I love long hair. I always have loved long hair. There is just something so romantic about it. I think of movies like The Lord of the Rings, where the women's hair is flowing in the wind. It is interesting how society views long hair on women. In some countries, women and long hair are common place. Here in the United States though, long hair on women who are over 30 is pretty rare. In the small community I used to live in, there were many people in that community that were of the Apostolic faith. The Apostolic women are not permitted to cut their hair, so I saw long hair all the time, and I fit in quite nicely in that community! When we moved back to our hometown a few years ago, that feeling of fitting in nicely really changed! Hair my length is super rare where I live now. At my church, I have the longest hair there. There is one other woman that is older than I am, and her hair is to her waist. She and I are the only women past 20 years old that have long hair. The rest all have hair shoulder length or shorter. Long hair is rare here, from what I have seen.
I have read many articles on long hair on older women, and seen lots of those makeover tv shows like "What Not To Wear". If a woman who is over 30 and has long hair is the topic of the makeover, they all tell her that long hair past 30 makes a woman look too old. And yet they will take a younger woman in her 20's and cut her hair and tell her they went shorter to make her look older! So which is it? Does long hair make you look younger or older?? I have found that I have a hard time figuring out a woman's age when her hair is long. I was going through some of my old Country Woman magazines, and I found a woman with really long hair on the cover. At first I thought she was in her 30's. Then I looked really close at her and noticed all her wrinkles! After looking at the picture for awhile, I guessed she was maybe in her 50's instead of her 30's, but it was really hard to tell. I would LOVE if someone guessed me as being in my 30's when I am in my 50's! I was looking at some before and after pictures of women who had makeovers. I was showing these pictures to Jeff, and I asked him to guess the women's ages. In all the short hair pictures, he guessed the women as being 10 years older than they really were. The ones with longer hair, he guessed them as either being their age or younger. I found that interesting! I know that it is super hip and stylish to have a shorter sassy hairstyle, and at times I am really tempted. But I don't want to cut my hair just because I have to conform to some image. If I love my hair long, then I don't see why I can't keep it long!
We got to go to a Amish farm last Friday for a homeschool field trip. Jeff got to go too, and it was a lot of fun! It was a bit of a cool day, so we had to bundle up. First thing we did was shake cream to make butter. All of us joined in with that, even the adults. It was fun, and afterwards we got to go into the farmhouse and watch one of the Amish ladies wash and work the butter to make it smooth. It was very interesting! Then we all piled onto a wagon with haybales and went into the woods. I was amazed at the horses that pulled us. There were about 20 of us, and the 2 draft horses pulled us through some major mud. We left 2 foot deep ruts in places, and they pulled us like we were light as a feather. Amazing animals! We got to go out into the woods and see maple trees tapped to collect maple syrup. Then we went into a sugar shack to see the maple syrup being cooked up. Boy did that place smell good! After that the kids got to collect eggs. The farm had a huge area with probably 100 or more chickens 
that roamed both inside and in the chicken house. There were lots and lots of eggs! The Amish family was so kind and giving, and they had us all come inside for a wonderful snack of cornbread, butter (the homemade stuff we all helped make), and real maple syrup from their trees. YUM! The kids then piled into a buggy and went for a buggy ride. It was a fun filled day, and we were there for about 3 hours. We all really enjoyed it! The video is of Evie shaking the cream to make butter. I was joking that she had to do it for an hour :). It actually only took about 15 minutes. Sorry it is sideways! I wasn't thinking about it actually being sideways until it came up that way! I haven't figured out how to change it. Oh well. The sound you are hearing on the video is windchimes. Aren't they pretty?
