Monday, February 17, 2014

Would You Marry A Farmer?


Would You Marry a Farmer?



I was a city girl. Much of my childhood spent in Chicago with concrete playgrounds and four lane traffic serving as my backyard. When I met my farmer, Keith, I was 33, a divorced mother of two pre-teens. I was a health care professional whose closet was filled with suits, heels and a pompous briefcase or two.

On our first date Keith gave me a dozen eggs. Truth.

After that, I was totally hooked on my farmer. We married, raised four children together and we are still farming side by side.

But as ideallic as magazines like Country Living can make life on a farm sound, it is often a real challenge being married to a man (or woman) who reeks of manure and sour milk and thinks a date day is best spent at Big R shopping for long plastic artificial insemination gloves.

If only there was a book that could help prepare unsuspecting future mates.

Oh wait! There is.

Meet my blog friend Lorna Sixsmith from Carlow, in South-East Ireland and her super cute family.



I've been following Lorna's blog  The Irish Farmerette for some time  (despite the 3500 miles between our farms we live similar lives) and was thrilled when she released her first book Would You Marry A Farmer?.  Prior to that she was a successful blogger, Social Media Consultant, and of course full time mum and farmerette. Not sure what it means to "Stand in the Gap" ? Confused about tweeting, posting, ? Lorna is the person to go to. Catch up with the busy social media side of Lorna with her other popular blog Write On Track

Don't worry. You don't have to be a Blarney Stone Kisser to benefit from her expertice. So much of what she teaches regarding being married to a farmer is universally beneficial. Her insight into the barn life in general, her own life in particular is great fun to read,  Not only did she manage to complete the book, she raised the money to publish it, did the marketing, the promotions, the mailings. She did it all.

And if I find out she has a clean farmhouse to boot I'll have to kill her.

Her book is as expected, pure fun and laughter inducing but it is unexpected in many ways as well. Her research into the history of Irish marriage was enlightening and I especially loved reading about the tradition of dowrys both monetary and in terms of land and livestock. Would You Marry a Farmer is the perfect book to keep on your kitchen table. Read a chapter here and there as you squeeze in a cup of coffee or tea before you head out to castrate pigs or ear tag calves.

Or just read it for fun while you're sitting up top of The Hancock Tower with your penthouse view fantasizing about a life with a man of the earth.

You can purchase her book and follow along on Her Website. or order with free shipping worldwide from Kennys Books.















17 comments:

  1. YES! This books sounds fantastic. Thanks for the links!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you are most welcome Mary. Nothing like a missing link to foul up ones day.

      Delete
  2. Thank you Donna, your post did make it laugh and no, I don't have a clean farmhouse. I am half hoping my book will take off just so I can afford for a cleaner to come in occasionally and save all our sanity. But then, I would have to clear off for the day or I would feel guilty!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Me too Lorna. If I had the cash I would happily hire someone to clean my house ...and my tack shed...and my garage...

      Delete
    2. Me too. If you find someone who would mind travelling.....

      Delete
  3. Man I miss living near a Big R. It was our go-to store when we lived in Northern Indiana.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If we could get back HALF of what we have spent at Big R over the years we'd have ...well...more money.

      Delete
  4. Hey, clean houses are not anywhere near as important as happy families! ;) And it soulds like both of you have happy families.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Whoa Nelly! What a nice change for the look of your blog, an then it looks like you are doing a whole heckuva lot of writing!!! Haha, I was going to ask if you'd like to write over at Folk Wisdom or The Renegade Farmer, but now I feel like READING Irish Farmer Woman stories :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well Zan, its all your fault you know. your created a farmwife monster! One day when Prince Farming arrives and pays us 1 million for the farm you and I will et all our stories and books and magazines published. In the meantime we just have to depend on Blogger to meet our needs. And hey your artwork has really been amazing lately...well it always was!

      Delete
    2. Well gee, Donna, thanks!! But that still doesn't answer the pertinent question at hand--can I ever give you a call? I miss your sense of crazy--I mean, the "humorous" side! :)

      Delete
  6. My neighbour (who still milks) permanently has that delightful aroma of cow shit and rancid milk, and I've often wondered how his wife puts-up with it. Maybe it's because she smells exactly the same.

    Farmer looking for 30-35 year old, non smoking, blonde, woman with good sense of humour. Must have own tractor and minimum of 100 acres.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cro. folks think I went into soap making because I wanted to cure the skin issues of the world. Wrong. It's all about making the farm house smell better.

      Delete