I'm a country girl by birth and by nature. You'll never see me wear any piece of clothing that says "Cowgirl Up," and I can count on two hands how many times I've ridden a horse in my life. I grew up on a half acre of land (yes, that includes where our house sits), surrounded by an orchard, horse pastures, our neighbors' idyllic farm across the road, and sagebrush. Lots and lots of sagebrush. I didn't milk a cow until I was halfway through high school, and I've yet to kill anything with my bare hands aside from occasional field mice that sneak in from the orchard and alfalfa fields across the way. But still, my heart belongs on a farm.
With all that being said (thank God that's all out of the way!), I am still a country girl---with a proud streak of redneck thrown in and maybe just a dash or two of hillbilly from my daddy's side. Our house was literally only about a mile outside of city limits, and as I mentioned before, the place I grew up was very much lacking in space. Regardless, with the help of one mom who "was only allowed to have a miniature poodle growing up" and one dad who loved the phrase "No more animals, we have enough already," my older brother and I successfully raised goats, chickens, cats, peacocks, doves, lizards, snakes, rabbits, rats, hamsters, sheep, alpacas, and a plethora of dogs. (Am I missing anything? Probably. I did have a ladybug collection for awhile back in elementary school.) Many of these I raised for 4-H and FFA, and in my last year of FFA, I qualified for Round Robin in both livestock and "fur and feather," so I have literally shown every type of animal you could have at the fair. Although my brother dropped by the wayside of animal rearing somewhere back in middle school, my love for everything farm grew exponentially in my teen years.
So yes, I am a farm girl and a country girl with my whole heart. There were many a day that I went to school with bits of hay in my pockets (and hair) and mud/poop on my boots.
It is by the grace of God that I met a man who doesn't just tolerate my love for growing things--he thrives on it. I will be married before I am 23. How do I know this? Because I met the love of my life when I was about 16, avoided him all throughout the rest of high school after a mutual friend of ours casually mentioned he wanted to ask me out, and then fell in love with him in community college when another mutual friend reintroduced us by accident. I also know this because the date is set for two weeks before my 23rd birthday and the wedding preparations are underway (blog post, anyone?).
We are planning to start a farm of our own, this man of mine and myself. So it's probably in your best interest to become accustomed early on to hearing about our adventures in this endeavor. ;) However, this is also a blog about my love for growing things and cultivating things, discovering things and creating new things. I am a student of agriculture, and my heart belongs to God, my husband, and Mother Nature. If you've chosen my blog out of the cornucopia of great farm girl/country girl blogs out there, I first want to thank you, and second, I want you to know that I truly hope you enjoy the ride. :)
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