10 Things Your Non-Farm Friends Just Don’t Understand

/ The Buckeye Milkmaid

All of my friends come from different walks of life, but for my friends who didn’t come from a farm they sometimes have a hard time understanding the farm lifestyle. Here’s a list of things I think some people can relate to.

1. You don’t have set work hours 

When your non-farm friends wanna hang out it’s hard for them to realize you don’t work from 9-5.  They might think you’re making up excuses when you tell them “we can’t hang out till it rains” or “sorry I was late, I had to help deliver a calf” Or if one takes you on a date to the movies and you fall asleep half way through the show, they think it’s because you’re not interested in them, when in reality its because you’ve been up since 4am and you’re tired (looks like you won’t be getting a second date with that one!)

How a conversation usually goes when your non-farm friends wanna hang out (picture:pinterest)

How conversations usually go (picture:pinterest)

 

2. Your hygiene levels are not equal to theirs 

No matter how much you clean up for a night out on the town your non-farm friends can always pick out the lingering odor of barn that you’ve become immune to.  That smell just lives in your skin and clothes and can’t be washed off just like the grease in the callouses of your hands.  Or maybe you didn’t have time to fully scrub up and quickly just changed your clothes before heading out. Now you’re downtown eating some fancy dinner and your non-farm friends point out that you have hay in your hair and manure stains on what you thought were clean jeans.

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When they get a whiff of that barn smell (picture:pinterest)

3. You wear boots everywhere 

Work, casual, weddings: boots are not for just out in the barn and can go with any outfit even if the general public doesn’t find it fashionable.  Your non-farm friends just don’t understand that wearing anything besides boots on your feet just doesn’t feel right. Although they are usually quite thankful to find out that you have a separate pair of boots for going out aside from your barn boots.

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Good going out boots are kept separate from barn boots

4. You’re not the life of the party

It’s 11pm, the music’s blaring, people are up and about socializing and you’re half passed out on the nearest couch.  You’ve been up since the crack of dawn and its way passed you’re normal bed time.  Your non-farm friends convince you to stay up and enjoy the party.  Once it dies down everyone hits the hay and now you’re stuck pulling an all-nighter since morning chores are just around the corner.

Your idea of a late night (image:trophypursuit.com)

Your idea of a late night (image:trophypursuit.com)

5. You’re so fit and tan

Your non-farm friends are sometimes jealous of the fact that you pretty much eat whatever you want and don’t get fat or that you’re a golden bronze color all summer long.  If they knew how hard you worked all day or that you’re entire summer is spent outside in the hot sun they probably wouldn’t be so envious of your appearance.

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(image:Pinterest)

6. You avoid certain conversations

“Wait, What, you stuck your arm where in a cow?!”  Sometimes when your non-farm friends ask you “so what did you do today?” it’s better to just leave out some parts.  Although if they ask for some clarification on farm procedures you’re more than willing to go into more detail and teach them something new.

When you get on the subject of Artificial Insemination (image:Pinterest)

When you get on the subject of Artificial Insemination (image:Pinterest)

7. You make a big deal over what color a tractor is

To your non-farm friends it’s just a different paint color, but to you it’s one of the greatest debates in farm history.

(image:Youtube.com)

(image:Youtube.com)

8. You take farm terminology seriously

If your friends ever come over to the farm and point out a steer and call it a bull, you’ll be the first to correct them.  They may not have come from a farm, but you’ll make darn sure to educate them on the differences between a cow and a heifer, hay and straw, a plow and a disc.

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9. You have different life goals

While your non-farm friends might be busy trying to climb the corporate ladder or save to buy that house up on the hill, you’re busy at an auction trying to see if you can get a steal on some cattle or out trying to make a 6 digit offer on a piece of potential acreage.

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(image:pinterest)

10. Your pictures on social media don’t look like theirs

Your friends that don’t come from a farm sometimes find it strange that all your pictures on your social media are of nothing but animals, barns, tractors, and crops.   Before they open one of your snapchats they are probably thinking, Let me guess? Another picture from working out in the fields and yes, their hypothesis is correct upon opening the picture.  Or maybe it’s simply the fact that you only take selfies with your livestock that puzzles them.

Or selfies from the seat of a tractor

Or selfies from the seat of the tractor

Like My Page on Facebook for more farm fun (ps My blog is in the middle of changing from ‘The Modern Milkmaid’ to “The Buckeye Milkmaid”

38 thoughts on “10 Things Your Non-Farm Friends Just Don’t Understand”

  3. All true (except I have a small enough place I don’t have to do chores at 4am. yay? ) I haven’t been on a date for years. The whole dirty thing? Yeah, if its not poop its fine. deal wid it.

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  4. OMGosh I loved this, and it’s all so true. Yes, yes and YES! LOL. Everything we do is dictated by the weather so it’s hard for us to commit to a dinner date in a couple of weeks, and as you mentioned I worry that some people view it as us just avoiding them. This spring has been particularly troublesome with the daily torrential flooding rain for weeks on end. Man, although we’ve tried to stay as caught up as humanly possible, if it ever quits raining we’re going to be so busy we won’t be able to lift our heads for 6 months!

    ~Taylor-Made Ranch~
    Texas

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    • I entered my farming activities into a web-program that is supposed to determine your level of exercise activity and determine what changes you need to make in order to get “fit”. The response I got said that I had the exercise routine of an Olympic athlete and that I needed to slow down a bit or I was going to wear out my body! However, no matter how many bales of hay I toss or sacks of feed that I toss across my shoulders or five gallon buckets of water that I carry across how many miles of pasture I am still 30lbs overweight. But I’ve got muscles in places that my non-farming friends will never have!

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  14. We left my grandparents farm when I was two but my heart has always been there. Recently moved on to small acreage and I’m loving life. My goal right now is to teach my kids difference between hay and straw they’re getting the hang of it my husband not so much.
    (And while small acreage is not farming I am happy and blessed to enjoy what the little bit we have)

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  18. All true for me ( hay and horse farmer, organic gardener) except the boots. I will not wear western boots, period. Ever.

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  19. Don’t write an article if you don’t know basic grammar. It’s not “you stuck you’re hand in a cow”, it’s “you stuck your hand in a cow.” In the first one, you are saying “you stuck you are hand in a cow” because you’re means you are, and the second one is referring to YOUR hand. I guess being a farm person just made it fine to forget all of kindergarten, too.

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    • Thanks for pointing out my grammar mistake I do appreciate it, but don’t be so negative about it please. I have a honors degree in Dairy Science, very far from a kindergarten level of education. I make mistakes, I’m human. If my writing bothers you that much, than don’t read my blog posts.

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    • This article has obviously been read and enjoyed by many; myself included. You feel it necessary to criticise the grammar and bash the author? Hhhmmmm…I’ll take being a farmer, or in my case being a farmer’s wife, over being an ignorant snob any day. You really need to apologize…

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  20. As the Son of a Son of a Farmer; I went down to the barn for adventure; Enlightened the views of the cows and the mule; “Cut” my foot in manure;…… Son of a Son, Son of a Son. Son of a Son of a Farmer; Son of a gun; Work in the sun; You know Hell isn’t much warmer……As a Dreamer of dreams and Schemer of schemes; I plowed up many an acre; chased some old goats; sowed some wild oats; You know I prayed for crop failure……My apologies to Jimmy Buffett……

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  24. I wish everyone knew how hard farmers work. Everyone likes to eat and farmers make it possible. Loved the story it is so true.

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  26. Love this
    My son needs to find a girl who understands his hours and how dirty he his because he is our farms future without him we are done
    He gets covered with dirt because the ac doesnt work and the windows have to be left open and he gets covered in grease from repairing equiptment
    This sight is so true…love it

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  27. My best friend was a farmer until he passed away. Cant even count how many times dates were cut short due to something happening at the farm. Or date nights spent in the shop/barn/field taking care of something that just broke or is giving birth. Vacations were planned around equipment auctions or “down time”. Everyone was buying the latest sporty car, you search for the right diesel truck. Investing money in planting tech while everyone else is getting stereos or the newest cell phone. LOL This brought back many sweet memories that still make me smile and laugh. Thank you.

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  28. I love this post! I’ve been dating a farmer now for almost 3 years. We will getting married November 8th, 2015. I knew nothing about farming when we started dating. I’m now in the process of learning everything! This post couldn’t be more spot on. I can’t wait to share it with him, he will love it! 🙂

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  29. I live in Scotland and its all the same for me .friends come and go because they don’t get why you would have a job that means you work so hard all the time and never stop my reply is farming isn’t a job its a lifestyle

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