It's Been A While

It had been far too long since we've been together doing the things we so enjoyed. Our last get together however, was with a few of the girls at the Victorian Tea Party held at MaryGails home on May 18. It was so good to see everyone again. As always, MaryGail puts on a feast you didn't want to miss. Mary brings out her fine china and puts out tons of delicious food. She even throws in a few fun games, with April's help, that we play for some lovely prizes. This is such a fun time to dress up Victorian and bring out the 'lady' in each of us and just get together and enjoy each others company.

While visiting among ourselves, we spoke of getting our group up and going again since we all seem to miss the fun and companionships we've made. I too would like to get back some of what we were doing.  As you all know we have had some gals move away, some have passed, and recently some have had surgery. With things beyond our control, we have not held regular meetings in some time. I hope to remedy this, once I am back on my feet and we can get together for some fun times once again.

For those who have contacted our group in the past, know that we will do our best to reach out to you when we are back up and going again.

Thanks go out to all who have hung in there with our group. It has been a wonderful, fun way of meeting women in our area of all degree and learning new things each time we are together.

I hope to start things up again some time in the Fall of this year. I know it seems far off, but everyone is so busy in Summer, and this will give myself plenty of time to recuperate.

Until then, stay in touch with each others. Friends are what we all need because its so much more fun with them.

Blessings,
Gail
Sent from my iPad

Our Team at Relay

Well we finally did our Relay for Life last Friday night. Everyone pitched in to make it perfect. We sold many items to help raise our donation so far up to $971. Way to go team!

Here is our table set up and all the team members who were able to make it and help out.



top left to right, April, Gail, MaryGail, Faith, Wendie, Christine, and Robin

Our Queen of Hearts was a new recruit, Kim. Faith had just contacted her two days before our event and she jumped on board to help us out. She even got us a sponsor in such short notice. What an energetic, inspiring lady she is. We were very blessed to get her on our team.

We also had help from Patty, and Jody who both managed the booth through out the night. We could'nt have done it without you. A big thank you to all the ladies who baked, Susan, Janie, MaryGail, Robin and Julie. To Patty for her oils and butters. To Faith for her lip balms. To Julie M. for her Scentsy donation.  And to everyone for being such good sports and making this all happen. I hope I did'nt leave anyone out.

We all had such a great time, everyone who could walk, did. We plan to do this again next year and we hope to continue to recruit more to help in the cause.

Our prayers and thoughts have been with Julie and Mike who were unable to make the event. We pray that Julie will soon recover and come home soon. Please keep them in your prayers.

Some of the gals came together to help raise money for our local Relay for Life team. Everyone baked lots of goodies and we had quite a nice turn out. We set up in the parking log of Big 5 Sporting Goods which is located right across from Walmart.
We were able to earn close to $200 for just a few hours of our time and the wonderful baked goods all the ladies put their time into making for this event.
We are hoping to have another sale before our deadline in July. We are already talking about a yard sale with a bake sale along with it.
We would love everyone to stop by and donate what they can for this great cause. Thanks to all the locals who stopped by our booth and either purchased something or just made a donation. Every little bit helps and we appreciate you all.

Honoring Volunteers

Robin, Julie, Faith and Gail attended a party at Marquis at Plum Ridge Saturday April 14th, honoring all volunteers who have donated our time or gifts to the center. We sat and played Bingo and ate snacks and talked with some of the other donors. The Charming Chicks were honored with a certificate of thanks for volunteering. We hope to continue doing so as long as we are able. Thanks to all who help make it all possible.

Relay For Life

We have started a team in the Relay For Life Event. This will take place on July 20, 2012. Please check out the website and feel free to join us or make a donation. http://relay.acsevents.org/site

Christmas Meeting at Susan's

 What  Fun we have when we get together.  Susan even invited Frosty to join us.  Her  home was decorated so nicely for the occasion. Her home as usual was a warm  place to gather for our Christmas Meeting.
We shared White elephant gifts and everyone really liked their gifts. Robin  and Susan pictured here.
     
 Merry Christmas 2011 Everyone!
(Sorry my camera was a bit off and these are the only pictures I can share)

Thanksgiving blessings

Once again, I feel blessed to be a part of this group of ladies, who not only look out for one another, but have such big, generous hearts. That being said, we were able to raise enough money to help put together another annual Thanksgiving dinner for our local Food Bank. As you can see, Faith has outdone herself on making it all look scrumptous in these lovely baskets.

We were able to get everything a family could put together for their dinner along with a few extra touches to hopefully make it even a little more special.

With times as they are, we can still make a huge difference when it can be shared among friends.

Thanks to all who helped participate in making this happen, and may you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

with blessings,

Gail

Cowgirls do have "farmgirl fun"

We sure know how to have fun. Farmgirls Mary Gail and April hosted a delicious Cowgirl Brunch Sunday . We laughed and Oh My! We all ate so much. As usual we gather as a large group and 11 of  our 16 were present. Thanks Gals! It was a huge success and enjoyed by everyone. We are sorry a few were unable to attend.   Our next regular meeting will be next Sunday @2:00 the 13th of November at Elmer's Restaurant.
Cheryl Mother Hen

A Fun Farmgirls Gathering

Gail  invited us all out to her house for a relaxing evening under the stars.. We enjoyed  a warm campfire and delicious meal of   delicious  soup and stuffed pumpkin. The recipes were from this months issue Mary Janes Farm Magazine. We love these get togethers and have many planned and inpromptu gatherings.

Gail had been busy. Her  new gazebo was decorated in great fall fashion and  the firepit warmed our spirits.

Thanks Gail.. You and Faith were gracious hostesses!

Mother hen

Lesson on earning badges

Today Gail and Cheryl showed a few girls how they could apply for and earn their MaryJane merit badges. Surprisingly enough, the girls already have several they can apply for. Once we started going over some of the requirements, many had already accomplished them. Now all they have to do is go onto the MJ forum and apply.

It was a lot of fun to sit and go over the many badges we could earn and spirits were lifted to want to complete more. They were shown how to trace their earned badges and how they could decorate them to place onto a bag, jacket or whatever their choosing. Some already know how to embroider and others will be shown at our next meeting by Robin.

Fall is here

With Fall in the air it was time to pull up our farmgirl garden.

Susan had graciously lent her yard for whatever us farmgirls wanted to plant. So with many seeds and starters later, we were able to fill all the beds with loads of goodies for everyone.

Although a lot of our tomatoes did not get a chance to ripen, we did manage to find ways to use them up.




Once we picked all we could from the garden beds, we set out to can up a few jars of Green Tomato Salsa Verde. So Susan showed a few of us how to go about it.

We each had our hands full of slicing and dicing and adding all kinds of things to the pot. It smelled wonderful.

Once it was cooked down to just the right texture, it was placed into canning jars and water bathed.

After putting up several jars and cleaning up, we saw that we still had several more buckets of green tomatoes, peppers and squash. All we could do was tell all the girls to come and get them. We were done canning for now.

This is just another way us farmgirls are getting ready to settle in for the Winter by putting up some of the hard work we did all Summer.

Rootstalk and MaryJane Butters

Five of our group were able to go to the Rootstalk festival in Salem, Or. this past week. Here we learned from many different herbalist on plants we can use in the wild, how to create tinctures, poultices, and so much more.

We all got together and went to listen to our leader of all farmgirls, MaryJane Butters and we all got to chat with her before everyone else showed up and she signed a couple of the girl's books where we got this picture of us by the amphitheatre next to her, she then  spoke on 'Living an Organic Lifestyle'.

We hope to share with everyone the things we learned and how we can all work together as farmgirls do.

Donations For Local Charities

With the craft fair and yard sales we have held, with what we earned and a matched donation from one of our member's employer, we had a total of $1,018. We were able to support both the 'Marta's House Paws Program', and our local 'Green Thumbs Community Garden'.

Thanks to all who participated in the hard work of putting everything together to making this happen.  And a big thank you to our friends and neighbors of our community, who stopped by our booth and yard sales and purchased items from us. Without you none of this would have been possible.

We are now hoping to gather what will be much needed items for the 'Turtle Cove' apartment  room we will be adopting and putting together in October. These will be used as transitional housing for those in need through Marta's House. Many things such as a bed, couch, kitchen essentials, blankets, all the things one would need when starting over. With continued support from our members and our community, we can help a family in so many ways.

Victorian Tea Party



MaryGail and April

MaryGail and April have once again delighted us with a Victorian style tea party. The kind that some girls dream of. Where you can dress the part of a Victorian lady and imagine how one would have dressed the table with their best linens, their finest china and polished silver ware.


This is exactly what we got to enjoy.

When these ladies put on a spread, you can't help but delight in the varity of food they so graciously served us with. They made sweet bread, walnut pie, apricot scones. There were tea sandwiches of cucumber and chicken, there was shrimp, creamcheese stuffed peppers, spiced walnuts and hot tea and their homemade Victorian cold tea to drink.

MaryGail's fine china tea cups

 We played games where we actually learned a few things about tea with prizes going to those with the most knowledge on tea etiquette. We talked, laughed and truly enjoyed each others company.



Julie, Faith, and Gail

April, Faith and Julie

Thank you ladies for a delightful afternoon of tea.

A Good Cause

Today a few of the Charming Chicks met with the administator of Marta's House and presented them with a check for $306. This was money that we earned by having a food and craft sale at the Gifts, Crafts and More bazaar that we held at the fairgrounds on April 23.

The money will go towards the completion of their PAWS program. We were then given a tour of the home and learned how we can help them continue doing what they do for battered women in our community.

Thanks to all who attended the bazaar and donated the items to help make this all possible. We hope to be able to continue to help this program as well as others in our community.

Happy Easter

Today we are all enjoying family and celebrating Easter. Some celebrate with the tradition of going to church first, then at home the children hunt for Easter eggs, then everyone sits down to a nice dinner prepared by mom or grandma, then off to watch a ballgame on television or visiting among each other. At least this is what I recall doing as a child.

After my kids were grown and I had grandchildren, I would sneak over to their home and secretly hide Easter eggs all about their yard long before they woke. Then I would leave a basket of goodies on their doorstep for when they woke up it would be the first thing they would find. Oh how I miss the looks on the little one's faces.

Well, with the grandchildren grown and with these wonderful women I am involved with, we, as a group, took on a different kind of celebration. Julie Morrill put on a 'Gifts, Crafts and More Fair' at our local fairgrounds yesterday, and we were given a table where we sold many wonderful food gifts and some handmade aprons, toys and homemade health products. All of this was done for the wonderful gift of giving.

We all had decided that we could help our local Women's Shelter earn some money they could use to build a much needed area for their pets called the 'Paws Program'. Many women will not leave their abusive husbands or significant others if they have pets and fear retaliation against the animal. Therefore building this animal shelter for their pets will help these women get out of the situations they are in and not have to worry about their beloved pets.

With the sale of cookies, cupcakes, breads and many other goodies, we were able to raise a total of $308.50 for this program. Now this is something to celebrate! Thank you Julie, for letting us set up a table at your craft fair and a huge thank you to all the ladies who donated the wonderful items that were sold. Robin will deliver a check, donated by the Klamath Falls Charming Chicks, to the Women's Shelter on Tuesday.

This event was a success for us as well as for our local community. This goes without saying, what we are able to accomplish as a group, where we may not have been able to do individually, is what I call being a true farmgirl.

Have  a blessed day,
farmgirl #486

Soon it will be time for Spring Planting

Margie Brick gave a fabulous presentation on planning and planting your garden. Everyone present received a whole lot of useful information. Thank you Margie. Some of the  chicks brought saved seeds and we exchanged them.  We are fortunate to have  quite a wealth of information floating from chick to chick through seed catalogs, books and first hand experience. We should all have  beautiful  and happy gardens of vegetables this  year. This is good and as we share  heirloom and organic seeds and plants our food sources will be better for our health. Any  gardening questions Margie is the one to contact! Happy Planting!
Cheryl  (Mother  Hen)

Merry Christmas Chick style!

A Very Merry Christmas  from all of us to all of you! Here posing are only part of the gang. Unfortunately we  had a few absent from our meeting. Barbara,Andrea`and Pam. We missed you. We have such a great group of Farm girls and  all sharing at once, Can imagine the noise level with this many "Chickies clucking in the hen house? Well, we had a grand time and my husband took our picture on the porch. We started 2 years ago with 4 members and have grown to 17! Great plans are in the wings for 2011 with these very talented and fun hens. 
Mother hen..(Cheryl)

Thanksgiving Giving

Our chapter once again has taken to helping our local Food Bank with supplying Thanksgiving dinners to those in need. This year we chose to do two families who have loved ones in Hospice. We have put together a lovely basket of all the fixings for each family and we hope that it will help them to make this Thanksgiving a special day for each. Our blessings and prayers go out to them.

Our chapter has grown to seventeen women and each and every one has a big heart. With each of us bringing forward something they can share not only amongst each other, there is still room to share with others. We hope as we continue to grow, we will also be able to grow within our community and do more where we are needed.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I pray that as we sit down to dinner with our families, we will remember to be thankful for what we have and be grateful for what we can give to others.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

November Birthdays.. Chick Style

Happy Birthday Girls!  So much fun. Sharing and laughing. We have a great diversity of interest, true  Farm Girls having fun together.

Aloha Fun!! Chick Style

This is Gail.. Isn't she a  cutie all dressed in her Luau attire? She was our hostess with the mostest.. seriously she really went all  out to provide our chapter with a Super Luau at her home yesterday.  She decorated her farm yard so well one would think they were in an Island paradise. She met her guests with a welcoming Lei and these cute thongs for us to decorate as we liked with flowers & sequins..

She had a great Tiki Bar set up with fancy glasses & those tiny drink umbrellas, More flowers and a pool of  floating candles ( I didn't get a pix of that however.)

Here is a guest enjoying  some of the great snack food Gail & her daughter prepared along with beverages BBQ chicken & Scrumptious pork.. Each  chick also contributed a menu item allowing us to contribute our own Luau item.

Tropical fruit  salad, Coconut shrimp, Sticky rice, Pork  and chicken,  CornChowder, Cakes with fruit and many other yummy treats. Some of the gals spent the night in Gail's motor home and her "Glamper". I was unable to stay but had a fabulous evening of fun.  I wonder what time those gals went to bed? Laughing  and playing silly games..  This was a Chick Night to remember!

More Potluck pictures

We have so much fun together farmgirls Laughing and sharing love of the Mary Jane Sisterhood.

Gail made sure  the Mother hen was dressed in a Mexican theme with the sombreroand hot chili pepper beaded nexklace.  Thanks Gail I appreciated it.

And take a good look at the previous posted shots of the dessert... A farm girl helping.

Mexican Potluck

The luncheon potluck, put on by Robin and Julie, turned out without a hitch. We could'nt have asked for better weather or company. The food was plentiful and delicious. There was chicken enchiladas, taquitos, corn salad, salsas, chicken pa sole, tacos, Spanish rice, nachos and so much more. We had a raspberry lemonaid, ice tea, and wine  for drinks and a homemade shortcake with strawberries, blackberries and homemade whipped cream on top.

We all talked about what we would like to do in the near future as a group and for our community. A bake sale was discussed to benefit a community garden for the children of Klamath Falls. We will also be planning a Harvest Fair sometime in late September or early October.

Margie brought along her tatting materials and showed some of the gals how to tat. This looks simple but complicated all at the same time. It is an old craft that has been around many years and one that is well worth learning. She also showed her talent with a picnic set she sewed out of used levi and materials. Brilliant and beautiful.  It even comes in its own carryall that she made from used levi.

We did our Secret Sister exchanges, revealed who they were and chose new ones for the next few months. This is just a little something we can do to get to know each other a little more, sometimes we might just send a card to let them know they are being thought of. Or we may send a small gift we know they would enjoy.

As our group continues to grow and we hear the ideas and crafts that each farmgirl shares with us, we all get very excited about the many things we can do together and for our community.  I must say we have become friends who are now farmgirl 'sisters'.