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Thursday, March 6, 2014

Girls Can Farm Too...

Since Brad and I have three girls one of the questions we get asked most is, "Are you going to try for number 4?  It might be a boy this time?"  Another question that seems to get brought up is, " Well, since you have three girls who is going to take over the farm."  
 First of all, I couldn't imagine asking someone such questions, but while I can think of a million and one not-so-nice-things to tell these people, I have learned to bite my tongue (thanks Mom and Dad for teaching me that if I can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all)and answer these questions with dignity and respect.  It does kind of bother me that people still think that girls can't do a man's job.






To be completely honest, when we found out Jo was a girl I often wondered the same thing all these other people were asking me.  Don't get me wrong.  I wouldn't trade my three girls for the world and now that I have three girls, I find myself wondering what in the world I would do with a boy!  I would often reflect on all the farm families I knew that only had daughters, and I realized there were a lot of them.

A dairy farmer in our county has three daughters.  One of those daughters married a guy who decided to help on the farm.  To top it off this daughter helps farm right alongside her husband and father (who is now retired).  She can milk cows like the best of them!


Megan, one of my blogging pals, is one of four girls.  Just like the dairy farmer mentioned above, one of her brother-in-laws helps her dad farm.

My aunt and uncle have three daughters and he now has a hired hand who is the best of the best!

Right down the road from us is a lady, who I will refer to as Jane, who farms by herself.  Once her dad passed away she took over the farm.  She does have a hired hand, but she still does most of the work like planting, combining and such.  Proof that girls can do everything a guy can do!  Our closest friends often joke that our girls are going to be the next Jane.  

Then there is this other family who we are extremely close to.  These are Brad's grandparents with all six of their daughters.  His mom is the cute little girl in the middle of the back row...

That's right!  Six girls!  We are very fortunate that we are able to farm the very fields that Brad's grandpa also farmed and live in the house that they lived in and raised all these girls in.  

All of the girls married great guys and I am very blessed that I married into this family.  One of those guys came to help his father-in-law on the farm.  That guy would be my father-in-law.   


And that leads us to where we are today.  We are raising the next generation of farmers.

Brad and I attended an event last night and the speaker was Dr. Jay Lehr.  On his website it states, "Jay Lehr is a powerful and entertaining speaker who combines a deep understanding of both science and economics in describing the impact of advancing technologies on the local, regional, national, and global economy.  Dr. Jay Lehr makes people feel good about the environment and American Agriculture."  He made several great points during his speech and one of those points was, "Farming is the most technologically advanced professions in the world."

The future of farming is so bright.  Technology on farms is booming making it more productive.  Which makes me think that the future of farming for our girls isn't something I need to worry about.  Who knows?  By the time they are old enough to farm, everything might be done by the push of a button, but for now we are teaching them that farming doesn't have to be a man's job!


 I am participating in Indiana's Family of Farmer's Table Talk.  While I did receive a gift for this article, all opinions are mine.


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7 comments:

  1. love your photos....people can be so rude...Girls are awesome...

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  2. We have two girls and yes they can do anything the boys can do just like their Mom. Don't listen to doubters:) Hug B

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  7. "Anything Boys can do Girls can do Better" I am one of four farm girls in my family and proudly wore this slogan on a t-shirt when I was younger.

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