Would You Marry A Farmer? Confessions of an Irish Farmerette

Today's post introduces a new book-in-progress by Irish farmerette, blogger, writer, wife and mother, Lorna Sixsmith.

Married for over twenty years, Lorna and her husband Brian live with their two children on  a busy dairy farmer in the South-East of Ireland. Her new book will tell the story of life as an Irish farmer's wife.

Table of Contents

Lorna Sixsmith

When Lorna Sixsmith, aka Irish Farmerette, decided on a whim to write a blog post entitled ‘Advice to those considering marrying a farmer’ almost a year ago, she had no idea that it would reach over 50,000 views and form the inspiration for her upcoming book.

'Would You Marry A Farmer? Confessions of an Irish Farmerette' will be self published and available before Christmas.

Lorna is running a crowdfunding campaign on FundIt to generate pre-orders for her book, increase publicity and raise funds for some of the self publishing costs.  Lorna describes the book as being a social history of farming with plenty of humour.

The original blog post was shared over 9,000 times on Facebook. Farmers (men and women) all over the world empathised with her experiences as a wife to a busy dairy farmer in the South East of Ireland.

Many laughed at her descriptions of standing in gaps, separating cattle, having to be telepathic and acting as a chauffeur to her sleep-deprived husband.

Farming - A 24/7 Occupation

‘Some women, particularly if they are from cities or towns, just don’t realise that farming is such a 24/7 occupation and many find it stressful and isolating at times.

Many will be relieved to know that it isn’t just their husband who announces a cow is calving just as you are dressed up to go out for a party which, of course, means that you aren’t going anywhere.’

While the book is going to be written in a tongue-in-cheek style, it will also have serious social messages such as highlighting the invisibility and non-acknowledgement of many female farmers at times, not to mention spinsterhood, bachelorhood, marriage and the mother-in-law.

Publishing Through Crowd Funding

The Irish Farmerette is providing some ‘sneak peeks’ into some chapter sections in the form of blog posts so do keep an eye on her blog.

Lorna has decided to self publish her book and it will be launched in November so will make a perfect Christmas gift for farmers or anyone who used to be associated with the land.

To partially fund the self publishing, she is running a crowdfunding campaign whereby people can pre-order a copy and be amongst the first to receive it.

Other rewards include one of her social media online courses and part of her top reward is to write a blog about a designated calf for the pledger, it will be updated once a month from the calf’s birth as she moves into the milking herd and beyond.

Currently over half way through the 35 day crowd funding campaign, the project has been funded by 35%.

Using various social media platforms to reach those who might pre-order a copy or opt for one of the other rewards, Lorna has found twitter to be the most successful means of generating pledges.

‘Some pledgers have been tweople I’ve been chatting to for some time, others for a matter of weeks and some are complete strangers but saw a retweet of my tweet and then engaged with me’.

‘Crowdfunding is like a second job while the campaign is running’ she adds. You can be extremely organised for Christmas by pre-ordering a copy of Lorna’s book and be part of her journey towards publication.

This book won't happen this year without our help. Pre-ordering a copy of Lorna's book through her FundIt page will help bring this wonderful publication to fruition. Crowdfunding works on an 'all or nothing' basis. If she doesn't make her total goal, she doesn't get a penny. Your credit or debit card will only be charged if the project successfully reaches its target.

If you feel like ordering some Christmas presents early, then why not go ahead and support Lorna's project. I've already ordered mine, and am looking forward to a great read next winter.

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