More Than A Farmer's Wife

To say that I have been intrigued with the life of farmer's wives and farm women these past few months (perhaps even years) would be the understatement of the week.

I grew up in the east - in the beautiful, rolling Appalachian Mountains - where farm life has it's differences, for the most part, from the agriculture I've surrounded myself with out west (where I grew up, Arkansas and Oklahoma is considered "out west").  I am fascinated at the differences in rural lifestyles from one place to the other and endlessly compare them in my mind.

While I understand the persona of the "farm wife" and a "farm woman" is changing daily in our world of iphones, mobile web, digital cameras, and costume jewelry, and everyone has their own opinions of what these terms mean...  And I am quickly learning that my skewed perception of who rural women are is very different than what may actually be.

In the midst of my research for my graduate project on cattle nutrition and implant strategies and right smack dab in the middle of writing my thesis, I am attempting to take on a new project - researching the American Rural Woman... all that she was and all that she will be.  I read a book a few months ago titled "Half Broke Horses" by Jeannette Walls, which really got me digging into the idea of farm women and who we are...  How we differ from one another.  Where we've been.  Where we're going.  How things are changing.  And what things will always remain.

My latest project:

I just started it a few nights ago and am already deeply intrigued.  Don't be surprised if in the next few weeks you get countless quotes and recollections from this book written by Dr. Amy Mattson Lauters - it is brilliant and I don't want to put it down!  Happy Thursday!