The (unfair) Distribution of Labor
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 6:44PM Gender inequality is alive and well here on the farm. If you are a man, you work. If you are a girl, you stay out of the way. (A boy becomes a man at age 13 on the farm, but once a girl, always a girl.) Poor old JellyMan is the low man on the totem pole, so he gets all the jobs everyone else is too busy to do, like tilling the garden.
While JellyMan is tilling, Anemone (being a girl) is off in a field chasing butterflies.
The next item on JellyMan's list is to prop up the asparagus ferns. They're so tall that they are falling over - I had no idea they would grow so much!
While JellyMan is propping up the asparagus, Anemone (being a girl) is off in a field chasing butterflies.
Next on JellyMan's hit parade is the bean planting. Planting beans is a pain. First you mark off five rows with stakes and twine. Then you get a stick and make a little furrow down the whole row. Then you drop in your beans, and then you go back along the row covering the seeds.
While JellyMan is planting the beans, Anemone (being a girl) is off in a field chasing butterflies.
JellyMan is finally finished in the garden, so he hightails it over to the barn to clean up the hay feeders. The pasture is so hilly that if you drop a round bale of hay, the cows end up rolling it down the hill, and it gets trampled and ruined, so you drop the hay in a feeder instead. (But sometimes Dad drops a bale in the pasture so the cows can play with it. They have a great time.) There are several feeders, and two of them were scheduled to be scraped and painted.
While JellyMan is scraping the feeders, Anemone (being a girl) is off in a field chasing butterflies.
JellyMan is finally finished with his chores. He's tired and hungry, but he's a good boy man and he shares his carrots with Puppy and the girls.
Oh, would you look at that! Wonders never cease. While JellyMan is off visiting the cows, Anemone (being a girl) is planting the corn, which is an even bigger pain than planting the beans.
The times, they are a-changin'!
Reader Comments (6)
LOL. Did Anemone catch any butterflies? Is Jellyman really sore this morning?
No, she never caught a butterfly. But she did catch a beautiful dragonfly - it is on the pinning board at the moment.
Yeah, JM is sore. He was all to happy to sit still and do his algebra this morning. Ha!
Excellent photo essay, Mrs. Square! Loved it.
Glad that A got to share in the wonder of gardening.
Wondering what Mom was doing the whole time besides take pictures??? ;-)
Mom (being a girl) was staying out of the way.
hahahahaha!! I love it!