We started very early yesterday morning. Hugo, our friend Bryce towing the trailer with his truck, me and Daisy’s Bobby on his final trip. I always say thank you to an animal when I raise it for food, even the chickens get a thank you as they are carefully packed for their journey. We said Goodbye and Thank You to the Bobby in the pouring rain.
Here is a funny story – well not so funny but you will laugh with me a little I think.
I had called the little local abbatoir a few days ago to confirm The Bobbys arrival – we are trying a new facility that is quite close by so they did not know me.
“What’s the name of the farmer?, said the girl on the phone to confirm my booking.
I told her my name.
“Good morning, Cecilia” she said, I could hear her smile into the phone.
She hesitated then she said “So, what is the name of the farmer?”
I told her my name again and added. “I am the farmer.”
“You are the farmer?” she said, her voice lifting. “But you are a – I mean. You do the farming? You raise the cows.” Emphasis on the You each time.
“Yes.” I said wearily “and the pigs and the chickens.”
“Well,” she said ” I didn’t know that .. I mean .. We don’t see many women farmers ’round here. And your husband -does he farm as well?.”
I was a little aghast at this question. Was this a trick question? An assumption that no lady farmer would be without a husband farmer. Did there have to be a big strong man farmer behind every woman farmer?
“No. He does not farm. He works off the property.” I said. “When he is home and I need something heavy lifted, I ask him to lift it then I send him back to the kitchen.”
There was a pause.
“Will YOU be bringing the steer in?” she said. Her mouth open I could hear the spaces.
“Yes.”
“Oh” she laughed nerously. “Well.. ” she said “I would love to meet you.” I think she thinks I have a hood and a cape and some kind of gold whip.
Poor thing was trying to be nice but was genuinely confused about a Woman raising animals for food. Wild Women, like you and me, are a curious mixture of gentle and cooly pragmatic. I think we are all wild. Just that some are more obviously wild than others. It just never occurs to me that a woman canNOT do whatever she decides to do. (Within reason of course – especially when one is feeling reasonable). 
I work on my little farm with my helpers, oblivious to the world, completely forgetting that there are many people in this area who simply do not believe that women can be farmers, real farmers who grow food. And worse I am a foreigner and even worse than that I grew up ON A BEACH. Anyone who has a wee bit of land can do what I do. I am not playing. This is my business. This is not a zoo. It is my job. I make little to no money but a lot of food, I Save a huge amount of money and even more importantly we eat clean proteins. It is old fashioned. I can trace my food straight to my fields and gardens.
Any woman can do this. Any man can do this. Any family can. All you need is a little land or a large back yard – but goodness -This was another Woman who was shocked at a Woman being the boss of a farm.
I was very tempted to take this steer to the slaughter house in high heels and a short skirt, but one needs to climb up into the trailer to move the animal off and into the chute. And cows have very big feet. And it was a sloppy muddy chilly rain yesterday, so it was ripped farm trousers and gumboots (with a little mascara just for fun!) .
I have to say: the men who were there to receive the cow into a very clean and well run, tiny facility were very respectful and allowed me to call the shots. And when a pin needed to be pulled and a gate opened they shouted to me to do it (because I was right beside it) just like they would shout to a man. (The Bobby was a little too anxious to get into the building once he had navigated the chute and so I was literally stalling his forward motion with my hip as I opened an unfamiliar pen gate. Probably best not to try that in heels! )
Anyway I laughed – a little bit.
Thank you so much for all your fantastic cookie recipes yesterday. I am going to rename yesterdays post A Collection of Fellowship Chocolate Chip Cookies! I will go back and do that right now. Often the best half of the farmy blog posts in the Lounge of Comments! Magnifique!
So I looked at all your recipes, put my thinking cap on and created one new recipe from all the ideas. They were pronounced delicious and are, of course, all GONE!
Here is the Fellowship Chocolate Chip Cookie
- 2 sticks (1/2 pound or 200g) soft (in our case Home-made) butter
- 1 level cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 small eggs (we have some lovely pullets eggs at the moment)
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 cup oatmeal
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup of very strong coffee
- Roughly chopped up 8 oz bar of bitter chocolate (chocolate chunks – not chocolate chips – they add an entirely new dimension to the taste).
Mix in the usual sequence, add a little more flour if you need to, spoon in balls onto a cookie sheet, flatten a little with fingers, cook at 375 for about 12 minutes (maybe less maybe more I did not really time them!).
Did you know that in New Zealand we call cookies – biscuits. Biscuits in America are something completely different.
I hope you have a lovely day. We had more wonderful storms and cloud formations yesterday.
Don’t you just love it out here!
Lots of love
cecilia
The Kitchen's Garden 
79 responses to “Are you the farmer?”
With every post I read, the urge to come out to your farm grows in intensity. I know I am only about 30-45 minutes away. I just have to arrange the time and find the way. I wish I was stronger/more healthy so that I could really experience it.
Oh I am sure you are strong on the inside.. I am always here.. well mostly always!! c
Here I am the farm wife…although I do much of everything, I am not the farmer. I am the farm wife. It’s just how it is.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
The Farm Wife. That is interesting phrasing. As opposed to the Farmers Wife. You are wife to the farm. That makes you a farmer in my eyes.. c
I am wife to the farm. 🙂 I’ve been thinking about your post today…in this day and age I find it odd that someone would find a woman being the FARMER strange. Women do so many things anymore (and always have) My Great- Aunt in Texas (she died in 1980) ran her ranch (4 sections) BY HERSELF after her husband died. (25 years). She rode, fixed fence, shuffled cows and sheep, gave shots…you name it. She also had her home rebuilt, traveled where ever she wanted to go and wore diamonds to charity events. I wonder, now, if people would call on the phone and ask for the man of the house—like you she was the rancher, the house wife, the glue.
Linda, as a regular reader of your posts … you are definitely a farmer and definitely a wife to the farm; plus Terry’s wife. YOU are a BUSY lady, like Celia.
Just like you Marla, just like you. 🙂
The barn photo is great. I love this post-I have been managing a family property for the last three years. Which involves me doing a lot of construction, demo, patching drywall, caulking, pool repair, scrap metal removal, painting, cement repair etc….it always amazes me when someone asks me if I’m going to go back to work. Really? I also am blonde. I think it’s great that you put on mascara, I do the same thing. Anyway, I can understand why that gal wants to meet you, she’s intrigued, could be a life changing moment for her. Have a nice weekend.
Robin🐥
Sounds me like you would be going back to work for a rest!! c
I know 🙂 Thank-you. Actually, I’ve loved every minute of it, it’s my job & I love my job.
That is so good to hear! c
Well! You did your bit in educating this young woman! And you are savvy about clean food- I wish everyone understood about that! Have a fabulous day.
This is my favorite blog each day! I love coming here. Thank you so much for sharing your conglomerate recipe. 🙂 Thank you for making a smile on my face so large it might likely never leave. Thank you for having such a wonderful heart as to be aware of the bobbies fear and attending to it. And thank you for enlightening another young woman of her potential. There is a saying I’m sure you know of that you can never tell how strong a woman is till you drop her in hot water. We may not have the physical strength of most men but we have something better. Mental strength. My son always says I am the strongest woman he knows. You make women proud everywhere and we should be standing together more than snipping about each other. I can’t tell you how many women have tried to make me feel small vs men. The storm photos are amazing.
You are a strong woman. Miss Yourself! c
🙂 I am but you are even stronger. You have my deepest admiration. We make others not relegate us to the corners. It’s important to the women coming behind us.
Of course we can be farmers. I am the farmer on this 30 acres. I stand by my eldest son, who comes from out of town as we harvest 25-30 meat chickens twice a year. We don’t have a local abattoir who will do poultry, so we must do it ourselves. I plant the garden, can and freeze the produce, keep it weeded. The hay we hire out in the spring, but I mow it in the fall. Fencing is my venue as well, with whatever helpers I can recruit. Hopefully, soon there will be pastured beef and pigs under my care too. My neighbor is a widowed farmer with 30 head of cattle and three gardens and she does it with occasional help from a farmer friend of ours.
YES! There are so many women farmers so why are they still surprised when they meet one. I hate fencing. I know I have some waiting for me but it makes me tired to think of it. c
I am almost tempted to fire up the kitchen and make the Fellowship cookies 🙂 I am in awe of Fellowship Women, living in the city can be so limiting. Laura
those cookies sound divine and unique. must end up in the almanac. (wink wink hint hint, but yes, one thing at a time…) and the photos! Oh my goodness, they are Beautiful!!! That WHO’S THE FARMER? routine is amazing. I feel happy for that girl that she talked to you and met you. She needed that.
I got to add this-I think it’s great that you took a piece of everyone’s recipe to make the cookies. I definitely am going to make them.
Robin🐥
It was not a scientific experiment just luck really that they turned out so well!
I tried these cookies this morning- I was a bit skeptical because the recipe didn’t call for vanilla but no need to worry- ALL 2 DOZEN ARE GONE! The kids have proclaimed them amazing and most edible!
I love your kids! The slab chocolate really flavours the whole cookie. With chocolate chips they have a chemical in the chips that keeps them from melting all through the cookie, whereas these ones can melt into the dough and do so and it is great!
Bloody Brilliant! I get that all the time when we go into a builders metchants and I start reeling off a list of things which starts with something “2 drain cocks….” and they look at Big Man and start asking himm questions. Then I say “Don’t ask hi, he doesn’t speak English and I’m the guv omn this job!”. They have sort of got used to us now but we can still catch people out ehich makes me laugh 🙂
Love that, and can totally relate. Before we were married 3 years ago, I single handedly renovated and sold at profit 7 houses. I always went to the builder’s merchant in my splattered overalls, steel toecap boots and toolbelt, on day one, so there would be no confusion. They caught on quite quickly… But it came back on me one day when I dropped in there on my way home from work in a suit and heels. Straightfaced, the guy at the counter said: “Sorry Kate, didn’t recognise you without your toolbelt…!”
Oh I had the same at a party – they only twigged finally because I was with “the big Spanish bloke”!! Love that we “girls” put on our work clothes and boots and just get on with it 🙂
I love this story, though it does make me laugh with a little resignation. Thanks for the chocolate chip cookie recipe. It sounds fabulous!
You know, I kind of wanted to say something when you did the ‘you are a girl’ post. But it was lovely and funny and I just couldn’t bring my disappointment into it. But this? So sad. Why a woman can’t belive that another woman can do a job – any job – is beyond my understanding. All I can say is I hope that everyone who works with you learns and remembers!
Oh, CELI!!! The second photo (of the barn and a truck) is amazing to me because you captured on a shot that superb light that I love so much. When that light is in the sky, I have asked friends if they could see the different light and many cannot see it. I LOVE that light. Not only is it wonderful for its own sweet self, but colors stand out more in it. Glorious, glorious light. Thanks so much! Much love, Gayle
Today I am glad to have been ‘late’! A fascinating reaction to a great post!! Hope everyone had a chance to click on EllaDee’s super link: what a huge Sunday morning smile for me . . .now I have never worked on the land but neither have I ever had a female-oriented job, so I DO relate! And thank my darling Dad, the greatest feminist I have ever known and, let’s face it, all that was many moons ago when women in many jobs was a huge no-no! He always quietly said: ‘Women can do everything men can, except they damn well usually do it better and do more!’ I remember being a totally impoverished migrant girl in Oz: when I got to the Intermediate [Middle School, I guess?] everyone on the street could not understand why I would go for the Leaving [matriculation]. Then shock horror, I got a scholarship to study medicine at the Sydney Uni [1 gal to 20-25 guys at the time] and dozens of neighbours came to talk to Dad: ‘Mr T, Eha is so pretty, honestly she will get married, she does not have to study and you work so hard’! Not farming but in the same category 🙂 ! Oh I loved my very, very high heels and makeup and hair just so . . . . cookery book – think that a brilliant idea . . .think of all our backgrounds!! Vale Bobby: you will be remembered . . .