Sisterhood Secrets

Spirea

The Mountaineer Sisterhood is three months old, and thanks to the generosity of the Union Community Association we have found a home base for our club in a central location in Barbour County.  Our mission is to help women improve their lives, and the lives of their families and communities, one project at a time. We are affiliated with MaryJane’sFarmgirl Sisterhood, which awards merit badges in several fields including farming, gardening, farm kitchen and healthy eating, community service, crafting & sewing and lots more! 

This blog was featured in the August issue of MaryJane's Cluck, giving nods to our brand new Farmgirl Chapter, the Mountaineer Sisterhood! I was engrossed in the article introducing the 4th annual MaryJane's Farmgirl Sister of the Year, when all of a sudden, at the bottom of page 2, I noticed that awesome piece of artwork (“Propaganda”) from my new favorite artist Jozi Gallant, which I featured on my last blog post! Mary Jane Butters, the woman herself, said that she loved everything about the Mountaineer Sisterhood in Barbour County, WV! I had tears welling up in my eyes…

Propaganda by Jozi Gallant

This pat-on-the-back was much needed, because the miserable heat that has been characteristic this summer has got me down a little, and no one seems to want to do much of anything beyond what is required to get by, myself included.

Back to the news - Special thanks to one of our Charter Sisters – Sheila Daugherty! At our June meeting, she suggested that the Sisterhood lend a hand in repainting the cake walk numbers. Several members were able to stay and help scrape the old numbers up and clean the floor after the meeting, (I thought it was a lot of fun with so many women there to lend a hand and shoot the bull while we worked!)

We arranged to meet that Thursday to finish up, but I had a family emergency that evening and couldn’t make it. So, in true Farmgirl fashion, Sheila rallied her troops and got the project done! With all the work that has been done at the Union Community Building in the past year, it really looks like a new building.

Stonecrop Sedum

For our July 11^th Beautification Day, Nina, our Projects Chair-Sister, donated the plants (plus time, effort, and tools!). Hunter Melvin, and Quentin and Maia Daugherty carried rocks for the new flowerbed at the base of the flagpole, where we planted some stonecrop sedum. We also put a small spirea beside the shed door. Nina and Hunter came with a wagon FULL of plants and flowers - many perennials - that are just waiting for their new beds to be made.

The Union Community Association plans to host an Irish Heritage Festival on September 22nd, including food, music, Irish Road Bowling, Liars’Contest, Talent Show, Music, and more! The Mountaineer Sisterhood would like to propose a Community Work Day to prepare for the carnival. Able-bodied men and women are needed to get the place ship-shape. We have a new sign that needs placed, a fence that needs stained, and a dunking booth that needs built, among other chores. The Community Meeting is always on the 3^rd Thursday of every month at 7pm (It’s usually only 20 minutes or so), so in August, it will be held on the 16^th. Plan to come and show your support, and then we can figure out the best day for everyone to get together and build us a dunk tank!

Here is a video from the 2010 Vandalia Festival Liar's Contest, to give you an idea of what this cultural phenomenon is all about:

Mountaineer Sisterhood and Union Community Association are working together to host a Kids’ Olympics on Saturday August 11 from 10-noon. We will have games and medals for the kids, plus a 3-on-3 basketball tournament for anyone 13 and over. 

August’s meeting will be on the 28th, and we’re asking that everyone bring your favorite summer harvest recipes to share. We are also planning to have a guest speaker (My Esteemed Uncle Tom is fortune continues to smile on us!) to teach us about Beekeeping, and then in September, we are working on a canning class.