Spring is a busy, beautiful time on the farm. However, along with the beauty comes muddy messes, a zillion supply runs and all around chaos. When I shop for farm gear, I don’t have time to make multiple stops. From mud boots to keep the muddy mess out of the house to copious amounts of Windex to keep all tractor windows spotless, I can wrap up the whole trip in one stop at our local Theisen’s store.
With crops going in the ground, pigs growing up, gardens going in, farm pond fishing and livestock shows on the horizon, we had a pretty diverse list of items to purchase on our most recent trip to Theisen’s. Every spring I seem to buy nearly the same things, especially now that the kids are into showing pigs and they are a little more mobile in and around the farm.
Know before you shop: Don’t forget to snag a free bag of (AMAZING) popcorn while you shop!
1. Mud Boots:
As a family there’s nothing we use more in the springtime than a solid pair of mud boots. These were reasonably priced and comfortable. With the kids growing up as fast as they do, we have to buy a pair or two per kid, per year. My daughter typically leans toward boy patterns with her apparel and shoe purchases which works great, because she passes her wearables onto my son. He may not be happy with the whimsical purple mud boots she chose this year, but he will just have to get over it. We also keep an extra pair of boots to go to shows so we don’t drag bugs home to the pigs we have here. Boots for everyone!
2. The necessities you can never find:
Zip Ties, Leather Gloves, pliers, drill bits, fencing supplies, feed scoops, pocket knives to cut plastic net wrap on big round bales (I know you are reading this Dad…) This list is endless and occupies half of my cart. I’m sure you’ve got several things to add to it! Theisen’s has everything and we just roam the aisles, popcorn in hand and toss in all the “necessities”.
3. Show pig supplies:
We can find all the things we need for the kids to show at county fair in the store which is so handy. All the shampoo and skin conditioners we need are in stock and I don’t have to send out for them. I never seem to have luck with aerosol being shipped to me anyway so this is a bonus! There’s also a nice selection of feeders, panels, bedding, fly spray (make sure yours is water-based because pigs cannot tolerate oil-based fly sprays, because they can’t sweat!), brushes, whips and more!
4. Baby Chicks
5. Chickens
Mom I want chickens.
^^^ What happens when your kids interrupt your writing and you come back later to a surprise. If you know me well, you know that I am not a bird person. At all. Zero chances of ever being a bird person. Call it whatever you wish, but we will not have chickens on our farm, ever. I gladly support my friends that do, and buy eggs from them or at the grocery store! Sorry Halle, no chickens for you.
Go play with your pigs.
5. Dish soap & Windex:
When I think of a farm-store, I rarely think of kitchen-esque supplies being front and center, but at Theisen’s I can tell you there is always a great end cap display with some killer cleaning product deals on it. I seriously cannot have enough of these items on hand during the planting or harvest times of year. I’m always getting grease on something I shouldn’t, when I’m helping Dad prep everything to roll. Besides tracking grease all over creation I do not handle dirty, dusty tractor windows well. A little elbow grease and some Windex (the good old-fashioned recipe is best, the ammonia free kind or multi-surface kind don’t do quite as well in my opinion. Let’s be honest, I have to be able to see from tractor to tractor or tractor to combine with 100% clarity the HAND SIGNALS I don’t generally understand.)
6. Safety stuff:
from quality, comfy life jackets to keep little farm pond fishermen safe, to other safety-related items like neon flags and neon spray paint to mark hazards that can pop up during the summer months we always seem to load up on these items, hoping not to need them too badly! (My safety measure in this post was to put a picture of EACH of my children with a bass they caught out of our pond… because they now keep track. Oiy.)
*If you are looking to stock your own farm pond, Theisen’s can help! Click here to see their available fish.
This list grows and changes every year with the growth and change in our family! Holler at me with your must-haves so I can add them to my personal must-have lineup!
*Theisen’s recently contacted me to see if I’d be interested in participating in their #SpringatTheisens campaign. Though they are the sponsor of this post, the opinions and text are all mine!
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