardens and value added items such as pickles, jam, jelly, pesto and handmade soap. There are fresh eggs year round. We sell at one establish farmers market and are starting a second market near the farm. We have a farm stand that's open on Fridays for Senior FarmShare and WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program participants.
Robin
Thyme For Ewe Farm
www.thymeforewe.com |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2005 : 09:13:07 AM
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Robin,
sounds to me like with courage you have mastered the last item on the list. You plan and do as the right stuff arrives for the project. What more can you expect? This is what I mean by planning and then beginning. What I love about this way of doing things is that if I keep open to the possibilities and accept the option of recycling to get what I want I get it a lot faster than if I thought I would have to have a lot of $s to get started. The chicken coop I have began with a dream of having chickens. I found some steel roofing at a recycling station and took it home for a small song as the foundation for that dream. Wind blew down a small ceder tree that became the roof support system, a local farmer with a surplus of hay needing to be gotten off the field sold the bales to us for $2. each so the walls became a hay bale structure. The nest boxes were built with lumber salvaged from wood palletts that were free and the door is an old ceder gate. Then two knee replacement surgeries later I am ready to tackle more of the dream. I get the chickens in a couple of weeks.
Didn't have the strength to get the fruit trees in this spring when it would have been ideal but will get some in anyway within the next few weeks. The grapes may have to wait until next spring or this fall but they will get in. The pond was done last fall and the well only needs pumps and pressure tanks to be complete. The yurt will get moved this summer and the foundation for our cobb/straw bale house will get started. I see it complete in my mind and so continue on that path one day at a time. As the necessary stuff becomes available things progress toward completion. I have been informed that the jam I made from fruit off of my wonderful wild umeboshi plum trees is in great demand at the local farmers market so will be getting some done this year as the trees were in bloom when the weather was warm enough for the bees to polinate. I guess that this is the reason why some years there are no plums. They bloom so early that it is too cold for the bees. Our bees were out and the trees are full of developing fruit. We should have enough honey this year to sell as well. so we are getting started finally on some income from this investment. The goat milk soap I have made has made a big hit as well so I may have regular customers for it also. Progress!
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
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Kim
True Blue Farmgirl
146 Posts
Kim
Pflugerville
Texas
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2005 : 6:12:44 PM
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Robin.. of course you can, and you can alos organize all the retreats, petting farms etc! ALl the cool stuff you do at your farm! Maybe we can all have a co operative with our farms (real or dream ones). I would love to sell Eileen's honey and soap, SoapMavens soap, the aprons another member makes, adopt a mustang program for Amanda's horses....MJ's food...I could go on and on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't want to leave anyof my farm-girlfriends out!
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
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prairiemaid
True Blue Farmgirl
200 Posts
Margret
Canada
200 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2005 : 6:16:17 PM
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Great thread! Very inspiring.
My dream is to have my own market garden. I started working towards it last year and am trying to expand this year. I can visualize the building that I will have on my farm to sell from. I can see the potential in so many products I could make and sell. I have really come to believe in getting back to the basics and living naturally. This is what I want to share in my dream of my market garden. 
So many of my dreams have come true already. I dreamed of my Knight, living on a farm, being a mother, having chickens. I truely am blessed.
I forgot to answer your question about space and animals. We have 12 1/2 acres, 56 laying hens and 3 roosters, 6 pygmy doe goats, one dog and one cat.
Kim, I have eggs! 
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Edited by - prairiemaid on Apr 22 2005 6:21:39 PM |
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Kim
True Blue Farmgirl
146 Posts
Kim
Pflugerville
Texas
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2005 : 6:28:19 PM
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Awesome! I love farm fresh eggs!! :)
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2005 : 7:53:04 PM
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Love this thread...you girls have awesome dreams!!! What a great idea Kim...Farmgirl cooperatives! Can I add my contribution? I have 2 acres of organic wine grapes...plan on putting in 6 more...A stone barn, tasting room, sandwhich shop and a little gift shop with linen dish towels, antique clothespins, rose scented linen spray, wine glass charms, and homemade jams and jellys and of course organic Kansas wines! Also organic beef from grass fed heirloom Dexters...outta this world!
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
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pnwchica
Farmgirl in Training
46 Posts
Suzy
WA
USA
46 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2005 : 9:08:05 PM
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Meadowlark, do y'all have a website. Would love to learn more about your production, beginnings, etc. I live in Washington state and have long toyed with the idea of a small vineyard, produce, gift shop ... much like you have.
Bless,
Suzy
Looking for new beef recipes, frugal & gardening tips, farmhouse remodeling & ez home recipes. |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2005 : 9:46:15 PM
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Since I was a little girl I have always said that when I grew up I wanted to be a farmer. I have had ups and downs and have come closer and closer..but over the years my expectations are smaller and now I feel very very content with our 2/3 of an acre in a very small town where we can have any animals we want...I have a large garden and small barns and space for our 5 goats(2 milkers,one doeling and one buck and one angora doe), 4 sheep(all wool type), 2 rabbits(one pet, one angora), 2 dozen bantam chickens for eggs, and 2 dogs and one cat. I love our old house and all it's quirks (much of it is over 100 years old) and the historic quality of our community and I am happy here.I have lived on more property, owned a horse and raised pigs and more chickens, alot of rabbits, ducks, geese and all sorts of things, but I am happiest right now. I make and sometimes sell soap, and grow my own herbs and flowers and love to can and store foods. Most of my dreams have come true. I have 5 sons and 2 daughters...only 4 still at home. OH>>> one thing... I have always always wanted a cow..that is something I hold out for ..my someday thing. I would have to give up my goats, but maybe someday...she would be a Jersey for sure and her name would be Mona. I have always wanted that cow.
Jenny in Utah
Bloom where you are planted! |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2005 : 10:18:17 PM
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Hi Suzy! The gift shop, sandwhich shop, tasting room are just dreams now... But, I do have 2 acres of 4 varieties of organic grapes with plans in near future to put in 6 more! I will be getting a web site up and running this summer...The vineyard is called MeadowRose Vineyard. Right now I am not producing wines, but selling grapes to established wineries. I have always dreamed of having a haven and respit for people looking for the simple country ways...takes little steps, sacrifice and lots of sweat to acheive this dream ( which by the way has been 20 years in the making so far)and some cold hard cash which seems to be the most difficult to come by...but I will not give up!
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
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westernhorse51
True Blue Farmgirl
1681 Posts
michele
farmingdale
n.j.
USA
1681 Posts |
Posted - May 01 2005 : 09:51:35 AM
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| This is for breederdreamer, I understand whole heartedly about your dreams. Im still working towards it at 53 years old. It will come and just always hold onto that. I also want to breed, paints. Its taken time. I also want my large garden, chickens & a host of other farm animals. I can never give up, its one of the things I live for. Dont give up. Michele |
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cecelia
True Blue Farmgirl
497 Posts
cecelia
new york
USA
497 Posts |
Posted - May 05 2005 : 5:56:48 PM
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When my husband & I were dating - he asked me what I would be if I didn't have to worry about an income - I said, I guess a farmer (not meaning with a huge acreage, just a small 5-10 acres with chickens, goats, maybe a Brown Swiss, and a garden. He said his first wife answered the same question with "a princess". We are still married (but not on my farm - yet!).
Cecelia
ce's farm
"Curiosity is one of the forms of feminine bravery" Victor Hugo |
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Jacqueline
Farmgirl in Training
26 Posts
Jacqueline
Burbank
CA
USA
26 Posts |
Posted - May 25 2005 : 8:29:07 PM
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Sigh....Oh, where to begin...
I already have so much of my dream. I raise Friesians and Gypsy Cobs, both rare breed horses. I( am one of a very lucky few who own an approved Friesian breeding stallion, which means he is one of about 100 stallions out of about 40,000 Friesian horses that has been approved by the registry to breed purebreds. The day he arrived at my barn was a dream come true.
But...here's the catch..I live in the middle of the city. Some day, I want to write a book called, "Horse and the City". A sort of james Herriot thing all of stories of what its like to be a horse breeder in the middle of one of the world's biggest cities, Los Angeles.
I make it work, with my stallions boarded at a nearby center, and my mares living at home with me on less than 1/3 of an acre, but oh how I long for the joy o a huge red barn with white trim, covered in climbing roses, and a cat sleeping on the hay, when it should be hunting mice. I long to look out my kitchen window on a misty morning and see my mares happily grazing in a grass pasture under an ancient oak tree. I ache for an old house with a wrap around porch and a big tree that the kids can sneak out at night on...lol...
Someday....maybe..if I can convince city boy hubby that he really really really wants to be a country boy instead. |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - May 26 2005 : 06:59:24 AM
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You will get your dream, Jacqueline, I just feel it when I read your post.
Do any of your neighbors also have animals?
jpbluesky
Heaven gives its glimpses only to those
Not in position to look too close.
from "A Passing Glimpse" by Robert Frost |
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mollymae
True Blue Farmgirl
694 Posts
Molly
Visalia
California
USA
694 Posts |
Posted - May 26 2005 : 08:53:00 AM
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I love reading about everyone's dreams here! How inspiring! My dreams aren't too big, I want about 2 acres, enough room for my boys to run around safely, have a nice vegetable and herb garden, have a few chickens, a couple of yellow lab dogs (friends of ours, their yellow lab just had a huge litter of puppies, they are 3 weeks old now and so precious!). I want an old farmhouse of my own, at least 100 years old, with a nice porch to perch a couple of rockers on. I don't want any neighbors within shouting distance of me.
As far as being close to those dreams, well...they won't be happening any time soon, but as far as simple living I'm working on that right now where I already am. I also homeschool my kids, which I love doing so much, I have a quilt business (baby quilts, check out my little work-in-progress website if you want...http://mollymaequilts.tripod.com ) which I love...I live in a town that I absolutely love, after moving around so much through the years due to my husband's employment, we've finally found where we want to be forever! So, as I count my blessings, I know that my other dreams shouldn't be too far off if I keep my eyes on the goal!
Molly
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." --Henry David Thoreau
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Jacqueline
Farmgirl in Training
26 Posts
Jacqueline
Burbank
CA
USA
26 Posts |
Posted - May 26 2005 : 7:46:51 PM
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jpbluesky, Thanks..I hope so..one day. :) Yes, this entire neighborhood has been zoned for equestrians and other domestics that are considered..farm animals I guess. Pigs, goats, etc... It is a stretch of the city that runs about 4 blocks North/South and about a mile and a bit East/West. The residents here have fought long and hard to make sure it remained animal oriented and as far as I know, it is now protected forever. its called the Rancho Distric and it is not unusual to see people riding gheir horses across the street, or walking their goats or sheep over to the park. All this a block away from Disney Studios, NBC, ABC and Warner Brothers!!!!
Molly, how many kids do you have homeschooling? I took my own son out of school this eyar ( 9th grade) and homeschooling has been the answer to a prayer for us...
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caitlinsmom
True Blue Farmgirl
86 Posts
Kim
St.A
Idaho
USA
86 Posts |
Posted - May 26 2005 : 9:59:26 PM
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I love your stories!
My dream is to own about 5 acres or so. I would love an old house to be part of it with some great out structures one being a barn. I would make sure I had a space all to myself to sew and craft. As for animals we want to have a cow for fresh milk and some chickens, some for meat and some for eggs. :) yummy. I am thinking maybe have a turkey for thanksgiving every year, but that is an idea just found this weekend. :) I want a huge organic garden and fruit tress so that I can and make jams and jellies and all the wonderful good stuff. I would love to have this said place in Northern Maine- Aroostook County. I love the pictures of the land up there!! And the houses ohhhh. Anyway I want to learn to make soap so i would use the fresh herbs that I grew to make herbal soaps, I would sell herbs and fresh veggies and all that. Maybe have a CSA...my dreams grow everyday and I will never live long enough to accomplish them all. There is such comfort in dreaming though. It is beautiful. |
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Jacqueline
Farmgirl in Training
26 Posts
Jacqueline
Burbank
CA
USA
26 Posts |
Posted - May 26 2005 : 10:02:07 PM
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We could be neighbors then! Well, sorta. I YEARN for Vermont...
Darned cold though. |
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mollymae
True Blue Farmgirl
694 Posts
Molly
Visalia
California
USA
694 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2005 : 07:57:29 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Jacqueline
Molly, how many kids do you have homeschooling? I took my own son out of school this eyar ( 9th grade) and homeschooling has been the answer to a prayer for us...
Hi Jacqueline! I have 5 sons, 2 preschool age, one kindergarten, one 5th and one 8th. I have been homeschooling since my oldest started 5th grade! We love it, and wouldn't trade it for anything, it's been a definite answer to MANY of our prayers! Good luck to you!
Molly
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." --Henry David Thoreau
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2005 : 08:13:29 AM
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Well, I have not shared the dream of my heart with anyone, but here goes. I want to go back and live on my grandfather's farm. It is 150 acres in Iowa, owned by our family for four generations. My aunt is the last living family member on it, and she is still very happy to be there and rent the fields. But she is in her eighties. Her boys will not return to live on and keep the farm, I do not think. I can so imagine waking up there every morning and hearing the quiet, and reburbishing the barn and having chickens again. It would be going home to me, even though I only went there in the summers growing up.
Sigh.....my hubby would not do that, I don't think, and my daughter would not want us to leave this city, but that is my dream.
jpbluesky
Heaven gives its glimpses only to those
Not in position to look too close.
from "A Passing Glimpse" by Robert Frost |
Edited by - jpbluesky on May 27 2005 08:15:40 AM |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2005 : 09:47:58 AM
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All of these dreams are so beautiful and from the heart of hearts! Welcome to all the new farmgirls! You sound like such warm and genuine women and I feel honored that you all are sharing your dreams with us! Molly your quilts and site are precious! You are so talented! As this forum grows larger I am humbled by the talent, fortitude, and beauty of the women who post here.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
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mollymae
True Blue Farmgirl
694 Posts
Molly
Visalia
California
USA
694 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2005 : 10:00:31 AM
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Thank you, MeadowLark! What a sweet compliment! I'm so glad I found all of you, what a beautiful Sisterhood we have here!
Molly
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." --Henry David Thoreau
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2005 : 12:17:01 PM
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Mollymae - I went to your quilt site and the hankie quilts are so pretty and what a great idea! Bless you for doing good things with your life.
I agree with Meadowlark - there are so many good hearted and hardworking women on this site that it reassures me what wonderful families are out there in America.
jpbluesky
jpbluesky
Heaven gives its glimpses only to those
Not in position to look too close.
from "A Passing Glimpse" by Robert Frost |
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A Farm of My Own: Everyone's story. |
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Everyone's story.
