Well, this has been a week of Monumental Milestones! Two sons engaged, plus two other HUGE pieces of good news for me!! But I really need to spread out the excitement, so I’ll only mention one of them here today. I don’t know why it is, but life-changing events always seem to happen to me in bookstores. Maybe it’s because bookstores are one of my most favorite indoor places on earth (right up there with salad bars, tea houses and health food stores) … and I often find some of the most interesting things in the world there. Then again, sometimes they find me! Case in point: Several years ago I had a dentist appointment … one of my least favorite things to do, even though I was only scheduled for a cleaning. To bribe myself into keeping the appointment, I promised myself that I’d spend an hour or so at the unique, independent bookstore on the same block. As I was browsing through a particularly interesting section of the store, one book in particular practically jumped off the shelf right at me! It was a beautiful, hardcover, coffee-table type book called "MaryJane’s Ideabook, Cookbook, Lifebook - For the Farmgirl in All of Us". I remember (to my extreme embarrassment!) actually gasping out loud as I leafed through the beautiful pages, attracting more than my share of attention. But red-faced or not, I had found a treasure that would change my life! “Oh my gosh … this book IS me!” I spontaneously blurted out to no one in particular (and to everyone within earshot). Like Thomas Jefferson who said “I cannot live without books”, books are my weakness, my financial downfall … my main vice and obsession. (Why buy one book when ten will do?) And even though I had previously told myself I would be very disciplined in my visit that day to the bookstore, vowing only to LOOK but NOT buy, once I saw MaryJane’s book, I was instantly hooked and I bought it immediately!
The ‘MaryJane’ I’m referring to is actually MaryJane Butters from Moscow, Idaho, and she is a Renaissance Woman extraordinaire. A successful author, farmer, entrepreneur, and magazine publisher, she runs the Pay Dirt Farm school, a “Country” Club (CSA), a rustic B&B, has her own line of backpacking foods, home goods, a restored grist mill, and many other exciting irons in the fire. Since the day I discovered her first book, I have been smitten by MaryJane, whose interests and life experiences parallel my own so very closely. In the intervening years, I have imagined myself connected with her work and her ‘Farmgirl’ movement in more ways than just a passing interest or as a 'kindred spirit from afar'. Somehow, I knew from the first that I was destined to have a more direct involvement. So here’s how that happened: MaryJane has an awesome website (http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/) Check it out … I guarantee that you’ll get drawn in and ‘lost’ amongst its many pages! A while ago, MaryJane started some blogging sites. Starting with a bi-monthly column from a “City Farmgirl”, she has also added blogs from the “Rural”, “Suburban” and “Ranch” farmgirls. I love reading them … and felt compelled to be her “Mountain Farmgirl” blogger. Over the winter, I finally decided to do something about it, and I wrote her with my idea. I felt that with all the other Farmgirls blogging away from their unique corners of the world, a voice from the mountains (MINE!) would round out the verbal topography of farmgirl life. The next day I heard back from her, saying that she was interested, and wanted to hear more! We’ve been personally corresponding and sharing ideas ever since. Last week, right before I left to visit my sister, I heard from her again, welcoming me as one of her writers! It was a positively ecstatic moment for me, and on my way to the airport last week, I dropped a signed writers contract into the mailbox for her. Yesterday, (along with thousands of Farmgirls around the globe), I received by email MaryJane’s latest e-newsletter called MaryJane’s Cluck. To my surprise, the first FOUR pages were all about the new “Mountain Farmgirl” … ME!!!! To see a copy of the Cluck, follow this link, and sign up to get a copy sent to you: http://www.farmgirlsisterhood.org/newsletter/2010-05-01.pdf For me, a person who loves to write, especially about things connected to farming, gardening, the earth and the life lessons we can learn from these things, this is a HUGE dream come true. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this experience over the last few months, it is that we should all pursue our dreams, see everything as a life-enhancing opportunity, and ACT upon our inclinations, even if they seem farfetched and out of reach. I had envisioned writing for MaryJane since that bookstore “introduction”, developing my ideas, letting them simmer on the back burners of my mind, until the time was right. There is real magic in visualization, goal setting, and in pursuing your hearts desires with undaunted determination. Never let anyone tell you otherwise … but if they do, (as someone always will), just DON’T LISTEN!! Follow your hearts and dreams, no matter what!
The ‘MaryJane’ I’m referring to is actually MaryJane Butters from Moscow, Idaho, and she is a Renaissance Woman extraordinaire. A successful author, farmer, entrepreneur, and magazine publisher, she runs the Pay Dirt Farm school, a “Country” Club (CSA), a rustic B&B, has her own line of backpacking foods, home goods, a restored grist mill, and many other exciting irons in the fire. Since the day I discovered her first book, I have been smitten by MaryJane, whose interests and life experiences parallel my own so very closely. In the intervening years, I have imagined myself connected with her work and her ‘Farmgirl’ movement in more ways than just a passing interest or as a 'kindred spirit from afar'. Somehow, I knew from the first that I was destined to have a more direct involvement. So here’s how that happened: MaryJane has an awesome website (http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/) Check it out … I guarantee that you’ll get drawn in and ‘lost’ amongst its many pages! A while ago, MaryJane started some blogging sites. Starting with a bi-monthly column from a “City Farmgirl”, she has also added blogs from the “Rural”, “Suburban” and “Ranch” farmgirls. I love reading them … and felt compelled to be her “Mountain Farmgirl” blogger. Over the winter, I finally decided to do something about it, and I wrote her with my idea. I felt that with all the other Farmgirls blogging away from their unique corners of the world, a voice from the mountains (MINE!) would round out the verbal topography of farmgirl life. The next day I heard back from her, saying that she was interested, and wanted to hear more! We’ve been personally corresponding and sharing ideas ever since. Last week, right before I left to visit my sister, I heard from her again, welcoming me as one of her writers! It was a positively ecstatic moment for me, and on my way to the airport last week, I dropped a signed writers contract into the mailbox for her. Yesterday, (along with thousands of Farmgirls around the globe), I received by email MaryJane’s latest e-newsletter called MaryJane’s Cluck. To my surprise, the first FOUR pages were all about the new “Mountain Farmgirl” … ME!!!! To see a copy of the Cluck, follow this link, and sign up to get a copy sent to you: http://www.farmgirlsisterhood.org/newsletter/2010-05-01.pdf For me, a person who loves to write, especially about things connected to farming, gardening, the earth and the life lessons we can learn from these things, this is a HUGE dream come true. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this experience over the last few months, it is that we should all pursue our dreams, see everything as a life-enhancing opportunity, and ACT upon our inclinations, even if they seem farfetched and out of reach. I had envisioned writing for MaryJane since that bookstore “introduction”, developing my ideas, letting them simmer on the back burners of my mind, until the time was right. There is real magic in visualization, goal setting, and in pursuing your hearts desires with undaunted determination. Never let anyone tell you otherwise … but if they do, (as someone always will), just DON’T LISTEN!! Follow your hearts and dreams, no matter what!
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