Letters To Us

2025

DONUT BEAT ALL | JUNE-JULY 2024

I loved the tangled umbrella and boots in your “Coat from the Storm” Feb/Mar 2024 issue! Just wanted to let you know that about 10 years ago, I read your article about the art of Zentangle and was inspired to learn more about it. I found a local certified Zentangle teacher and took a lesson. He raved about their training seminar, so when I retired in 2014, I signed up to attend classes in Rhode Island. I am proud to say that I am now also a certified Zentangle teacher! Thanks for publishing the article so long ago, and for featuring more information in the recent issue of MaryJanesFarm!

–Kath, e-mail

My cousin, who is also a MaryJanesFarm subscriber, has been giving me a sweet gift for the past five years—a subscription to your magazine! We are West Virginia gals, so we enjoy all the tips and natural ways of life. I so enjoy all that the magazine has to offer and have learned so much! When I’m finally finished with a copy, I pass it on to a dear friend, and then she passes it on ... so that one MaryJanesFarm magazine gets into several hands. I’m grateful for my yearly birthday gift that keeps on giving and for all of you at MaryJanesFarm!

–Rho, e-mail

I was so excited to see my face appear as one of the “Female Faces of Farming” in your “Coat from the Storm” Feb/Mar 2024 issue! I first wrote you back in 2009 to express my appreciation for your magazine, and I was delighted that you followed up on that e-mail with an interview and a subsequent article. Since then, we have had a lot of changes in our family, including a super-successful, open-air farmers’ market that I started when the pandemic shut down the markets where both my sourdough-baker daughter and I earned our livings. Thank you!

–Maureen Anderson, e-mail

MaryJanesFarm brings me such happiness; it makes me smile! A smile is free to give, plus it’s contagious. Smile at someone, most will smile back ... all smiles are original, no two are alike.

–Charb, e-mail

In your “The Way We Were” Feb/Mar 2023 issue, you did an article about a blue denim bed cover made from old jeans. I was reading the article at a dear friend’s house as my husband was looking through her deceased husband’s (his best friend’s) fishing equipment. It was an emotional time. I told her that I loved the bed cover in the article and she took it upon herself to recreate one for me for my 66th birthday. She contacted family and friends to donate old jeans and shirts and got in touch with another friend with amazing sewing skills, and in August, my quilt was given to me. Thanks for the idea! It is wonderful to have this quilt to pass down.

–Kristin, e-mail


ALL EARS | AUG-SEPT 2024

Odd as life can be, I just read a book called The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson about the pack horse librarians featured in your “Pony Up” April/May 2024 magazine. It was an excellent and truly inspiring story about these amazing women and (sometimes) children.

–Patty, e-mail

Dearest hard-working humans at MaryJanesFarm, Let me start off by saying that I truly love and admire this magazine for all that it is and all that it is not. This magazine was a life raft during the Covid storm. I was a nurse at a hospital and I was drowning, like so many of us. I spotted your beautiful cover on a store bookshelf. When I flipped through it that fateful day, I was hooked. I immediately went home and became a subscriber. I do not devour it; instead, I savor the pages, reading every word and syllable, thinking of all the smells in the pictures.

I never thought to write to this fine publication until your “Pony Up” April/May 2024 issue, where an article about the pack horse librarians was featured. I am a born-and-bred redneck, southern, Appalachian, true-blue(grass), hillbilly, Kentucky girl. And I will gladly answer to all those titles because I love my state and the history and (her)story of this lovely place I call home. It absolutely twitterpated me that the pack horse librarians were mentioned. I remember stories my granny would tell me about them, and I enjoyed many an afternoon at her farm waiting on the bookmobile to make its stop. The pure thrill of it—books delivered to your door—what could be better? Those librarians brought education, literacy, knowledge, and a glimmer of the outside world to the sometimes misunderstood, but always hard-working, people of these mountains.

Thank you kindly for giving them a mention in your magazine and for shining a light on a great moment in Kentucky history. For any reader who might like a book that has some of this (her)story, along with other Kentucky history, please check out The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. It is a very well-written fiction-based-on-fact account about a pack horse librarian that includes coal mining, a love story, and the hardships of the “blue people” of Kentucky.

Keep up the splendid work!

–Khristen, snail mail

The cover of your Feb/Mar 2024 issue was absolutely the best! The pure bliss that cover displayed made me laugh out loud! You should sell a poster of that picture, it is absolutely amazing. Love, love, love the joy on both of their faces!!!

–Wendy, e-mail


BY AND BY | OCT-NOV 2024

This old lady I always wanted to be a girl who lived on a farm. But after reading Rebekah Teal’s article in the “Humble Pie” Oct/Nov 2023 issue, I decided I WAS an 84-year-old farmgirl at heart!

My love affair with farms started when I was just 8 years old. A visit to an uncle’s farm in Ohio gave him gray hairs and me an adventure. I was everywhere on that farm, playing with the cows, chickens, and even mice in the grainery; jumping in the hay loft; and running in the fields, including the bull’s field. After one day, my uncle warned me about staying out of the pigpen (they bite) and suggested I stay with my aunt and learn to make biscuits. Well, that lasted about 15 minutes, and I was off again.

At 13, I visited another uncle’s farm in Canada. They let me drive the huge draft horses and then ride them bareback when we were done plowing. Boy, was I hooked. Growing up on an acre of land, I never considered it to be a farm. But we did have chickens, a cat, and a dog; a large garden; fruit trees, currants, and gooseberries; and a huge willow to swing on. We even had an abandoned orchard across the street, where my brother and I liked to swing from tree to tree, like Tarzan.

When I married, of course I wanted a farm. But since my husband had worked summers on his grandfather’s farm, he said it was too much work. He would rather hunt and fish in his spare time. We eventually ended up on Lake Michigan, where he could hunt and fish and I could garden on sand. No chickens—too many wild creatures (bears, racoons, foxes, and weasels). Deer ate the apple, cherry, and peach trees I planted. Now we see who can get to the pears first; I usually lose.

Now I’m a widow and have had to learn to be a handy(wo)man. MaryJanesFarm has been helpful with that. I still knit, crochet, quilt, sew, cook, and garden. Right now, I have several perennial gardens, a woodland garden, a lavender garden, black raspberry and strawberry patches, a kitchen garden, herb gardens, and a bigger vegetable garden. So much to do, never bored. I look forward to reading each issue of MaryJanesFarm with pure pleasure and am tickled pink to be a farmgirl!

–Marcia Ann, snail mail

I’m ordering your Wild Bread book today (an Easter gift from my husband to me). One of his favorite magazines is MaryJanesFarm (he’s 78). When he sets the mail on the table, he announces the arrival of your magazine as he is opening it to read. Later in the day, he’ll tell me, “You know, there is a lot of good stuff in there!”

–Margie, snail mail

I have been reading MaryJanesFarm since the first issue. It never disappoints. In this age when print magazines have less pages and less issues per year, MaryJanesFarm continues to deliver relevant and consistent content. High fives and big hugs to MaryJane and the entire staff. You guys rock!

–Elizabeth, snail mail

Oh my goodness! I have been busy with a major spring decluttering/purging/reorganizing project and I set aside my two most recent issues of MaryJanesFarm as a treat and reward for progress and success. So imagine my incredible surprise when I opened the cover of the April/May “Pony Up!” issue!!! Of course, the very first thing I saw was the amazing picture of the beautiful mother and foal Gypsy Vanner horses. My eyes ate up the page and then hit the quote at the bottom. I began to read and … Wow! … I realized they were MY words! I skipped to the bottom and saw my name. I was, indeed, verklempt! What an exciting thrill (actually, indescribable) to see my very own words in your wonderful magazine. What a blessing! Thank you! I am so thrilled and humbled to be a part of your great magazine that reaches so many and touches so many hearts of “farm-hers” everywhere.

–Linda, e-mail

[You did it again, Linda! We used your poem honoring farm-hers on the opening page of this issue. Thank YOU!]

I have been a subscriber since 2018, and I have never enjoyed a magazine more. I have saved every issue and share them with family.

–Toni, snail mail


IT’S A WRAP | DEC-JAN 2025

Just read The Wishing Quilt, three romantic stories by Jodi Thomas, Lori Wilde, and Patience Griffin, then opened your “Coat from the Storm” Feb/Mar 2024 issue to see the article on the rural quilt museum. I could never have imagined such an art, as my quilt experience comes from the four quilts my mother-in-law’s family made from squares of old shirts. Thank you for showing us Karen Schoepflin Hagen’s incredible work! Also, I was glad to find the Urban Coop ad some years ago and bought their 8' x 8' walk-in model so I can tend to my chickens comfortably in Topanga, California. It’s strong enough to keep out the bobcat, mountain lion, and coyote predators. I wouldn’t have found them without MaryJanesFarm!

–Susanna, e-mail

I want to thank you for the “Pony Up” Apr/May 2024 issue of MaryJanesFarm with the focus on horses. I think I was born a horse fanatic because I have loved them ever since I can remember. When I was a little girl, I got to wear one of my older brother’s hand-me-down cowboy outfits; it was my favorite thing to wear and I wore it all the time. Then one year, when it came time to get new church shoes, I saw this pair of cowboy boots that were black with yellow tulips at the top. I begged and begged, and Mom told me that those boots would have to be my everyday shoes and my church shoes. We only had those two pairs of shoes at a time, but I didn’t care, and they got me the boots! I distinctly remember wearing them to church and every day, too.

When I was turning 5, Mom asked what I wanted for my birthday and I told her I wanted to go on a pony ride at a local farm that had Shetland ponies. (Once before, I had gone with a neighbor, so I knew about the place.) I got the pony ride, and Mom made me a carousel cake with decorated pony cookies on straws on the top!

When my girls were in their teens, they were equally horse crazy, and my husband and I pooled our money together to get each a horse or pony. Of course, they were not expensive horses, but my dream to have a horse came through for my girls and I lived vicariously through them. I must say, I found out why having my own pony was never an option for a family of seven kids! The horse years were some expensive and tight periods for this farmgirl because we had to board them at a local farm and drive out and back to the farm every day. But I got to call them “my own” too, and I finally got to “pony up”!

–Winnie, e-mail

Dear MaryJane,
I really enjoy every issue of your magazine and am probably one of your biggest fans!
I’m 11 years old and want to be just like you when I grow up. I love the same things you and Miss Megan love! My favorite issue so far is your “Donut Beat All” June/July 2024 issue. I mean, who would’ve thought of fishing-hook earrings!

–Helena, snail mail

I issued a challenge in my Farmgirl Chapter Henhouse (The Wildflowers) for us to earn 100 badges as a group this year. We’re really having fun and have already earned over 50 badges! I’m planning to embroider my badges onto an apron. I may even use the farmgirl towel that came with my membership renewal for a pocket. I’m not sure if I’ll get it accomplished this year—dairy farming takes a lot of my time—but my goal is to become a Farmgirl Sharpshooter, so hopefully, you’ll see my name often in the badge applications!

–Heather, e-mail

Our Wildflower Henhouse [above] has been issued a challenge by Heather to earn 100 badges this year. As their Mama Hencho, I have designed a Wildflower badge for each of them to add to their Merit Badge collection. Thank you for all you do to make the farm the fabulous place it is for over 8,000 women in the Farmgirl Sisterhood. You are so appreciated, more than you know!

–Debbie, snail mail

The Wildflower Henhouse [above] means so much to me! We have 18 beautiful women that make up our bouquet of wildflowers. Each one is a true-blue farmgirl—supportive women who care about each other.

–Deb, snail mail


Find out more about Farmgirl Chapters, Merit Badges, and becoming a Farmgirl Sharpshooter at FarmgirlSisterhood.org.]


I DO | FEB-MAR 2025

My aunt, Mary Jo, gave me a subscription to MaryJanesFarm as a gift. I love the magazine, and the articles are refreshing and authentic. It is like a vacation in my own rocking chair to sit down with a new issue of MaryJanesFarm!

–Julie, e-mail

I decided to subscribe to your magazine after seeing it at the grocery store for years. It’s not often you find something so unique at 75 years of age. Something about how you lay out the whole magazine warms my heart. You’ve found a way to capture that unique American hopefulness we felt in the ’50s right after WWII. When I think of all those previous issues I’d seen on the magazine rack, it makes me a bit sad that I hadn’t read them. But you have a lifer now! You truly touched not just a nerve, but my heart!

–Pat, RaisingJane.org

Thanks for sharing my barn renovation (right) story in your Dec/Jan 2024 “All Is Bright” issue! I wanted to share another project I recently completed just for fun (below). It has caused a bit of a stir in town because some feel the colors are “too vivid,” though it has also received overwhelming support. It’s hard to win everyone’s opinion, but I thought I’d share since MaryJanesFarm magazine isn’t afraid of color!

–Christina, e-mail

I discovered your magazine on a recent trip out West and was intrigued. There are people out there who understand!

–Meredith, e-mail

I continue to read each issue of MaryJanesFarm from cover to cover several times a month. I enjoy the simple things in life, which can be hard to find. I delight in trying something new on most days, and MaryJanesFarm supplies plenty of DIY ideas and recipes to keep me challenged.

–Lauren, e-mail


SPRING FORWARD | APR-MAY 2025

How nice to see old-fashioned checks accepted for merchandise! I am 87 years old and live on cash/checks and no computer. We raised our four children in a house with only ONE bathroom (Heaven forbid!). I was raised by parents who lost a beautiful ranch for a $350 payment they could not deliver. It changed their lives. They paid for everything with cash. How could I come from that upbringing without a “make-do, get-by, reuse, cash-only” lifestyle? I now live in the pre-Civil War house where I celebrated my first birthday. Some remodeling by my parents occurred throughout the years, but it has only one small bathroom and some interesting slopes and twists. I wake up every morning surrounded by wonderful memories. Thank you!

–Charlene, snail mail

I love your magazines! Just wanted to let you know I have read eight of Kathleen Shoop’s books, as advertised in your magazine, and greatly enjoyed them. Blessings to you!

–Rachel, RaisingJane.org

Really great book! Your Milk Cow Kitchen book is wonderfully informative about all things milk-cow related! If you’re new to milk cows, thinking about getting one, or if you’ve had them for years, this book is for you. It’s full of great information both from the author’s lifetime of experience as well as a lot of research, and it’s just super enjoyable to read!

–Sally, Amazon 5-Star Review

Delicious! I was given Wild Bread and some mature starter last December as a wedding gift, so I jumped right into the Advanced Dutch-Oven Bread. I’ve had so much fun with it that I purchased another copy as a gift for a friend. I’ve been baking bread using this recipe at least once a week now for six months and I’m having so much fun! I’ve tried experimenting with the recipe (adjusting the proof time, using the refrigerator for the final proof, splitting the dough into two smaller loaves before the final proof, etc.), and although I’ve had a lot of successes with my experimentation, every now and then, I’ve had a failure. (But even my failures have tasted good.) Every time that I’ve actually followed the written recipe, I’ve had success—100% of the time! Although I am an experienced baker, I am new to breadmaking. This book has been such a wonderful introduction to making bread. I’ve taught three friends this recipe and they are making bread of their own now, too. I’m excited to explore some of the other recipes, but this book is worth it for the Advanced Dutch-Oven Bread alone!!

–AC, Amazon 5-Star Review

I love your magazines! Just wanted to let you know I have read eight of Kathleen Shoop’s books, as advertised in your magazine, and greatly enjoyed them. Blessings to you!

–Rachel, RaisingJane.org


TAKING ROOT | JUNE-JULY 2025

I’m always so happy to get the latest issue of MaryJanesFarm—it is positive energy/“medicine” in paper form! I always dive in immediately and I always feel gratitude for all your crew is doing.

–Sandra, e-mail

Most magazines have a good article here or a good recipe there, but not MaryJanesFarm—every page is wonderful! For example, the sled with the teddy bear on the opening page in Feb/Mar is so adorable, and page 48—well, I could almost smell the rose blossoms and wish I could taste a truffle. Thank you again!

–Jacqueline, e-mail

As a former farmer’s daughter, I enjoy reading your magazine. As they say, you can take the girl off the farm, but not the farm out of the girl. At least, not for me!

–Rose, e-mail

Special thanks for putting out such an engaging, informative, and beautiful magazine.

–Pam, e-mail

I love every page of your magazine!

–Hugs & Blessings, Karen, RaisingJane.org

I am a new subscriber to your magazine and I was so excited to learn that I could submit something and be a part of one of the issues!

–Debbie

[Debbie is talking about our Keeping in Touch “Readers Write” section, starting on p. 20. You’ll find Debbie’s submission in this issue. Our June/July theme, “Taking Root,” was a hit with readers and we received even more story submissions than usual. If you don’t see your story in this issue, don’t despair; we keep all your submissions and try to find a spot for them in future issues. If you’d like to be a part of one of our issues, too, grab a pen and tell us a story. You’ll find guidelines on our website at Shop.MaryJanesFarm.org/Magazine. We’d love to hear from you!]