What Happens When a Farmer Only has Daughters?

We are a multi-generational farm family. That’s not an uncommon situation, especially here in the state of Iowa in the heart of the Midwest. My dad was the first in his family to only have daughters. Did that mean the end of the farming tradition for our family?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

I was never taught that a women’s work was in the house or a man’s work was outside. I realize that was how my parents were raised. I promise I’m not assuming, they have told me stories about what expectations looked like for them growing up. Thankfully, those weren’t the expectations for me. A women cooking, doing dishes and housework was never the ONLY thing I was told to do. We did all of that as a family, every Saturday morning was housework time in fact. I was never told that I could NOT go help on the farm. In fact, a good portion of our allowance was based on the work we did on the farm.

This is something I’ve truly instilled in my daughters and especially given they have a younger brother. I tell them all the time “I can do anything the boys can do! It may not be the way they do it. It may not be the most efficient, but the job will get done.” With a younger brother they are likely to get what I didn’t, the very common “so your brother is going to take over the farm?”

In our family we are planning for if all of them want to come back and be apart of this farm. My husband and I are thinking about how we could financially make that work. Farming is not just a man’s job. Women have been helping complete tasks on the farm for years – maybe even since forever as that was their livelihood and means of food.

If you take anything away from this post today, please take this away – over 30% of farm owners/managers are women. Women can farm just like the men. It may not be “tradition” and I’m so thankful for that because without that thinking I had the opportunity to come back and farm with my family and teach ALL of my kids they can farm to if that’s what they chose.