And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker.” So God made a farm girl. God said, “I need somebody willing to weed the garden, ride the tractor all day in the fields, feed the cows, make supper, and then go to town and practice whatever sport is in season.” So God made a farm girl. “I need somebody with arms strong enough to bale hay, and patient enough to teach a newborn lamb to nurse. Somebody to walk beans, shovel grain, come home hungry and help make lunch.” So God made a farm girl. God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed. To get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds, and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when the neighbors’ toddler is lost in the corn field. So God made a farm girl. God said, “I need somebody savvy enough to operate the autosteer and yield monitor, and determined enough to pull lambs when a ewe’s pelvis is so small that only her hand will fit. Who will stop her lawn mower for an hour to help her little brother find kittens in the haymow.” It had to be somebody who’d work hard and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed, and rake and bale, and combine and plant, and finish a hard week’s work with a 7-mile drive to church. Somebody who’d bale a family together with soft, strong bonds of sharing. Who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply with smiling eyes when her daughter says she wants to spend her life doing what her mom does. So God made a farm girl.
Originally produced in 2014 as part of a college class project, I decided to reshare this video in celebration of National Ag Day. The clip is narrated by my favorite farmer, my Dad, and captures the essence of my “Farm Roots and Chore Boots” this blog site was named after.
VERY true