Several years ago on my journey to find a farm I'd set my eyes on a place in the hills of North Carolina. A picturesque 20 acre farm situated on a hillside. Previously, an alpaca farm. The owners built a very specific structure with human living space above and alpaca living quarters below. Warm summer days plus piles of alpaca poop adds up to ripe aromas. Didn't they know that architectural design went back centuries and had been dispensed with because the residents of those living areas couldn't survive mother earths perfumes?

They had plenty of money when they built the place to incorporate elaborate fans and exhaust plans so they would only be consumed with alpaca cuteness...nothing else. It was a glorious place. At the time I really had my sites set on it. Am I glad today it didn't work out? You betcha. A switch to farming was a shock to my financial reality as it was without saddling myself with more debt and less land to farm. Never the less, it was an education and an adventure that entertained me until I could fine MY farm.

At the time this was all going down a friend of mine said, "oh, your going to farm where the farmers wear lace". I spent my first adult life very conscious of fashion. I loved clothes and all the adornments. For some reason at that moment I defended the honor of all female farmers before me and those yet to find their way. My head spun toward him and I said, "...and why not?" Why just because we farm would folks assume "lace" was out of the question? Maybe it was a path I would soon discover. Maybe it was a bra about to be burned?

Now, several years later as I speak from the tractor seat I have a much better understanding of the roots of such perceptions. No, lace isn't a farm worthy fabric this is true. There are certain realities in farming that become the "fabric" of your day. Utility takes precedent over frills. You wear things that are tear resistant, wash hardy (they get washed ALOT), weather protective and last but not least you look for quality in what you wear more then ever before...your clothes have to stand up to hard wear and tear. Your adornments are chosen by need not complimentary color or bling. Your gloves are where you can most easily access them, your cell phone is where it won't fall out as your bending over or hurling bales of hay and your boot socks are usually chosen by what's not currently covered in mud!

So, again back to why I'm writing this today...my female (and male) farming friends have found their own individual way to express their fashionable side. Our designers are different and we probably pick up our farm seed at the same place we choose some of our clothing.

Regardless, the farmer fashionista does exist. As I've said before, don't ever underestimate what's under those Carharts!

Prada to Carhart

April. Did I miss it?

Puttin Up the Fence