There probably isn’t anyone
left on the planet now
who doesn’t know what
“glamping” means, but in
case you’ve been living under
a rock, it’s a compound word made up of
the terms “glamorous” and “camping”.
First coined by MaryJane Butters,
publisher and editor of MaryJanesFarm
magazine and author of the book
Glamping with MaryJane, it means just
what those words imply, and us girls have
embraced it with gusto. Although not
just limited to vintage trailers, the term
“glamping” has also been embraced by
those offering accommodation to visitors
in pimped out tents with all the luxuries,
and latest news is that even Michelle
Obama and Oprah Winfrey are planning
a glamping trip together!
MaryJane works with her husband
and four adult children on the organic
farm in Moscow, Idaho that she bought
back in 1986. An author of two books, the
busy grandmother of seven also publishes
a magazine called MaryJanesFarm that is
now in its eighteenth year of publication,
but she still finds time to milk her Jersey
cow named Lacy Lou every day. Her
Facebook group Glampers on the Loose
now boasts almost 24,000 members with
more joining every day. Here MaryJane
talks to Vintage Trailer Magazine about
her life, her upbringing, her vintage
trailers and her passion for glamping.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
My 1950s upbringing is often described
as “unconventional”, because my family
raised their own food, made their
own clothing, and went nomadic on
weekends, setting up camp in the wilds
of Utah, Wyoming, and Montana to fish
and hunt. My father taught me carpentry
and organic gardening, and my mother
taught me homemaking, fishing, and
camping. (She always brought ironed
tablecloths so that was my introduction
to glamping.)
After graduating from high school
in Utah, I took a job on a mountaintop
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