Yes, it really DOES matter.

Do you think that giving someone a genuine compliment or holding the door for the next guy can change your life? What about listening quietly and peacefully to an important story someone has to tell? Or maybe it's just giving a big smile to the person who's directing traffic during road construction... These situations all have something in common - a kind response. Kindness. It's a way of looking at life that requires changes that are so little yet the rewards, for everyone involved, are so big...

Read all of Yes, it really DOES matter.

...You have an Auntie Mame...

...I have an "Auntie Margaret."

I'd like you to meet a friend - two friends, actually. When I first moved into this town, coming up on twelve years ago (my, how time flies!), I met Margaret. And just recently, I met Kate. I love these two gals individually, but I had no idea how they'd get along with each other - you know how it can be when friends of friends meet. They're very different - Margaret is ninety years old; Kate is eight. Margaret is one tough old farmgirl; Kate has only been working on the land for about 4-5 years. Well, it turns out that these two are fast friends - not only that, but when they're together, they're a force to be reckoned with. Margaret is my farmgirl mentor, friend and "auntie." Kate is my horse. C'mon over and say, "Hello!"...

Read all of ...You have an Auntie Mame...

It's Harvest Time!!!

It's garlic harvest time here in Elsinore! Over the past few weeks, our garlic patch has "ripened" from a patch of healthy deep green garlic plants to a patch of yellowing, drying drooping plants ready for harvest. Aside from hay and some grain, garlic is the largest crop we grow here on the farm (unless you call lambs a "crop!"), and it is always such a suspense-filled time when we dig and pull the first few garlic bulbs from the ground. Are they fully mature? Did they escape damage from pests? Are the bulbs pleasantly big and plump? Are their papery skins intact? This year the answer to all of these is a resounding "YES!"

Read all of It's Harvest Time!!!

The good...the bad...the ugly - and the fun!

It's the main summer holiday in our valley - the Fourth of July. Now, we in Utah have Pioneer Day on July 24th, but that's another story for another day. "The fourth," as it's known around here, is full of all things fun and wild, and at our farm it's no exception. We had a bit of everything - the good, the bad, the ugly, the fun, the hospital, the racetrack... Pour a glass of something cold (green tea with mango is my current fave), have a seat and join my world - who knows? Maybe you'll find a bit of your world here, too!

Read all of The good...the bad...the ugly - and the fun!

Weeds, weeds and more weeds

Weeds. We've all got 'em. Around the farm, the month of June is spent dealing with them - either pulling and tossing them into the compost pile, pulling them and letting them lie where they fall for mulch or, for the especially ugly ones, throwing them away. But wait - there's one more option - and I'm willing to bet you can find it in your very own yard. Oh - and did I mention that they can be found indoors, too?
 

Read all of Weeds, weeds and more weeds

Howdy, there!

Hi, there, old farmgirl friends and new! Since this is my first blog post, I thought I’d introduce you to a few of the fixtures on the farm - the things that I love and see daily (at least!). There will be more as we go, of course, but here’s a little introduction to who I am, and where and how I live...

Read all of Howdy, there!

For Every Thing There Is A Season

[Previous Rural Farmgirl, April 2009 – May 2010]
It was billed as a “step back in time,” and it didn’t disappoint. You could sense it even in the air around you. You could literally breathe it in, the subtlest hint that somehow time had been stopped and rolled back for the briefest of moments. I first wrote about this event in my post “Summoned by the Queen,” but even I could not have envisioned what a sweet weekend we were in for. Maybe I wasn’t even fully aware of what we had been invited to participate in.

Read all of For Every Thing There Is A Season

Child's play

Plato says, “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” I believe that to be true. If anyone ever asked me to name something that I counted as one of the top blessings in my life, the answer would come easily. It would be that I have friends who are willing to play with me.

Read all of Child's play

The Snake Dance

It seems that time has not been sitting around waiting for me to catch up with it this spring. Never has it been more evident that time is not respectful of people; it tends to just keep on pushing through, regardless of whether we are mindful of it.

Read all of The Snake Dance

To read or not to read.... that is the question

I was reminded this week of how much I really enjoy the public library. As I was preparing a little presentation for the Rathdrum, Idaho Library, I couldn’t help but to think back to all the times my kids and I spent in our community library when they were little.

Read all of To read or not to read.... that is the question

Welcome Spring

Spring has sprung in our valley. It has been here for a couple of weeks, yet I have been feeling much like I did as a young mom, when my boys would wake and hit the floor running while I was left rubbing my eyes and clumsily reaching for a cup of coffee, not quite ready to greet the tasks at hand.

Read all of Welcome Spring

Random Acts of Kindness & Dreaming BIG

Have you ever had those moments when you just get so emotionally exhausted trying to figure out the next step? You know, times when you find yourself praying—begging really—that a plane would fly past pulling a banner with the answer clearly written on it? Boy, I have. I find myself standing at the crossroads of change and I feel frozen as I debate the “right” path. I would imagine that no matter what one does for a living, we all take pause to evaluate life from time to time. Yet now that I’m finally doing what I always dreamed of doing, it is easy to be convinced that dreaming of more is somehow selfish.

Read all of Random Acts of Kindness & Dreaming BIG

Rodents, Vermin, and Silver Stars oh my!

One of my favorite pastimes is to visit other farmgirls’ blogs. It is just one more way that I gather evidence of all the brilliance in the world.
However, I must now say good-bye to that part of my life…Okay, I’m just kidding, but after last week I will be more cautious as I enter through those virtual gates.

Read all of Rodents, Vermin, and Silver Stars oh my!

Libbie Zenger in fields of iris

Libbie Zenger,
Our Current Rural Farmgirl,
is a small town Farmgirl who lives in the high-desert Sevier Valley of Central Utah with her husband and two darling (“if I do say so myself...”) 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 new little kittens. She lives on a 140-year-old farm, in a farmhouse built by her great-great-grandfather, and tries to channel her grandmothers, HD Thoreau and Auntie Mame (and not necessarily in that order!).

“When I found MaryJanesFarm, I found a new sort of sisterhood — one in which hard work, ‘heart’ work and handwork are truly valued, appreciated and shared... not to mention all the great times that farmgirls have!”

Column contents copyright © 2010 Libbie Zenger. All rights reserved.

Little Farmer Girl

Farmgirl
is a condition
of the heart.

Portrait of René Groom

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.