According to The Best of the Old Farmer's Almanac, farmer's girls should know :

- how to sew and knit
- how to mend clothes neatly
- how to dress her own hair
- how to wash dishes and sweep carpets
- how to trim lamps
- how to make good bread and perform all plain cooking
- how to keep her room, closets, and drawers neatly in order
- how to make good butter and cheese
- how ot keep accounts and calculate interest
- how to write, fold, and superscribe letters properly
- how to nurse the sick efficiently and not faint at the sight of a drop of blood
- how to be ready to render efficient aid and comfort to those in trouble, in an unostetnatious way
- how to receive and entertain visitors when her mother is sick or absent

Farmer's boys, on the other hand, should know:

- how to dress himself, black his own shoes, cut his brother's hair, wind a watch, sew on a button, make a bend, and keep all his clothes in perfect order and neatly in place
- how to harness a horse, grease a wagon, and drive a team
- how to milk cows, shear sheep and dress veal or mutton
- how to reckon money and keep accounts accurately and according to good bookkeeper rules
- how to write a neat, appropriate, briefly expressed business letter, in a good hand, and fold and superscribe it properly, and to write contracts
- how to plow, sow grain and grass seed, drive a mowing machine, swing a scythe, build a neat stack, and pitch hay
- how to put up a package, build a fire, whitewash a wall, mend broken tools, and regulate a clock

We're tired just thinking about it! What do you think? Do you wish you had learned these skills growing up, or are you just as happy to know how to type, or drive a car?