Rural blogs harvest truckloads of urban fans

Ree Drummond's days are spent wrangling her four children, washing jeans, chipping dried manure from boots and “frying calf nuts.” The Oklahoma cattle rancher's wife details her rural trials and tribulations – as well as photos of her rugged husband, known only as Marlboro Man, and recipes for caramel apple rolls – on her blog thepioneerwoman.com. Slickly photographed with legions of fans, The Pioneer Woman is arguably the mother of all farm girl blogs. With lively posts on everything from home schooling and country recipes to kitchen gardens and babysitting pot-bellied pigs, farm girl blogs are gaining devotees, most of them dreaming of a “simpler” life. Living alone in the Oklahoma panhandle, a blogger named Jeanie raises cattle, horses, pigs, poultry – and shrimp. The 34-year-old divorcee recounts her rituals on cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com, now a hit on the online barbecue circuit. Men are keenly interested in her smokehouse and wild game recipes – Jeanie hunts and considers herself “a fair markswoman.”...read more