First of all, Happy Summer Solstice! What a wonderful thing to celebrate—the longest day of the year, the finalization of our hemisphere’s bow to the sun, a time to start counting down to the long, cozy nights of the winter to come. I can’t help but think that, cyclically, this is the top of our seasonal wheel and we’re celebrating a brief breath at the peak before we continue to spin madly on.
Alaska's state flower, the forget-me-not, likes the lots-o-light!
Our vacation through the Midwest is over—and what a momentous vacation it was! Our adventures took us from Bozeman, Montana to Valley City, North Dakota, and finally to Minnetonka, Minnesota. The highlight from all of these lovely places and all of the great things we did was…drum roll, please…I’ve returned to Alaska an engaged lady! And I’m not just any engaged Farmgirl, I’m engaged to one of the best men out there (in my opinion).
Alexandra Wilson, Our New Rural Farmgirl, is a budding rural farmgirl living in Palmer, the agricultural seat of Alaska. Alex is a graduate student at Alaska Pacific University pursuing an M.S. in Outdoor and Environmental Education. She lives and works on the university’s 700 acre environmental education center, Spring Creek Farm. When Alex has time outside of school, she loves to rock climb, repurpose found objects, cross-country ski on the hay fields, travel, practice yoga, and cook with new-fangled ingredients.
Alex grew up near the Twin Cities and went to college in Madison, Wisconsin—both places where perfectly painted barns and rolling green farmland are just a short drive away. After college, she taught at a rural middle school in South Korea where she biked past verdant rice paddies and old women selling home-grown produce from sidewalk stoops. She was introduced to MaryJanesFarm after returning, and found in it what she’d been searching for—a group of incredible women living their lives in ways that benefit their families, their communities, and the greater environment. What an amazing group of farmgirls to be a part of!
Libbie Zenger Previous Rural Farmgirl, June 2010 – Jan 2012 Libbie’s a small town farmgirl who lives in the high-desert Sevier Valley of Central Utah on a 140-year-old farm with her husband and two darling little farmboys — as well as 30 ewes; 60 new little lambs; a handful of rams; a lovely milk cow, Evelynn; an old horse, Doc; two dogs; a bunch o’ chickens; and two kitties.
René Groom Previous Rural Farmgirl, April 2009 – May 2010 René lives in Washington state’s wine country. She grew up in the dry-land wheat fields of E. Washington, where learning to drive the family truck and tractors, and “snipe hunting,” were rites of passage. She has dirt under her nails and in her veins. In true farmgirl fashion, there is no place on Earth she would rather be than on the farm.
