Tips on Selecting Holiday Gifts for Farmers

By Oscar H. Will Iii
Published on November 1, 2006
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A set of walker YAKTRAX helps everyone keep their footing, no matter the weather.
A set of walker YAKTRAX helps everyone keep their footing, no matter the weather.
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Convertible work pants, from Gempler's, might be just what your farmer is looking for this holiday season.
Convertible work pants, from Gempler's, might be just what your farmer is looking for this holiday season.
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Scraping along sidewalks or other walking areas takes time, effort and a good scraper.
Scraping along sidewalks or other walking areas takes time, effort and a good scraper.
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A boot for every occasion: The Dri Foot Boot is from White's Boots.
A boot for every occasion: The Dri Foot Boot is from White's Boots.
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A boot for every occasion: The Smoke Jumper Boot is also from White's Boots.
A boot for every occasion: The Smoke Jumper Boot is also from White's Boots.
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Holding a wealth of music, these nifty iPod Nanos take the CD collection on the road. You can create your own jukebox for as little as 99 cents a tune.
Holding a wealth of music, these nifty iPod Nanos take the CD collection on the road. You can create your own jukebox for as little as 99 cents a tune.
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Finding a pair of work gloves or Wolverine Durashocks Boots under the Christmas tree will please any working farmer.
Finding a pair of work gloves or Wolverine Durashocks Boots under the Christmas tree will please any working farmer.

Some helpful tips to find the best holiday gifts for farmers. 

Every year around now my daughters ritualistically ask what I want for Christmas and get the same old answer, which they flatly ignore. Fact is, I have no idea what I want except that I really don’t want them spending their hard-earned paychecks on me. Dad’s directive notwithstanding, years ago a Leatherman advertisement so impressed the girls that they pooled meager resources and introduced me to the multi-tool, apologetic that they had only a single little package to give. To say that I was touched doesn’t begin to do justice to the range of emotions I felt that day, but it does prove the cliché — the thought is what counts. Various brands of the multi-tools can range in cost from $50 to $150.

The most meaningful holiday gift ideas might come directly from the farmer in your life, or you might need to turn up the gain on your observational antennae and put some thought into your gift giving.

When choosing holiday gifts for farmers pay attention to which sections of the farm store your special someone gravitates to even when you are simply on a mission for dog food: There might be a fine gift idea right there.

For example, early in our life together, my sweet bride Kate observed that I lingered at the tool chest display even when the errand was for an urgent couple of shear pins and a pitman arm for the mower. She knew I would never request a toolbox for Christmas because they are expensive and because guys classify them as personal items — no guy talks to his socks, but we all talk to our toolboxes. Not intimidated by gender-biased baloney, Kate made it her business one year to pick out the best three-piece rollaway tool chest the budget could bear. (Tool chest prices range from $300 to several thousand depending on the brand and features.)

Fifteen years later when she saw me repairing a handle on that best-ever gift, she flushed a little and asked whether I oughtn’t just get rid of it, now that we could afford a good one. I picked up a cloth and furiously polished the worn red steel, well aware that I already had the BEST one.

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