I have to admit that I did wonder if any farming husbands were hit over the head on Christmas morning when their darling beloved discovered a copy of How To Be A Perfect Farm Wife under the Christmas tree. If she didn’t know about the existance of the book beforehand and didn’t take the time to see the humour in the front cover illustration, it’s a possibility this might have happened. Indeed, I received a tweet from one young farmer [...]
Mother-in-laws tend to have a bad reputation, commonly cast in films and soap operas as being interfering, self-righteous and jealous. Within a farming structure, they are often seen as desperate to keep the power they hold within the farm family and the community. But is that accurate? Is she really a villain or is she misunderstood? If her visit is putting a bit of a dampener on your Christmas, here’s some ways to make it easier too. Let’s start with [...]
One of the disadvantages of writing a book entitled How To Be A Perfect Farm Wife is that I’m constantly being teased by the family when I fail. I’m not precious about it, I describe my house as a home rather than a house. As I sit typing this in my living room with the laptop on my knee, we’re all nice and cosy in front of a log fire. I emptied the ashes today [...]
Today is Mother-in-Law Day believe it or not.
The website Days of the Year says “Mothers-in-law get a pretty bad deal. Do they deserve the reputation they have for hounding son-in-laws, and always being a witch? Mother-In-Law Day gives you and your mother-in-law a chance to get to know each other, and to get away from all of those horrible preconceptions. Why not give your mother-in-law (and mothers-in-law everywhere) a fair chance – take them out for a nice meal, [...]
Would you believe that the Irish farmer was not seen as a good catch in the 1950s? There were many bachelor farmers eking out an existence on a farm and of increasing concern to society. De Valera even tried to persuade the government to finance the building of a dower house on every farm so the older couple could move to that and the son could marry and live in the farmhouse.
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