We are now officially in the month of winter. At the farm, most of our prep has been the same as last year–shut off the outdoor taps, put away the outdoor furniture, take the mower deck off the tractor, put on the snowblower. However, there was one thing that I knew I absolutely wanted to change this year: my footwear.
Our first winter at the farm taught me that my previous boots were inadequate for country life. In case you can’t tell from the photo below, they are not only completely snow-covered. They are wet. Soaked right through.
So, this fall I was on the hunt for better boots. Here’s what I ended up with. Can you tell which pair is the “farm” boots?
The “office” boots are the divas on the pedestal afraid of our first dusting of snow. The farm boots are tall, furry, with rubber soles and removable lining. I’m hoping that they will stand up to whatever the farm throws at them in the coming season.
At my previous job, one of my co-workers had a hard time reconciling the person she knew from the office with the person she saw on the blog. I had never noticed a disconnect, but then my shoe shopping ends up illustrating the two sides of my personality… or at least my fashion sense.
Do you have a split personality between home and work or in your style? Any winter boot recommendations to share? Have you had your first snow yet?
Home on 129 Acres 
I’m afraid to say that both work and at the farm are pretty much the same. Though I do differentiate between normal outdoor boots and barn boots. Parents and kids wear different coats and boots to the barn – and those arent allowed any further into the house than the basement. 🙂
Good strategy of keeping barn dirt out of the rest of the house. I have a separate coat for farm work/barn too, versus my regular parka. Plus then I have my nice wool coats for my day job. Farm living adds a lot of complexity to the wardrobe!
I love that you have a split personality that’s revealed in your wardrobe. I have one too – but the dressier side of things is getting sadly neglected these days. I work three jobs: one of them is nannying for two-year-old triplets, so I wear VERY casual stuff to work. (Probably like your barn clothes, lol.) Then I teach piano, but it’s often on the way home from the triplets’ house, so I do bring things to change into but they’re fairly casual too. My other work is bits here and there: crafting with a young girl and helping people downsize and organize their “hoard-like areas” (aka their hoards, but we don’t say that) so it involves clothing that can get paint, dirt, etc. on it without causing any grief. Meantime, I stopped going to church a couple of years ago, so basically all my nice stuff is hanging in the closet in pristine condition. I think I need to look at the balance in my life!
Both your farm and work boots are very nice. The farm ones look super cosy. I recently got some boots I really like – I think they’re called “crop boots” – very tall and you can turn down the tops and they’re furry inside. They are that unusual piece of clothing that will bridge the gap between personas. 🙂
Oh and PS – my grandson is here!! He’s totes adorbs and I’ll probably do a post on him soon, if his parents say it’s okay. 😀
That would be great!
You are a busy woman! Balance is important… in all aspects of life, IMO.
Those barn boots look really warm and waterproof! I have to say, I did not even own a pair of boots living in Fargo for several years. I bought a pair about two years ago for walking in the snow, and I loved them. Can’t recall the brand at the moment.
But now here I am living in southern California and I never get to wear them! I miss the snow, so looking forward to seeing more of your winter pictures.
My main requirement with the boots was that I could wear them every morning for the dog and my walk/run over the fields, so walkability was very important. I will do my best to post some more snow pictures for you.
I love snow pictures too!
I’m on it!
Barn boots are the best. Easy to slip on, warm, dry and mine have a steel toe. Unfortunately also ugly as mortal sin. I have a nice dressy pair of boots but the barn boots are my go to boots for most of the winter.
I wish they made them for kids ( without the steel toe. I have visions of kids kicking each other with them).
I really like steel toe boots. Invariably, I end up dropping something on my foot and wish I was wearing my safety boots instead. I didn’t realize there was an official label of barn boots. I’m going to have to look into this. The slip on factor is key. Do you have a specific brand you like?