Jun 30, 20195 min read

Farm Forward Fashion

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The other day I was over at my friend Harriet’s, having a delicious cup of coffee in an old Lakeview cup. You know, the little white ones that used to make us waitresses run around in circles trying to keep up with the refills? Well, they make for a perfect cup of coffee. Harriet’s coffee is the only place I’ll drink my coffee black; it’s THAT GOOD. But besides the coffee, the company is fantastic too. Harriet and I have a lot of commonalities. We are both in the process of developing and building a sanctuary for ourselves. We are both really digging pottery at the moment. We both love our pets like family and we have a unique similar philosophy when it comes to fashion….especially farm forward fashion.

That’s right.

Let me explain. As you might know, both Harriet and I love second hand clothes. There’s something fantastic about buying or finding something second hand that both fits you exactly the way you like it and suits your fashion needs. If you’re like me, when you’re buying said item, you say to yourself, “I can’t believe that someone gave this away.” You almost want to pay for it as quickly as you can because you’re sure the previous owner is going to come back into the store begging for that item back, claiming that it was a huge mistake to get rid of it in the first place.

But when it comes to farm fashion, it’s not necessarily like that. Farm fashion is second hand store seconds. It’s like the brother’s cousin’s wife’s nephew of the clothing world…a bit out of the way, a bit weird and makes you feel kind of uncomfortable. Sometimes at the farm, our clothes is just down right ugly. It may be a t-shirt with a horrible design on it, or a housecoat that isn’t fair to subject the family to. It’s worn out slippers and cut offs in the most inappropriate ways. I think the best way to share farm fashion is to visually demonstrate it to you, so without further ado, here are some examples of forward farm fashion:

WIDE BRIMMED HATS

You’ve gotta keep your cool in the sun, and what better way than a dollar store weaved hat with a wide brim that makes ya feel like a confused cowboy in a foreign film? These hats are compliments of my Dad and his epic dollar store deals!

This hat is a bit too small.

This hat is a bit too big.

This hat is just right.

Even Gabe’s in on the hat action.

I just find this photo entertaining.

OTHER HAT LIKE ACCESSORIES

At times, we have to move beyond our wicker cowboy hats and explore other possibilities.

A toque is a no-brainer necessity at all times. We practically sleep in them.

This has potential.

This is a two in one deal: both a hat and a berry holder.

I am very impressed with the versatility of a paper bag as a hat. It can be rolled to any size, it’s light, and has the potential to be sculpted if one is into origami.

FOOTWEAR

My Baba would have pronounced them “rabber buuts” in her thick Eastern European accept. And around here, rubber boots are mandatory. So, mandatory that they have made my “mandatory work attire” list that you can check out in the resource library on my website. I just said mandatory three times in the last paragraph. That should give you an idea of just how important these suckers are.

My boots are usually a green tinge.

Farmer heels with a bruise for added class

Different boots, same green.

All day, e’ery day

This is a shit show of farm forward fashion.

But beyond rubber boots, there is the ultimate in farm footwear; the slipper. Slippers don’t get enough credit. These are the shoes we choose to wear when it’s minus 40 and we have to sneak off to the outhouse; ankles burning from the ice, but toes warm in our little slip-ons. And at the farm, nobody walks around in socked feet. That’s just ridiculous. Slippers are a must.

Worn right through to the skivvies…whatever skivvies are.

Socks tucked in. Yup.

COVERING THE BODY

The joke was that we’d get out to the farm and run around like a bunch of naked hippies, but the reality of that is that we’d have bodies laden with wood ticks, bug bites galore, sun burn and probably some kind of weird rashes. BTW, have you ever touched stinging nettle. Now imagine stinging nettle on the toolies. Not so nice. Our go-to clothes at the farm is all of that ugly second hand stuff that I was mentioning earlier. These are the rejects that we bought at second hand stores and ended up not liking so much. But we’re all about using what we’ve got, so we end up with some pretty fancy attire.

Lookin a little bit crazy

I walk around Dryden a LOT in my rubber boots

But my all time favourite item of clothing that has yet again made my “mandatory work attire” list is the good ol’ army cargo pants. I could seriously carry a picnic in the pocket of those pants. By the end of the day, they’re always loaded down with stuff and I delight in the treats that I pick up over the course of the day while I am working. Sometimes it is a rock, or a pinecone, a very dehydrated flower, or a cereal bar wrapper. When I bring my laundry back to Red Lake, I usually have to shake out a lot of grass clippings from the pockets or they collect in the dryer’s lint trap.

ESSENTIAL ACCESSORIES

Beyond the essentials of pants, there are a lot of accessories that are both safe as well as handy.

Kissing is awkward but we are bite free! These mesh hats are ugly and awesome.

Brad always gears up with a hard hat, steel toes and ear muffs when using the brush saw.

Just try going to the outhouse at night without one of these!

When you’re dealing with old stuff, like mouse poop laden hay, dust masks are important.

Rubber gloves have saved my manicure. hahaha If you know me you know how funny that is!

Of course there’s other fashionable go-tos as well. Bandannas get used as everything from sweat collectors and nose wipers, to make shift band-aids and hats. Flannel shirts somehow gravitate to our property and we find ourselves wearing something plaid almost every day. But one thing is for sure, when we’re out at the farm, you’re not going to find us looking our prettiest, and that’s just the way we like it. We are out there to work and sweat and get dirty, not win a pageant. Making sure nothing is going to get stuck in a piece of equipment, or dangerously catch onto anything is way more important than anything else. But in saying all of that, our clothing at the farm is what makes it unique; farm fashion forward, some might say. I bet there’s a whole bunch of people out there in the world that can attest to our fashionable ways all the same. Rabber buuts UNITE!