An Ode to my rough-skinned sisters
I tend to really hate those posts about how wonderful dating this kind of woman or that kind of woman is or top ten reasons to date a chef...etc. However, as I sweat and hauled manure and scrubbed algae covered bucket in the 90 some degree heat yesterday, I thought about how incredible it can be to date, marry or befriend a horse woman or farming lady.
As someone who has both raised animals, vegetables and cared for horses her whole life, I can speak from at least one side of the equation. Maybe my boyfriend would disagree with some points, but I feel the need to share this nevertheless.
1. We keep going even when we say we can't.
After hours of toil in the sun, exhaustion shaking our legs and our vision blurry, we can still finish mucking the goat shed, trimming feet, shearing sheep and hosing horses. I can't even count the number of times where I have said aloud or to myself "I can't do it anymore, there's no way," and yet I finished the task. Through grace and strength and perhaps pure stubbornness, the task will be completed. This follows through to motherhood, social circumstances and late night drives. We don't stop, even when you do. Sometimes this drives us to work even harder.
2. While still just as emotional, we always overcome it.
Sure, sometimes we have breakdowns and cause a ruckus and get upset, it can even get the best of us, but 9 times out of 10, we can swallow what we feel for the greater good. We can wave away emotion because we HAVE to. We have not the luxury to feel what we feel. No time, no place, not here, not now. Maybe later... Or never.
3. We can make something out of nothing.
As farmers and horse women, we are often caught in tough places with no help and no money. This includes not having the proper tools or materials to get the job done. Yet, somehow, we do. I have pulled horseshoes off with my bare hands when they are in danger of causing lameness in a horse. I have hammered fences up with blocks of wood because a hammer broke. I have used baling twine for everything from nails, to blanket straps, to baby goat fences to belts and hair ties. We are very industrious and can surely save more than a penny or two, not to mention we rarely ask you to help us with anything we do. Go ahead, enjoy your beer.
4. We can handle extreme pain.
Like most women, our pain tolerance is already high, what with birthing children and all, however add to that the ability to constantly smash fingers, toes, heads, you name it and not let it ruin our day or stop our work makes us pretty invincible. Save for possible broken bones, I can't say any pinched nerves, blistered fingers, sun burnt skin, raw heels, broken nails, bruised bones and joints have ever stopped me from my day, nor my mother, who must have no pain censors at this point for what she has endured.
5. We are beautiful.
We may be wrinkled before our time, sun burnt, sturdy, muscular, have rough hands, unmanicured nails, messy hair, and most of our clothes are filthy or soon will be, but the glow hard work, perseverance and delight in the earth lends to our countenance will outshine any movie star model woman to those who will turn their eye our way.
This little post is not to say every other kind of woman isn't also amazing, strong and incredible in her own right, it is simply a nod to women who most find harsh, dirty, intense and "manly" as I have so many times been called. It's a celebration of those of us who work harder than men for something that gives NOTHING back to us except the simple joy of a job well done and the comfort of animals tucked into their stalls in the winter freeze and cooled and crisp in the summer heat.
Simple joy- complex women.
Slainte
BRM
As someone who has both raised animals, vegetables and cared for horses her whole life, I can speak from at least one side of the equation. Maybe my boyfriend would disagree with some points, but I feel the need to share this nevertheless.
1. We keep going even when we say we can't.
After hours of toil in the sun, exhaustion shaking our legs and our vision blurry, we can still finish mucking the goat shed, trimming feet, shearing sheep and hosing horses. I can't even count the number of times where I have said aloud or to myself "I can't do it anymore, there's no way," and yet I finished the task. Through grace and strength and perhaps pure stubbornness, the task will be completed. This follows through to motherhood, social circumstances and late night drives. We don't stop, even when you do. Sometimes this drives us to work even harder.
2. While still just as emotional, we always overcome it.
Sure, sometimes we have breakdowns and cause a ruckus and get upset, it can even get the best of us, but 9 times out of 10, we can swallow what we feel for the greater good. We can wave away emotion because we HAVE to. We have not the luxury to feel what we feel. No time, no place, not here, not now. Maybe later... Or never.
3. We can make something out of nothing.
As farmers and horse women, we are often caught in tough places with no help and no money. This includes not having the proper tools or materials to get the job done. Yet, somehow, we do. I have pulled horseshoes off with my bare hands when they are in danger of causing lameness in a horse. I have hammered fences up with blocks of wood because a hammer broke. I have used baling twine for everything from nails, to blanket straps, to baby goat fences to belts and hair ties. We are very industrious and can surely save more than a penny or two, not to mention we rarely ask you to help us with anything we do. Go ahead, enjoy your beer.
4. We can handle extreme pain.
Like most women, our pain tolerance is already high, what with birthing children and all, however add to that the ability to constantly smash fingers, toes, heads, you name it and not let it ruin our day or stop our work makes us pretty invincible. Save for possible broken bones, I can't say any pinched nerves, blistered fingers, sun burnt skin, raw heels, broken nails, bruised bones and joints have ever stopped me from my day, nor my mother, who must have no pain censors at this point for what she has endured.
5. We are beautiful.
We may be wrinkled before our time, sun burnt, sturdy, muscular, have rough hands, unmanicured nails, messy hair, and most of our clothes are filthy or soon will be, but the glow hard work, perseverance and delight in the earth lends to our countenance will outshine any movie star model woman to those who will turn their eye our way.
This little post is not to say every other kind of woman isn't also amazing, strong and incredible in her own right, it is simply a nod to women who most find harsh, dirty, intense and "manly" as I have so many times been called. It's a celebration of those of us who work harder than men for something that gives NOTHING back to us except the simple joy of a job well done and the comfort of animals tucked into their stalls in the winter freeze and cooled and crisp in the summer heat.
Simple joy- complex women.
Slainte
BRM
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