Pocket knives and bobby pins don't seem like much of a pair. But it's a combination I've been digging out of a once-little girl's farm pocket for years. Now she just lays it all on the countertop herself instead of me having to empty her pockets.
Some girls carry makeup and hair equipment in their pockets. Some girls carry pocketknives.
Farm girls often carry both.
The two items are, no doubt, in contrast to each other. One could even say they contradict each other.
One item represents the feminine, girly side—the side that likes to have hair and nails and makeup done, the side that likes to dress up in sharp outfits and heels, the side that is a woman and a lady, the side that knows and revels in her gender, is comfortable in her own skin.
The other object represents a grit and toughness. You never know how the most versatile tool on earth may come in handy to save the day or a situation on the farm. It represents being prepared, at the ready.
How often does a pocketknife do more than cut twine, scrape corrosion, tighten a screw, peel an apple, cut an abscess. A pocketknife has been known on occasion to save a life when a trapped individual, left with no other alternative, severed their own limb with a pocketknife.
The girl with the pocketknife and bobby pins is ready. She can push and keep the hair out of her eyes with one hand while opening up a bale of hay with the other.
It takes a certain amount of grit to be a woman in agriculture, and being both gritty and embracing feminine things is normal. Her girlfriends may carry only bobby pins in their pockets and not the ultimate farming tool. Carrying both makes her no less feminine and no less a lady. She can be deep into knowledge and skill of crops, soils, livestock, economics or equipment and enjoy looking good while doing it. She may also find herself covered in mud and manure, ragged hair, wearing old boots and dirty barn clothes on the same day.
A gentleman is supposed to leave the house prepared with both a pocketknife and clean handkerchief. A lady with a pocketknife and bobby pins in her pocket is also prepared to meet the day.
Bev Berens is a freelance writer and FFA parent from Holland, Mich. She can be contacted at uphillfarm494@yahoo.com.