You Might Be a Country Girl If…

A couple of weeks ago I sent out a newsletter talking about my new book, Along a Storied Trail, that was released this month. But along with book news I always like to include something that might bring a smile. So this time I shared this list that somebody must have passed along to me several years ago. So although I don’t know the original author, I do know whoever wrote it knew about being a country girl. I also know that I checked off every one of these to prove I’m definitely a country girl. So see how many you can say, yeah, I did that.

You Might Be a Country Girl if…

~If you’ve ever had to brush snow off a pile of wood to fill up the woodbox inside the house…
~If you’ve ever had blisters on your thumbs from using a hoe…
~If you’ve ever been stung on your toe by a bee while running through the yard…
~If you’ve stepped outside late at night and seen about a million stars…
~If you’ve hunted a new litter of kittens in a hayloft…
~If you’ve ever caught a jar full of lightning bugs…
~If you’ve gone swimming in a pond…
~If you’ve brushed the dirt off a tomato or a cucumber and eaten it while you’re still in the garden…
~If you’ve tried to de-skunk your best furry buddy…
~If you’ve ever picked up sacks of walnuts to make some spending money…
~If you know what nettle is and never want to touch it again…
~If you’ve seen a newborn calf or bottlefed a lamb…
~If you’ve had to set pans under the leaks in the roof of an old house…
~If you’ve ever gone to a little country church’s dinner on the grounds and eaten home-fried chicken…
~If you’ve ever had to pluck that chicken before it was fried…
~If you’ve heard a whippoorwill through your open window before you went to sleep at night…

Then you might be a country girl. 

At the end of the newsletter, I invited readers to add to the list if they knew about being a country girl. I’ve saved some of those and will share them here soon. I heard from plenty who didn’t claim to be country girls but still had done some of these things. One of the things that was added was about picking those wild blackberries. My grandkids have had that country girl fun.

One newsletter reader responded with her story about how she loved growing up on a farm in the country even though, the same as I did, she had to help in the fields. When you read what she wrote, you might wonder why she has such good feelings about those years, but this country girl understands.

Sherry gave me permission to share her country girl thoughts. Here’s what she wrote.

And I’m a fully qualified country girl, too, and wouldn’t change my growing up years for any amount of money. I worked hard, but we all did so I didn’t feel like I was being punished. Work was good character building (maybe what’s missing with kids today—no cotton to chop, pull, or pick!!) I would be sent into the corn field to chop weeds, and it would be 110 deg inside, so stepping out at the end of the row into 105 deg temp was like an a/c!! Lol. At the end of our endurance, Daddy would take us to the creek where our energy would be revived by jumping into the cold swimming hole and scaring the snakes out. It was my job to milk two cows before breakfast every day. Carrying the bucket of milk to the house was the hard part—cats and dogs would be my best friends while trying to get at my bucket!

I picked up pecans for two years at 5 cents a pound to buy a bicycle. Then Santa brought me the bicycle (I still have it, 67 years later) and I never knew what happened to the money I was due for all those pecans!! Lol. In summer and on nice weekends I would milk, then saddle a horse and ride, ride, ride. My brother and I and all the kids of the hired hands had a regular circus of trick riding, racing, parading, etc. This phase of life was when I was 7 to 14, and it was idyllic. I could go on (and on) but suffice to say I wish my kids, grands, and great-grands could experience the same kind of childhood that I was blessed with. The grands have all grown up now, but the great-grands are just little. Hope they have a chance to enjoy the freedom of a country life!!

Thank you for sharing about being a true country girl, Sherry.

I, being one of those fully qualified country girls, do think it was a wonderful way to grow up. I did have to work on our farm but that just made me stronger. I think it also helped me write my country girls in my stories. While Tansy, my book woman, is more a mountain girl than country girl, there are plenty of similarities to let me get in her skin to tell her story in Along a Storied Trail.

In my newsletters, I always have a giveaway chance. The prizes this time are a couple of gift cards and of course, a chance to win a choice of one of my books. The deadline to enter hasn’t come yet so if you didn’t get the newsletter and would like to, let me know and I’ll send one out to you.

Do you have more you might be a country girl things to add?