Meet the newst member of the Ya Ya Sisterhood...

I figured that my blog would be the perfect place for me to "Confess" my new adventure. How did I come to be a member of the Farmgirl Sisterhood you ask???  Well, it all started with a magazine. A magazine that was given to me by my mother in law. Every few months or so, she passed along her old magazines to me and its always exciting because I never know what I"m going to get. The funny thing is, the "normal" more popular magazines like Women's Day, Good Housekeeping and Redbook are the ones I toss aside first. I find myself looking at the more organic magazines. The ones that talk about gardening, farming, fabric, vintage, camping, etc. This past week I was looking through the latest MaryJanes Farm Magazine and really read the articles. 

I started searching items in the ads and that led me to her website. What I found was a group of women who take honor in the things I enjoy and many of the things I still want to learn. This is where the Farmgirl Sisterhood comes into play. They actually have an entire Merit Badge system you can work towards. It's easiest to describe as Girl Scouts for BIG GIRLS! This immediately made me excited. 

Several of these areas, I'm already familiar with, several I'm not. Changing the oil in my car, basic gun and hunting skills, and being Green (which is not exactly my favorite topic).  Don't get me wrong, I don't know that I'll be a full fledged farmgirl..who hangs all her clothes out to dry, raises chickens and drives a tractor, but what I do know is that I want to be more self sufficient. Most importantly, I want to expand my knowledge to be self sustaining if need be.  

The fun doesn't end with just Merit Badges, they have a whole Farm Girl Connection. They have an online forum, which is a favorite past time of mine. I love meeting and chatting with gals across the country. They also have local farmgirl chapters. I've emailed two of the local chapters in our area and haven't heard back yet. I guess I'll just have to wait and see if they are still active or not.

Now the best part, my Ciara is going to do it with me. I knew my excitement to earn badges would rub off. Sure enough, she only lasted 2 days before she wanted to jump on board and become a part of the sisterhood. We both have our badge list printed out and are ready to go. Her first badge... Farmgirl Shutterbug! I have several I'm going to focus on... Heirlooms Forever, First Aid, Aprons and Crochet. There are so many fun things on the Check List, I'm having a hard time picking. 

I have to laugh, becuase it's kinda cheesy, but so up our alley. Gotta love the power of the Ya..Ya...sisterhood. I think that's what Ciara and I are going to call it between ourselves. 

My St. Paddy's Day 2013

Well Hello Strangers...I thought I'd stop by and share my St. Patrick's Day with you. Because so many things were going on this year and so many variables, I decided to cancel our big dinner and just cook for the family. I did try a new recipe and I'll share that here in a moment, but with not much to say I'll share my day with photos. 


I woke up to find a pretty shamrock plant and a Green Mickey Mouse card from my bestie... Luckily he's around to help me keep this thing alive, because we all know I might be Irish, but I do not have a Green Thumb. And a Green Mickey card...who would of thought? 

In addition to wearing green, I thought it would be a good day to wear my Pink and Brown Polka Dot Ireland hat that's signed by Gaelic Storm. It's not something I wear on a daily basis, so St. Patrick's Day is always a good excuse. 

 

With a beader in the house, I always have something new to wear. This time it was a copy piece from a bracelet I had seen on Etsy. This was the original piece sold online ... 

And this was the piece he made for me..

On one of my thrift store trips, I happened to find two gifts for my daughter in one shot. A book with Irish Authors and an Irish owl. Now my daughter is an owl fanatic, but an IRISH owl. What's the likely hood that I would find an Irish owl at the thrift store. I did some research yesterday and this owl is from a line called Happy Owlidays, Lil' Whoots from 1998. They made several holiday themed owls.

Here are two new decorations  I picked up last year on Clearance. I love both of them. Since I've been sick all week, I haven't made it out to do any clearance shopping, so I doubt I'll find anything at this point. 

My vintage find for this year were these two ceramic pieces. When I went to my favorite store "Oh, So Charming" this month, I remembered seeing them last year and knew that if they were still there calling my name after 2 years, I had to buy them. They look a little rough on the bottom, because they had some super old lace that was glued to the bottom and it was falling off and brown. So I've detached it and plan on replacing it once I find the perfect cream lace. 

Dinner was good, but instead of sitting down to this....

I had dinner for one....

But, in that little dish was Colcannon (Mashed potatoes and cooked cabbage mashed together). I'd not made it at home before, but highly recommend the dish. It really is very good if you enjoy cabbage.

Last, but no least is the Irish Lemon Pudding I made. Being a Lemon lover, it just looked like something I had to try. It's not a traditional milky pudding like we serve in the US, it's more of a cake, custard mix. After having a couple pieces apiece, with fresh whip cream, my daughter and I had similar reviews. "It's different..Hard to describe...I'm not sure if I like it or don't like it..." Literally, we both just couldn't say it was something we liked or didn't like, but agreed it's probably not something we'll put in our cookbook as a favorite.

If you'd like the recipe, be sure to link to The Baker Upstairs for the recipe. I did follow her suggestion and double the recipe and bake it in a 9" springform pan. 

Overall, I won't complain. I'm very blessed and remind myself that life can throw you curve balls and just go with the flow...St. Patrick's will be here next year and the year after. I've had plenty of Green memories and will be blessed with many more. In the meantime..I'm thinking of all of you!!