Unlike the song, being a farmer’s daughter doesn’t mean a man is going to start working for my dad and whisk me off my feet to marry him.

Being a farmer’s daughter means getting woken up no later than eight in the morning in the summer because there is always work to be done. It means rarely getting time to sit on the couch without getting glares because there are weeds that could be pulled, plants that could be watered, or other chores around the house that “you could help out with” (but really you should do because your dad pays for the roof over your head). It means dropping whatever you are doing to give someone a ride to the fields or other farmhouse because that’s actually more important than that paper you were writing. It usually means no summer vacation because your dad can’t be away from the crops too long. It means driving our vehicles to the farm sheds at the slightest sign of a storm. It means hail, high winds, and floods are your worst nightmare because that’s your dad’s livelihood. It means dinner is served no earlier than nine in the evening because either everyone’s driving around working on random stuff or you eat alone. It means not spending time with your dad until after ten at night or not at all during harvest season. It means when it’s not a good year for the crops there won’t be as many presents at Christmas. When something goes wrong on the farm, and there is always something, it means you walk on eggshells for days when you are around your dad because the littlest things will tick him off. It means you can’t go anywhere without your dad knowing someone one. It also means you’re dad will talk to any random stranger, on the off chance he doesn’t know anyone, because that’s just the way farmers are.

Being a farmer’s daughter means you get to grow up near (or in my case next to) your grandparents. You get to have a bond with them that is like no other because you get to see them everyday. You get to have your own seat in the tractors next to your dad. You get taught the greatest work ethic a person could have. You get to have a driver’s license at the age of 14 because you live farther than five miles from your school. You get to drive the big grain trucks into the elevator and have every car passing by stare at you questioning why a little girl is behind the wheel of such a large vehicle. In the winter there are days you can’t make it to school because city snowplows don’t come your way, but you will probably get to go anyway because your dad will plow your driveway with a tractor. You get to grow up loving nature and the outdoors more than anything, and running around barefoot brings on a special kind of happiness. You get to eat vegetables that you grew from seed with your dad. You get to have sweet corn for days, and being a farmer’s daughter means you will never be upset about that. You get to take sandwiches and lemonade out to the fields and the farmers’ appreciation is sincere. Being a farmer's daughter means you bought your first pair of boots to work in not just because you got a ticket to a country concert. You get to be the one that digs soggy soybeans out of a machine because you’re the only one with an arm small enough to get the job done. You don’t even hate having to do this because smells don’t bother you, you don’t mind getting dirty, and you know that you really are helping out your dad.

So although being a farmer’s daughter comes with a lot of added stress at home, it is something that sticks with the girl and makes her unique. I wouldn’t trade my childhood for anything different, and who knows, maybe my dad will hire a cute farmhand in the near future.