Jenny Gomes

19 Inspirational Quotes for a Country Girl

October 11, 2018 by Jenny Gomes Leave a Comment

Whether you have an appreciation of all things rural, real, and agrarian, because of blood, birth, or by choice, you will love the sentiment behind these words. Read on for 19 Country Girl Quotes!

I’m an English teacher and lover of literature, which is why I decided to compile a list of my favorite lines that put wings on my heart. Here’s to living like a country girl.

Feel free to pin & share any and all of these pretty images. I made them all just for you and I want them to show what you feel in your heart.

You’ll notice a theme in this collection. I think country girls are BOTH lovers AND fighters. I don’t know if it is this crazy election, or that I’m thinking (and subsequently crying) about my little girl going to kindergarten next year, or if it is the fierce love I see in so many shapes and sizes all around me. Here’s to loving, and fighting, and to happiness, Dear Readers. May you be lucky enough to have love worth fighting for, in all its packages.

Here are the words that move me, and that I think will move you. Love you all, Wildflowers.

19 Country Girl Quotes

“What lies behind us and what lies before us is are small matters compared to what lies within us.”

“Always saddle your own horse.”

“She who is brave is free.”

“Speak your mind and ride a fast horse.”

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

“Do you suppose she’s a Wildflower?”

Loving these Country Girl Quotes? You’ll LOVE Inspiration for a Wildflower.

This is an ebook of essays about friendship, motherhood, life well lived, and more.

More Country Girl Quotes

“Though she be but little, she is fierce”

Shakespeare wrote this often quoted line and it makes me think of a beautiful, petite student I taught. This young lady wrote as an 8th grade student (!) about something difficult she had faced in her life in an essay. She wrote about the fact that she had been kicked by a cow in the face and earned a rather large scar across her pretty cheek. She wrote about being fearful of cattle for a long time afterward, of being worried about how people wouldn’t see HER, but only her scar, and and how she overcame those fears because, like scars, those worries will fade with enough time and patience. It has been years since I graded that essay but I’ll never forget it. While my own four year old daughter is becoming a manifestation of this famous line, this student, who is now in her final year of high school, makes me think of this line every time I see her. It breaks my heart to think of the things that force us to be fierce, like the things others can see like scars, as well as the wounds we have on the inside, but the thing that sets us free from them is feeling that despite size, we can be fierce.

“The Earth laughs in flowers”

“All your life, you will be faced with a choice. You can choose love or hate…I choose love.”

The most important part of this line is “choice” because sometimes we forget who is in charge of our feelings. We can choose how we react to situations and we can choose love. Choose it, Wildflowers, and that includes loving ourselves.

“Do small things with great love.”

If I could have met any famous person, from any time, Mother Teresa would be my pick. Her story is a fascinating one and I encourage you to read any of the biographies about her. She wasn’t a nun in a church; she begged hotels for discarded soap to give to orphans in the street with which she’d give them a handwashing lesson so they’d be less likely to suffer from internal parasites. She was a badass and learning how to take more action with greater love is something I know I could improve upon.

“Two feet move your body. Four feet move your soul.”

Even More Country Girl Quotes

“Life is the flower for which love is the honey.”

“She is clothed in strength and dignity and laughs without fear of the future.” Proverbs 31:25

“Some old fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat.”

I’m reading the Little House series to my kids and it is a true joy. If you haven’t read or need to re-read Laura Ingalls Wilder and her stories of living like a country girl, I suggest you get the series. Young and old alike love them, and they are great read alouds.

I was a little girl on my grandma Glory Ann’s couch when she read the Little House series aloud to us kids and I bet I read the series a dozen times on my own once I could. The pioneer spirit, terrific writing style, and wisdom that we can apply to our modern world makes this one of my all time favorite authors.

“I’d rather be on my farm than be the emperor of the whole world.”

“Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.”

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”

Eager to plant something? You might love this post on growing sprouts.

You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl.

Am I right, Wildflowers? We can’t all stay living in the country. Some of us marry those with great jobs far away, build our empires in the city ourselves, or otherwise travel a road that leads us away from wide open spaces. You’ll spot that country girl by the way she pays attention to the weather, can build a fire in the ski lodge, waves at other drivers on the road, knows what to do when there’s a power outage, is the friendly girl in a crowd, and can solve a problem with brain AND brawn. Country girls are lovers AND fighters. You can quote me on that 😉

If you loved this list of Country Girl Quotes, I hope you’ll check out Inspiration for a Wildflower!

20 Things Country Girls Know: A List You Haven’t Read Before

October 10, 2018 by Jenny Gomes 4 Comments

20 Things Country Girls Know: A List You Haven’t Read Before. For those raised where there are no stop lights, where you wave at every passing vehicle (probably referred to as a rig) because that’s the polite thing to do, and where you can name every single kid in your class and probably your whole school, there are many truths that you manifest that are different than that of our more urbanly raised Wildflower sisters. This is not going to be a post about 4-wheel drivin’ or mud on your boots. It will be about matters of the heart and of practicality, which are the prime ingredients to growing any Wildflower, right?

Your actions stick with you. When you are from a small town where you attend school with the same kids in elementary, middle, and high school, being awful to someone isn’t a sin that is forgotten, even if it is forgiven. Your choices stick with you, year after year, for better or for worse. Choose wisely, regardless of where you put down roots, Wildflowers.
An Appaloosa doesn’t change their spots. Country girls have lived with the same folks for a really, really long time and they know that it is a very rare thing indeed for a person to change. Girls who were mean in high school will probably be mean in the future. Boys who are good to their mommas will likely always be so.
Cowgirl boots and a lifted pickup with sassy bumper sticker does not a country girl make. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and that’s how a classy country girl should interpret those who haven’t an ounce of rural living or common sense to their credit and still hope to be part of the club. As Dr. Seuss said, “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” Be you, Wildflowers, wherever you are, and be the best You you can be.
Never say whoa in a horse race. If you are working, striving, and aiming towards a goal, keep after it. You don’t win by slowing down. That’s not to say all of life needs to be a race, but if you’re in one, don’t slow down.
Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway. John Wayne said a lot of things, and this is my sister’s favorite. Courage doesn’t mean doing something difficult. It means facing fear and not letting it win. Accepting fear as part of the experience, and owning the fact that often times what is necessary isn’t comfortable (and can be downright terrifying) is part of living life fully, being a grownup, and being a stand up person. Saddle up, and be better and stronger for doing so.

Jalapeño Pecan Jelly

September 26, 2018 by Jenny Gomes Leave a Comment

Jalapeno Pecan Jelly Easy Canning Recipe is delicious, spicy and sweet, and quick to make. This recipe is from a 5th generation pecan farmer friend, Kristen, from Texas, and she’s been kind enough to share her family’s jalapeño pecan jelly canning recipe with us all. You won’t believe how FAST this jelly recipe is…it might even be faster than my raspberry jam recipe! Read on for the easy recipe!

How to Make Jalapeño Pecan Jelly Canning Recipe

This post contains affiliate links.

Hi Wildflowers!

I’m Kristen and I met Jenny at a blogging conference last year. I’m excited to share with you one of my family recipes. My husband, Winston, and I are fifth generation pecan farmers. Our family has been harvesting and selling pecans in Texas since 1888. You can check out our pecans here! They make wonderful holiday gifts and a perfect addition to the pantry. You’ll see how the incorporate perfectly into this canning recipe, too!

We make a Jalapeno Pecan Jelly with our fresh pecans that folks across the country adore. I love this jelly because it’s just the right amount of sweet and spicy. My favorite way to enjoy it is poured over a block of cream cheese and served with crackers. I always keep a jar on hand for a quick appetizer. After all, you never know when a company might stop by for a surprise visit!

Note: If this recipe sounds delicious (I assure you, it is!) but you’re not so sure about the canning part, I have a fantastic, STEP BY STEP guide that will SHOW you exactly how to dive into canning. It’s way easier than you think, too! Grab the Canning Jump Start Guide here!

Download Now!

Jalapeño Pecan Jelly Canning Recipe

You will need

4 cups pecan pieces

(9) 16 oz. wide mouth pint mason jars

20 jalapenos, pureed

5 lbs. sugar

3 cups apple cider vinegar

6 (6 ounces each) pouches Certo

1. Pour 1/4 cup of pecan pieces into each jar.

2. Combine sugar, vinegar, and pureed jalapenos into your preserving pan.

3. Bring to a boil and boil for 4 minutes.

4. Turn off the heat and add the Certo.

5. Mix for a couple of minutes and ladle into each jar. Maintain 1/2 headspace.

6. Put jars in a hot water bath or steam canner and process for 15 minutes at sea level.

Pro Tips:

You may need a food scale to weigh the sugar and frankly, they are a very handy thing to have in the canning kitchen. I love this one.
Certo is liquid pectin that works particularly well with the pecan and jalapeño mixture.
If you are new to canning, Get the Canning Jump Start Guide! It’s a visual guide that will help you get started for just $5!

Thank you so much, Kristen! When we met at a blogging conference, we were two small-town girls in a pod, let me tell you. She’s a girl after my own heart and I’m so honored to share her family’s recipe with you all. Be sure to Pin this recipe to Pinterest, Wildflowers, and head over to Millican Pecan to get the finest pecans you’ve ever tasted!

Mixed Berry Jam

September 8, 2018 by Jenny Gomes Leave a Comment

Use a mix of whatever berries you have on hand to make this easy, fast, and delicious jam! You can use raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, or blueberries in a mix to make this mixed berry jam.

This post contains affiliate links.

The beauty of this recipe is the naturally occurring acid that’s present in berries. This acid makes berries foolproof for beginners and makes it nearly impossible for you to make a mistake. You can download the Acid & Canning Chart for free below and it lists the pH values of all the things you might preserve in jars so you can see exactly how acid the fruit in your berry basket might be.

You’ll see which fruit is safely more acid than the magic 4.6 number (a LOWER number means it is of greater acid level) and which is higher. Those that are higher can be safely canned with the addition of an acidifying ingredient like lemon or citric acid; that’s why cucumbers can be pickled into pickles with vinegar!

Mixed Berry Jam Recipe

You will need
5 cups berries
3-4 cups sugar depending on the desired set (more for firmer jam)
1 lemon, squeezed, for taste
2 boxes pectin (liquid or powdered)

1. Prepare your water bath canning pot or your steam canner. Fill the water bath canning pot with water, add 5 half pint jars, and bring to a boil OR fill the steam canner to fill line and turn on low with the 5 half-pint jars nearby on a towel-covered countertop.

2. Combine berries and lemon juice and simmer together in a preserving pan (a heavy-bottomed, wide pan) and mash with a potato masher or wooden spoon for 5 minutes.

3. Optional: Remove from heat and ladle into a food mill. Process jam through for a super smooth jam.

4. Return berries to a boil, add sugar, and whisk in pectin, a little at a time, quickly.

5. Ladle into jars one at a time, apply lids and rings, and either submerge into the boiling water of the boiling water bath with a jar lifter OR set gently on the rack of the steam canner.

6. Process for 10 minutes PLUS 5 minutes for every 1000 ft above sea level. Remove from heat, rest jars carefully on a towel-covered countertop. Label cooled jars and store for up to 1 year.

Download the printable Mixed Berry Recipe Here!

If you are LOVING the idea of canning, but need a little extra instruction, I have a beginner friendly resource that is low-commitment, printable, and will help you dive in today! The Canning Jump Start Guide shares 4 of my easiest, most foolproof recipes, my no-frills equipment lists for both traditional water bath AND steam canning (steam canning is the fastest way to can, my friends and you’ll want to learn it ASAP!), a season planner, a pantry checklist so you’ll never be without the few super-important items when you bring home a bushel of apples or flat of tomatoes, and a visual guide that SHOWS you how to set up your stove so you can SEE how canning might look in action. It also includes a visual guide for adjusting processing time for your altitude so you can easily add time and not have to think about it again! If you are new to canning or need a refresher, the Canning Jump Start Guide will help you preserve fresh, wholesome produce to give to loved ones and serve your family. Did I mention it is just $5?!

Buy Now!

10 Easy Sewing Projects for Beginners

August 29, 2018 by Jenny Gomes Leave a Comment

Want to start sewing with some easy sewing projects for beginners? This post will share 9 easy sewing projects perfect for a beginner, plus I’m sharing the BEST way to grow your skills as a seamstress. Read on for the post!

This post contains affiliate links.

Sewing is my first creative love, my happy place, so much so that my machine is left set up on my dining room table 90% of the time. If you came over for supper, I’d have to move the machine. That’s how much I love sewing. My mom taught me to sew and she was taught by her Granny Ruth. Mom grew up in a poor home and Granny Ruth taught her that if she could sew, she’d always be able to have nice things to wear and a nicely decorated home. I still have Granny Ruth’s aqua seam ripper and that very important lesson. Yeah, sewing is super fun, but it also allows a person to mend, hem, alter and extend the life of garments which is clearly great for your heart and checkbook. Because I know how to sew, the options for a garment I can buy, wear, keep, etc is SO much greater. If I see a fantastic hot pink vintage 80’s romper on Instagram that is just a bit too big everywhere, you better believe I’ll snap them up because sewing is EASY, my friends. Sewing is easy, empowering, and such a total blast.

At the very beginning of Pinterest (and, the beginning of me following any bloggers at all, really) close to 10 years ago, I started following a pair of sewing enthusiasts for inspiration and sewing tips. While I knew how to sew from my mom’s instruction and years of working at JoAnn’s Fabrics, the blog’s by Merrick of Merrick’s Art and Leanne of Elle Apparel. Their blogs gave me the BEST ideas for how to score a dress on Old Navy’s clearance rack 5 sizes too big and make it fit (that really was a post on Merrick’s blog and I really did exactly what she told me too- I was a new teacher on a tiny budget and it WORKED!) and tips for how to create beautiful hems that looked SO professional, or how to add pockets (HELLO dresses and skirts with POCKETS!), or how to add zippers that looked even better than what you can get in the store.

Fast forward to today. These gals are real life friends at the other end of my state and they created a sewing course that will knock your socks off. I’m still sewing at my dining room table and I want YOUR dining room floor littered with thread and snips of beautiful fabric the way mine is. The course is a video library you can access anytime you like, over and over. It will show you STEP BY STEP exactly how to build beautiful garments using any pattern you’d like. The name of the course says a lot: The Modern Girl’s Guide to Sewing. Great title, right? The following sewing projects are beginner friendly and will definitely get your creative juices flowing but a course will teach you the pro tips that will make your garments look BEAUTIFUL. They won’t look homemade. They will look SHARP, which is my favorite adjective to use when describing top-notch sewing projects. Dive into either the Beginner or Intermediate videos and easily create custom, perfectly tailored garments and then apply what you learn to curtains, Halloween costumes, tote bags, and all the home decor you can think of. The sky is the limit with The Modern Girl’s Guide to Sewing + a little creativity….and if you are reading this blog, I know you have more than a little inside. Dive in here!

10 Easy Sewing Projects for Beginners

Scoopneck Knit Tank

This pattern is such a good one for beginners because there are not TOO many options which is something that I have found overwhelming when I was learning to sew garments. There are two bodice options- sleeveless and a tank top, and a peplum or full-length skirt option. That’s it. There’s a limited number of sewing pattern pieces to cut out, which also limits overwhelm, and the tank top option, in particular, is really simple to put together. I found the pieces to match up exactly and I’m not a perfectionist when it comes to cutting- not by a long shot. Because my kids are still small, I really value a pattern that can be cut out and assembled quickly and this pattern was perfect in that regard.

How to Sewing Lingerie

Sewing lingerie sounded next to impossible before I tried it and in this post, I’ll show you why it’s not only super simple, it’s fast (hello tiny pieces!) and why elastic is nowhere near as difficult as you might think. The post also has links to FREE lingerie patterns from a fantastic lingerie pattern creator. You won’t be sorry you checked out this post.

If you are really feeling at the idea of sewing your own undergarments, I wrote a post for that too! 10 Things You Think When Sewing Lingerie for the First Time is a fun, quick, and inspiring little read to get you ready to sew!

Easy Little Girl’s Tutu: A Sewing Project for Beginners

Sewing a little girl’s tutu is actually a lot easier than you might think and is a perfect sewing project for beginners. This simple elastic waist skirt can be adjusted for a variety of ages and you can fill the skirt with fun embellishments like faux flower petals as I did.

Salvaged Sewing: Unfinished Vest to Back Interest Tank

My Gram, a continual source of sewing inspiration (mentioned here), found this half-finished vest in her fabric stash. I loved the fabric but didn’t need a vest. Because I have been on a back-interest tank kick (like these here) I immediately imagined cutting a deeper neckline and crossing the vest front into a flyaway back. Of course, unless you also stumble upon an unfinished vest in your sewing stash, this can’t really be considered a tutorial. It is really a demonstration of using creativity and bias tape to turn something unusable and undesirable (sorry, but I’m not rocking a vest to school…at least not a floral one…yet) into something cute.

Messenger Bag: A Great Sewing Pattern for Beginners

I made this beginner friendly messenger bag using a pattern from the Palindrome Dry Goods blog and Etsy shop using easy-to-sew cotton that I purchased before I had my first child, over 6 years ago. Once you have been sewing a while you may experience the thrill of finding fabric that you forgot you have purchased and/or forgot how much you love the way I did. This bag was also easy enough to whip up while the children were awake, and in between stirring supper on the stove. I used a super stiff decor bond interfacing that the pattern designer didn’t call for but I had on hand and used on a whim with good success. Read on for the super easy tutorial!

Want to learn to sew? This is the course that I recommend and love!

How to Sew an Ironing Pad

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to sew your own ironing pad and avoid hauling out a cumbersome ironing board next time you need to iron. This ironing pad tutorial is beginner friendly, and the result is space saving and customizable. It is so nice to be able to pull this pad out and iron anywhere, rather than drag out an awkward ironing board.

How to Sew Spandex

Sewing super stretchy spandex and similar knits can be intimidating but the results can be totally rad workout clothes like the neon purple leggings I made recently. These are the tips I can share to ensure a successful spandex sewing session (like what I did there? I’m an English teacher at heart!). These tips will also help if you’re sewing a dance or yoga item too!

How To Sew a Burlap Garland

This garland is truly simple to sew for a very beginner for several reasons. Jute webbing is easy to sew on, and requires only a universal needle, and basic sewing thread. Sewing on jute webbing (that characteristically is just striped burlap meant for supporting a chair cushion in a chair or sofa) is easy, and gives a good chance for a newbie to practice making a narrow seam allowance (sewing close to the edge) and pivoting at the point of the garland to make a nice, sharp point. Of course, if you are a seasoned seamstress, this project will be even faster and easy to customize further. Jute comes striped in a variety of colors (navy, black, and red being the most common) and a couple different widths. Mine is 4 inches wide.

How to Make a Shower Curtain with a Vintage Tablecloth

The thing that you have to know about vintage tablecloths is that they are often roughly showered curtain sized. You also need to know that because you’ll be sewing the tabs (those fabric loops that connect to the rod) at whatever interval you want, you can make a tablecloth fit a shower.

Seed Sack Pillows

My dear friend saved these seed sacks from a garden project and asked me to make them into pillows for their living area. I waited for months and months because I wanted to find pillow forms for the project; pillow forms are like a plain, muslin covered pillow that remains in pillow shape so you can remove the cover and wash it easily. They are handy, but they don’t come in every shape and size imaginable, and they don’t come in real seed sack size.

Bonus Project:

These are some of my favorite sewing projects. One bonus that I’ll share features on how VERSATILE sewing can be; one pattern can be used to create countless looks. This post 1 Sewing Pattern 3 Ways shows 3 completely different tops that were a cinch to make but used the same pattern.

It’s a cute tank, right? Head to 1 Sewing Pattern 3 Ways to see the other variations! Hint: Pink floral!

If you want to learn how to sew, check out the courses HERE!

Wildflowers, sewing brings you creative joy and happiness, especially in a busy world where you spend an awful lot of time folding laundry or paying bills (my LEAST favorite chore ever). By learning to sew with the Modern Girl’s Guide to Sewing, you’ll be able to create items that fit YOUR body (goodbye dressing room angst!), your kid’s bodies (hello, easy!) and save money doing it. Choose which level you’re interested in, or I suggest buying the bundle of videos so you’ll be sewing like a boss seamstress in no time! See you in the course, Wildflowers!

Jenny Gomes

19 Inspirational Quotes for a Country Girl

19 Country Girl Quotes