We have been getting great stories from all you Rosies out there! We love seeing the passion everyone has for hard work and getting dirty. That’s what makes us Rosies gals because we can do it and we do it in style. Our Labor of Love Contest is still going on until August 31, so be sure to keep sending in those stories for your chance to win some new denim coveralls. Check out some of these great entries we have had…
“Working on clearing my land! I love cutting wood, piling it up, having a bonfire and cleaning the trash up from prior owners to make our land beautiful.” – Karen Rowden
“All kinds of gardening, so much so, that I actually started a business doing just that. I also love to ride and tend horses, which is also a very dirty love.” – Wendy Patrick
“I’m a Wildlife Damage Control Agent, and I love it! I crawl under houses to check for signs of animals like raccoons and opossums, the occasional snake, or to retrieve dead animals (ew!). I crawl through insulation in tight attics looking for squirrel nests and bats. I do a lot of crawling! I also inspect roofs and chimneys, soffeting, and I like looking for wildlife damage and repairing it. Because humans keep expanding into wildlife territory, the two continue to clash. That’s where I come in! It’s about getting animals out and keeping them from coming back in the most humane ways possible. That way everyone wins. The animals get back in their natural habitats and people don’t have to live with critters in their houses anymore! It doesn’t pay great, but this work really is a labor of love for me.” – Kristen Strickland
“My husband is a farmer and his father has been his best friend his entire life. He (my husband) never had a male friend except for his father until I came along. Jerry worked on the farm with his father since he was six years old. His ‘pa’ died January 3rd of this year after being ill for several years and not being able to help on the farm any longer. My poor husband has been like a lost puppy dog without his ‘pa’ and the crops have been late. It is just very hard to get used to farming alone, which has been a tandem effort for a lifetime. I am from the city (Jerry has always called me his city slicker) and decided last year to try to help him run the combine and the tractor so we don’t loose what he loves to do. So now I am a farmer, not by choice, but for sure by ‘labor of love’. I love my husband and would do anything to help him.” – Melodie Koukilk
“After moving around for the military for the first 4.5 years of our marriage, we were finally able to settle down on 4.12 acres in beautiful Missouri. Shortly after arriving came the chickens! Next came the garden… and lastly the cow. We have given our little patch of heaven the name ‘Charity Farm’ and our goal, once we get more established and learn more (we are both newbies at the farming thing), is to be able to provide fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs and some milk free of charge to a family in need in the area. We will use the farm to teach our girls (who we plan on homeschooling) about being self sustainable.” – Jacki McGinnity
“My labor of love is my almost three acre lot where I reside in a formerly rural area, which has now developed subdivisions. (Sigh) I keep on, keeping on by tending to my gardens and yard the old fashioned ways—by using organic methods with a homesteading philosophy to keep me going. It is a life sustaining act for me, and a great counter-balance to my 8-5, 40 hour a week job. Nothing reaffirms life and nature so much as harvesting your own vegetables or fruit, and my favorite apparel to wear to do so are bib overalls. I would love the opportunity to try out Rosie’s bibs. And denim would be perfect for my gardening and homesteading life of choice! Thank you!” -Clare M.
“I just bought my first home last year and the yard had nothing in it. I have been busy designing and digging flower beds out, planting, laying mulch and also working in the garage, which up to just last week has had electrical power restored. This is my labor of love, making a home for my family.” -Adrianne Calhoun
“My home. My husband and I did every bit of the labor we could. Wiring, drywall and painting. It’s an always evolving process so we are always working on it.” -Melinda Grubb
“I have an organic herb garden in the backyard and an organic vegetable garden in the front yard. The herbs are not only used to season my food, but for medicinal purposes as well (I’m a shamanic healer). Right now the basil, chamomile and holy basil are in full bloom. The privilege of smelling that delicious clove-like scent from the basils and seeing the tiny chamomile flowers and all the bees happily collecting nectar is utter bliss for me – proving that all those hours of hard labor, broken fingernails, dirt scattered on me and tracked into the house, shooing away my dogs from eating the herbs as young shoots, constant weed patrol, and pulling the weeds by hand, is paying off big time and is truly a labor of love!” - Kerry Murphy
“I garden in my Rosies! I love gardening and have turned what was a desolate oasis (my honey’s yard) into a yard this summer and my Rosies have been wonderful for doing all the work….in addition to gardening, we have three horses and I wear my Rosies while tending to our big babies and often for riding as well. Lots of room and comfort on horseback in my Rosies! So happy to have found, ordered and be working in my overalls!” – Joy York
“My husband and I bought ten acres of old cattle grazing/feed cornfield farmland with the dream of starting an organic farm. Truly an enormous labor of love, as we are starting from nothing (basically, a cleared field) and building from the ground up. Whether it’s kneeling in the mud & yanking out weeds, peering into leaves and hand squashing bugs, digging holes for new trees, starting seeds, beautifying the grounds with flowers, or chasing after our flock of guinea fowl as they wander the neighboring acres, there’s always something to do around here. Combine that with two kids, a puppy and two cats, and I could probably live in Rosies 24/7.” – Sara Bozzelli
Don’t forget to enter your Labor of Love by going to the Labor of Love tab on our Facebook page. Be sure to enter before August 31 for your chance to win a pair of our classic denim coveralls. Keep on working hard!
