Homesteaders Hands
It occurred to me this morning as I was dealing with the small cuts on my fingertips, that I have a farm woman's hands. Seems I am always getting these cuts on the tops of my fingers. I get them in cold weather or even in summer from having my hands in soap and water too much along with the garden work. I am not particularly vain but I am smart enough to know I don't have pretty ladylike hands. They are work worn.
Digging in the soil of the garden in spring and fall. Planting seeds in the earth and weeding. No matter how many new types of gloves I try, it comes down to the simple fact that I like to feel the dirt when I am working in it. I can gauge the type of soil better and feel where the seed is going.
And when I am not digging in the soil I am doing work around the place feeding animals, haying the barns, cleaning out waterers in the icy cold air. My hands feel the smoothness of the rake and shovel handles with familiarity.
There is no dishwasher at our house. I wash the dishes myself in water hot enough to make my skin turn red. And days like today, its mighty cold out and laundry baskets full of steaming warm clothes are hauled out to the lines and hung up. My hands stinging with the cold. Mind you I am not complaining about all this, just acknowledging that my poor hands don't stand a chance of being soft and feminine. I use hand cream of sorts. Bag Balm, udder cream. Works pretty good when I am faithful using it. But its a bed time thing, makes your hands too greasy to pick up something so it gets lathered on right before I say my bedtime prayers.
Its hard to keep my nails looking very nice too. They get so dirty and then sure can't ever be long. I found myself cleaning my nails the other day with a nail when I remembered someone was coming over and I didn't have time to get something proper to use before I got in the house where they were already at the door waiting for me.
I guess if I think about it, I would rather have a homesteaders hands than all fancied up hands. I am totally amazed when I see those ladies that get their nails done. Long fake fingernails that to me seem would be such a nuisance. And I can't even go there in my mind about how much that stuff all costs ! To me, a huge waste, almost a sin to spend all that money on fingernails when there are so many people with needs out there in this big world.
So here is a shot of my hands. I know they are not pretty, but they sure keep busy. They may be rough looking but they still have a lot of tenderness in them !
Comments
As I was quilting today, I was thinking and for whatever it's worth . . do you ever think about city folks and wonder how they could survive when/if hard times really hit. They can't! There are women in my town who NEVER cook a meal at home and probably don't have a clue how to make an appetizing meal on a tight budget. The lots are so small, there's no way they could grown even a tomato plant.
As I'm reading back through your old posts that I'd never read, I want you to know that you're an amazing lady and who cares about "feminine hands". You have hands that can feed and care for your family and I'd take those hands any day over hands that have been manicured and pampered and are useless as far as real work goes!
And, I might add . . in my "former life", when I worked at a job, I did get my nails done every week and that was a tremendous expense and waste of time. That was almost 20 years ago so I can't even imagine how much it costs now to keep up fake nails. For what? Outward appearance means so little but so few realize this.
I really hate for my hands to be rough though. I am using batting so much and I just can't stand for it to hang up on my hands. I also wash dishes in HOT water and I think that's the hardest thing on my hands. I have found some lotion by Neutrogena. The bottle says Body Moisturizer Daily Therapeutic Lotion 24 - hour moisturization for dry rough skin. The bottle I have is 15.2 ounces. It isn't greasy (or doesn't seem so to me) and does the best on my hands.
Judy L.