farm attire

In the winter months, farm clothing is all about layers. Layers keep you warm, and layers can be shed to cool you down. I've learned that just as important as being warm, in cold weather, is not letting myself sweat, because once you do (in the cold) you can't get warm again. I actually have more of a problem of being too warm doing chores than I have of staying warm. Once I am out there moving around, it's not hard to be warm, and actually sometimes get too hot. I've been known to even shed my jacket out there on a winter's day.

The trick to layers is to make sure they overlap. By this I mean, I wear regular sock and pants (as would be typical for me on the weekend I have on running pants here):



Then I take a thermal sock, that goes over my regular sock and my pants get tucked into it ~ overlapping layers.



Then I put on my snow pants. I use the term "snow pants" loosely here, as these really aren't snow pants. They are a pair of nylon pants, over sized so they will fit over my regular pants. They keep dirt and water off my regular pants, and offer another layer of protection (mostly from wind and water) but aren't as warm as regular snow pants. The truth is that when I'm doing farm chores, I would get way too hot in regular snow pants.



I have gotten rather picky about gloves. These are the new ones I got for Christmas, and they work great:



What I have gotten picky about is the cuff. My old gloves had a cuff that just went out at the end. I have found most of the gloves sold in stores are this way. While the average person does not deal with hay everyday, I do, and those cuffs that go out invite hay into your glove. I don't care for hay in my glove. See the difference in the cuff:



I like the one with an actual cuff, not the one that just goes out and ends. For those who handle hay regularly, this makes a huge difference.

I also have my muff. J hates this muff. He has told me it's ugly and stupid, he even knit me a new one out of alpaca yarn. While this muff isn't a sight of beauty, it works exactly how I need it too. It goes around my neck ~ I can stuff it down if I'm warm, or pull it over my face if I'm cold. Some days this is the exact extra layer that I need. It can be the difference between being comfortable out there or being cold. I love my muff:



I know, it's not pretty. I don't where it out to the store or anywhere in public. It is purely farm attire.

Winter farm attire is quite different than summer wear. I find I prefer the winter wear. It covers up all my clothing, so by the time I get inside and take off those layers, I am free of hay and farm dirt. In the summer it's not unusual for me to find hay in my shirt or dirt on my shorts. Under my winter layers, I could be wearing pajamas or a suit or whatever I need to for the day.