I don’t think Maria is setting any fashion precedents around here, but she is, in her own artistic way, a trend-setter.

Today, she wore her wedding dress out to the pasture, where she feeds old corn to the donkeys and Chloe and then we go shovel manure for a bit.

You don’t see a lot of people wearing their wedding clothes out in the pasture.

Maria brings her own style to everything she does, but her sense of individuality and style really shines through when she is doing farm chores.

Bracelets, necklaces, hanging earrings, they all change every day, she is a riot of styles and colors.

I don’t really like the term farm wife, as farmer’s wives are farmers also (although many farm wives like to be called “farm wives”, I discover). And Maria is not a farm wife any more than I am a farmer.

Sometimes Maria looks like a gypsy, sometimes a fairy or woodland spirit, she is always herself, even when shoveling manure. I think it because having lost her identity for awhile, she doesn’t ever want to part with it, not even for a minute.

If you were ever going to drop style for functionality, it would probably be while doing farm chores, but she doesn’t. In the middle of a blizzard when it’s -25 she may be wearing her farm dress even then, but she will probably have her Frieda Kahlo leggings on.

(P.S. Speaking of Maria and her artistry, if you wish to contribute to her journey to India in February of 2017 to each the victims of sexual trafficking in Calcutta how to make potholders and other art, you can do so by going to her indiegogo page here or by sending a check to Maria/Trip, c/o Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.)