How do I get myself into these crazy, fun things? Well, I blame Stacy (she of
Tempted Handpainted Yarns fame) for this one. She's the one who invited me to Plurk, which turns out is pretty darn entertaining when work is slow.
Go on over there and get yourself sucked in if you don't believe me. There I was plurking away, one thing lead to another, and now I'm a
Plurkette Hencircle Farmgirl Sisterhood member :)
I've been reading
Mary Jane's Farm off and on since it first came out, but I never bothered with getting a subscription until recently because between the husbeast and I we subscribe to about a dozen magazines each that are slowly taking over our house because we're both packrats and don't like to throw out useful information, see? What's that you say? Cut out the articles you want to keep and put them in a binder? That's just not how we roll, dear.
So anyway, Farmgirl type goins on have been a part of my life for a while. When I was a kid we'd go visit my Grandparents every summer. (My Grandma was a cranky old lady - you would be too if you'd raised 7 kids and had a farm to take care of, but she sure made some good pickles!) They had a big garden that my Grandpa would let us help him pick stuff and hoe stuff in. I was terrified of the cabbage. I don't know...something about those two rows of things with heads and GIANT leaves just freaked me out. But other than the cabbage, it was fun. They also had chickens and guinnea hens and a horse and cows and a pond to fish in. They did NOT have a tv that would get more than 1 crappy station though, and so I did not like to stay more than a couple days lest I miss out on the latest episodes of Bionic Woman or Incredible Hulk. A little girl has to have her priorities, ya know?
My Mom likes to raise flowers and houseplants and do crafty stuff like crochet and latch hook etc. , but my
Dad was the one doing things like deciding we needed to re-cover the couch and chair, buying a sewing machine and some upholstry material, then taking the furniture apart to use as a pattern, sewing that stuff up himself with no prior experience, and making it look amazing. My Dad taught me by example that you can do anything yourself if you can get a book/instruction manual/website tutorial for it. That is some dangerous knowledge right there, folks!
Without that lesson I don't think I would have ever learned to knit, spin, weave, dye yarn, put shingles on a roof, build a deck, rewire a lamp, refinish furniture, replace the brake lights and tail light on my scooter, change my oil, change a tire, hitchhike across California (yes, there was a how-to book involved in that), and I damn sure would never have been able to start my own business. Most of that isn't directly related to Farmgirl stuff, but I feel like the spirit of wanting to do something, seeking out the knowledge, and giving new stuff a try is very Farmgirl.
The older I get and the more screwed up the world gets the more I feel like everyone should get back to being a little more self-sufficient, a little more community-minded, and a little less "Why don't they do something about...." Do something about it yourself! Do something for your friends and neighbors! Something besides sitting on your bootie complaining. haha Get out there and plant yourself a garden instead of just growing stupid old grass that you have to mow all over your yard and complaining that fresh veggies costs so much at the store. Make something and share it! Find a need in your community and fill it! Get involved. Be the ball, Danny! (Caddyshack reference, sorry.)
OK, I'm off my soapbox now.
That's pretty much me.
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