Hi friends, and thanks for stopping by to check out You Can Dress Like a Country Girl, But Can You Work Like One?
It’s Cowgirl Monday and I’m here to say that boots are cute until you’re knee deep in muck and manure!
There’s been a surge in city girls rocking cowboy boots, denim cut-offs (aka Daisy Dukes), and wide-brimmed hats like they just stepped out of a Miranda Lambert music video. And don’t get me wrong – they all look adorable. But as every real country girl knows, there’s a whole lot more to the lifestyle than looking cute in a cowboy hat and boots.
So before you start hashtagging #CountryLife on Instagram, here’s a little rundown on what being a country girl actually means.
Can you hold a chicken without screaming?
Well, my grandparents were chicken farmers and there’s been a few times I’ve owned chickens over the years. For sure, I can hold a chicken without screaming.
But do you know what makes me scream? Rats!
If you have a chicken coop, the rats will come. Which is pretty much why I don’t own chickens anymore. Ha ha!
Anyway, chickens are not decorative. They’re flappy, pecky, unpredictable little dinosaurs. If you can gather eggs without running away in fear every time a hen clucks at you, congratulations – you might be qualified to clean out the coop too (and yes, that smell will follow you for days).
Boots are for mucking, not just walking
Real country boots aren’t pristine. They’ve waded through mud, manure, and mystery puddles no one wants to talk about. If you don’t have at least one pair that’s been retired due to “irreversible stank,” are you even living the life?
Can you drive a tractor in lip gloss?
It’s one thing to sit on a tractor for a selfie. It’s another to actually operate the thing. Bonus points if you can back it up with a hay trailer attached, wearing jeans, eyeliner, and a ball cap that says, “Make hay, not drama.”
Have you ever driven a tractor while pulling a manure spreader out to the back field? What’s a manure spreader you ask? Well, it’s full of what came out of the stalls us country girls were mucking out. It has a conveyor belt on the bottom to unload the contents out in the field. Yup, then we’ll really see the shit fly!
Do you know what that fence or gate is supposed to keep in? Or out?
Spoiler alert: It’s usually something with horns, teeth, or a strong opinion about personal space. Barbed wire is not a rustic design aesthetic – it’s an act of survival.
Unspoken country rule: “Leave the gates as you found them.”
Flashing back to the little bastards on their bikes who used our pasture as a shortcut – and left the gate open! All the honking on the highway brought me out of the house to see what was going on. There were our three horses running up the highway! Fortunately, they turned into our driveway and ran back to the house where I corralled them.
Can you haul, stack, or build it without a YouTube tutorial?
Sure, DIY is trendy. But can you build a fence, patch a barn roof, or stack 20 bales of hay without throwing out your back—or worse, your manicure? If not, don’t worry. Every real country girl started by doing it wrong and learning the hard (and hilarious) way.
Do you smell like horse sweat, saddle soap, and victory?
Country girls know the trifecta: hard work, honest dirt, and the satisfaction of a job well done. That’s the real scent of rural glamour. No perfume needed – just elbow grease and stubborn pride.
Bonus round: can you handle a cow giving you the side eye?
Because she will. And she knows if you’re faking it.
When I was a teenager I was with my parents looking at houses with our realtor. We were in the back yard of a house with a fence that consisted of one board attached along the full length at the top of the fence posts. There was a cow in the neighbor’s yard. As we walked off, the cow put her head down, ducked under the fence, and was now on the property we were viewing. No big deal to me, my father, or the realtor who grew up on a farm.
My mother grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, a city girl with no big animal experience.
She screamed and claimed the cow was running right at her. Much to everyone else’s amusement!
Typical city girl reaction.
Final thoughts
It’s fine to play dress-up. We’ve all done it. But don’t forget – behind every dusty pair of jeans is a woman who’s worked her butt off in every kind of weather, wrangled more than one stubborn creature (including men), and still had time to bake a pie and fix a fence.
So go ahead and wear the boots. But if you really want to earn them? Pick up a pitchfork, roll up your sleeves, and get ready to work like a country girl.
Published by Cheryl @ The Lifestyle Digs on August 25, 2025.
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