Farm Girls Come Together To Celebrate

"Where Women Cook" that was my gift to my Farm Girl Friends along with the hand made french rolling pin. When we gather we always share a meal. We like to share recipes as well, so my thinking was; what a great way for all of us to have the same cookbook. Have you seen this book? It is awesome. You might want to check it out.
Our meal was a vegetable quiche, with a vegetable salad to compliment it. I have so much fun bringing out all the different special dishes I have to entertain with. How about you?
The little snow globes were part of my gift to my Farm Girl friends. A perfect table favor.
Cherry almond scones were made by Farm Girl Erin. These were very yummy.
Apple Streusel muffins provided from Farm Girl Robin. Yummy! They were very moist.
We finished off our meal with these little tarts that Farm Girl Erin brought, along with some hot tea.
After our meal we shared our journal pages from our last gathering. I always love to see how each of us put our pages together. Oh how fun it has been to look back on our last three years of gathering through our journal pages. We also had chosen to exchange Christmas gifts, the joy we receive from each other is a memory in the making.
Farm Girl Erin gave us an assortment of treasures as you can see here.
Farm Girl Katy had just returned from a cruise to the Caribbean, so she wanted to share a little something from her journey, along with a biodegradable bucket. That will be fun to see how it degrades over time.
Farm Girl Robin made us these old quilt stars and tea dyed pipe cleaner candy canes, along with some yummy apple streusel muffins found on the Folk blog.
I saw an idea in a magazine to make heart shape bird seed feeders, so I decided that would be a great thing for us Farm Girls to do this time of the year.
A mixture of birdseed with dissolved gelatin; molds this mixture together.
We filled our cookie cutter molds. First filling them half full. then adding our jute string loop, then adding more birdseed mixture to fill the mold completely.
Part of our gathering we share our stories. We talk about what kinds of things do we want to do this next year. Do you have special activities planned?
Erin and Robin.
Robin and Katy filling their molds.
You can see here that you can not only use cookie cutters, jello molds work really well.
The finished product. They unmolded beautifully. What are you doing to feed the birds?

The Lewis River Was Roaring

The Lewis River was roaring. It was very pristine looking to my excitement. All the snow and rain we had these last couple weeks, I was totally expecting chocolate water, well no it was a beautiful clear with a hint of green. The air was very cool and crisp, creating for an invigorating walk in the park. My friend Erin and I have planned to make many of these such walks in our future. Not only do we get to enjoy the scenery but get to share our thoughts and aspirations.
My friend Erin joined me for this walk in the park. We are both nature girls, loving to be out doors. Do you share that common bond with some one?
Take me to the river and I am one Happy Woman! How about you?
The Lewis River was overflowing it's banks.
There was some standing water, but not near as much as I thought there might be.
Natures art. "Peace" symbol on this rock makes me smile. How about you?
Exploring the usena also known as old mans beard. Working for a natural path for seven years, allowed me to learn about so many herbs and plant life that is right in our own woods, that are used for medicinal purposes. Usnea is used in respiratory issues, as well as women's health.
Erin checking out the stretch that usnea has, it was so fun to share this information with her.
Check out that limb. Beautiful!
The ferns growing on the tree limbs. Magical!
I will continue to take paths this year that lead me out doors. Where will your path take you?

Farm Girls Gathered in The Fall

Farm Girls will be gathering soon, and I need to post on our fall gathering. Katy was our host, thank you for sharing all your culinary talents with us. Katy loves to try new recipes on us. We had a frittata, and assortments of muffins and breads with yummy jam to adorn our tasty morsels. On our agenda was a field trip to The Portland Nursery for apple tasting and of course to bring some apples home so we could make some fun things with the them, some of us will make applesauce, jams or pies. Do you have any special treats you like to make with apples.
Spiced Pumpkin Sippers. A perfect choice of drink for a fall morning.
Katy serving up her frittata, yummy!
Part of our gathering we share treasures. We share our apron stories and journal pages from our previous gathering.
Have you seen this magazine? I came upon it at Barnes and Noble, a perfect resource for us Farm Girls. Wouldn't you think?
Erin made us all aprons, I love mine.
Robin liking her new apron.
Katy was excited about hers, it had horses on it. She has horses on her farm.
As you can see these Farm Girls know how to have fun. Erin, Florence and Katy.
The Farm Girls were then off to The Portland Nursery to do some serious apple tasting.
There were many apples to try. My favorites are galas, jonagolds a mixture of jonathons and golden delicious and honey crisps. Do you have any favorites?
Erin, Katy and Robin tasting and judging all these apples. I don't remember how many there were but as you saw in the previous photo there were a lot.

They had many bins of apples of which you could buy them by the pound. This is Katy checking them out.
Not only did they have apples to sample, but there were vendors there selling apple related items, yes these farm girls did indulge and brought home some of the merchandise.
We Farm Girls had to taste the hard apple cider, since I was the designated driver my tasting was limited, I am a light weight drinker. In any case what I did taste was yummy.
Katy and Erin checking out some of the magazines available at The Portland Nursery.
These Farm Girls do know how to have fun exploring. We are The Mary Jane Farm Girls. Do you have a group women that you have adventures with?

A Perfect Way To Start The New Year!

It was a perfect way to start the New Years, with a walk at Lewisville Park. The air was cool and crisp. Roger insisted that I wear my new hiking boots. Weighing in at 4# of weight on my feet, ugh. He is my personal trainer and sometimes he can be brutal. It is what I need, however I don't admit it to him. I just tell him he is so brutal. He counters back to me that he is letting me set the pace. Yeah right? Do you have someone that pushes you beyond your limits? I do know that I am always glad when he has just done that in the end. The feeling of accomplishment is a spirtual high!
A very swollen view of the river. We have seen this river at so many different stages.
This is the upper trail at the park, giving us some endurance training with all the up and down hills.
Reflections ahead!
Taking some time for reflecting. Are you taking time for feeding your spirit? Finding the balance.