Lately I have been very inspired by MaryJane Butters of Mary Jane's Farm. She is such an inspiration to me as a farmer, homekeeper, gardener, seamstress, and lover of the outdoors. One of my favorite things about her is her philosophy that a farmgirl is a condition of the heart. In my experience some women can live on a farm and still be a citygirl at heart while other women can live in a city and have the heart of a farmgirl. My dear friend Caroline is a farmgirl at heart as is my wonderful bookeeper and friend Mrs. B.
I also love the Jeff Foxworthy redneck jokes. So in a bit of a redneck/farmgirl fusion I want to start a category called you might be a farmgirl if.....
I would love for other farmgirls to add their two bits in the comments section and hopefully over time I can gather enough to put them in their own cherished and dedicated page on the blog.
So here are a few of my own:
You might be a farmgirl if
- you have ever pulled fresh picked wheat out of the combine to bake your own bread.
- rounding up escaped cattle at midnight in the rain is considered a date with your husband.
- fast food is picking your own salad from the garden.
- you know the meat in your freezer by name and it is OK because you know it was treated with kindness and fed the best feed before it was meat in your freezer
- you have ever fixed your clothes dryer with duck tape and bailing wire.
- you would much rather shop at the local feed store than Walmart.
- you consider aprons a useful fashion accessory
- you binge on fresh picked tomatoes warm from the sun with wild abandon letting the juice run down your arms and stain your shirt.
- your kids complain when they have to eat store bought lettuce.
- your house does not have a doorbell.
- your children think sloppily stacked hay bales are the best toy ever.
- your baby's first word is moo.
- you have ever sent your baby to town with your husband and the baby comes home diapered in a red cotton shop towel because they ran out of diapers.
- you call town "town."
- you read the Little House series to your children and can relate to their lives.
- you can make it a month or more without going to the grocery store.
- muddy boots are a permanent foyer accessory.
- you consider creative frugality a fun challenge but would never treat others in a miserly way.
- you save coffee cans because they make great feed measuring cups.
- you start seeds in the windows
- you consider children, sunsets, and open spaces to be some of the most beautiful art you will ever see.
- you compost your kitchen scraps
- you make clothes for your children out of old curtains.
- you plant flowers in old feed and water troughs.
- your coat rack is made from an old board from the corrals.
- you know that if a gate is closed you keep it closed and if a gate is open you keep it open.
- if your neighbors cattle get loose you round them up for them - not call the police.
- you think of cats as the best mousetraps and rattlesnake eradicators.
- you go days without turning on the TV because you were just too busy.
- you plan your vacations around crop seasons.
- you plan your menu around crop seasons.
- you plan everything around crop seasons.
- your children play outside and aren't afraid to work hard just because something needs to be done.
Anyway I would love to have some more of these from some other farmgirls at heart.