Farm sayings

As far removed as our society had become from the days when almost everyone had a small farm or knew someone who did, I think you would be surprised how many mainstream sayings are based on farming or country life. 

Here is a list of the ones we use often. 

whether you know all of them or just a few I am sure you have heard them in a non-farming context.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. (My horse always thought so.)

Sowing your wild oats.

Feeling your oats. (FYI, oats are packed with energy. A horse on oats tends to get peppy.)

Raising Cane. 

Bottom of the barrel.

I've got you over a barrel.

Like shooting fish in a barrel. 

Your growing like a weed.

One bad apple can spoil the whole bushel.

That's just a drop in the bucket.

Don't kick the bucket.

Don't upset the apple cart.

Falling off the wagon.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Don't be a stick in the mud.

They bought the farm. 

Like finding a needle in a haystack.

Hit the hay

The early bird gets the worm.

As the crow flys.

Make hay while the sun shines.

Winds from the West makes the sap run the best.

One stitch in time saves 9.

Hoe your own rows.

 Sticks out like a sore thumb. ( Farmers usually need to be the master of everything, so we've Carpenters when we have to be. So we're not practiced at it, hence the sore thumb.)

Mind your own beeswax.

Got a bee in your bonnet?

As busy as a bee.

You're the bee's knees. 

You hit the nail on the head. 

Water under the bridge. 

Reap what you sow.

Reaping the fruit of our labors.

As slow as molasses in winter. (My family is arguing whether it's February or January and if it was going up a hill at the time, but you get the idea.)

Don't count your chickens before they hatch. (we had a chicken just hatch 4 babies, she was setting on 12 eggs.. so true!)

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

He's a good egg.

Don't let it ruffle your feathers.

Don't get your tail feathers in a knot. 

Not a spring chicken anymore.  (a spring chicken is also called a pullet, it's sort of like a teenager.) 

As rare as A Hen's teeth. (A chicken doesn't have teeth, so, yeah that's rare!)

Like a fox in The Henhouse.

Don't try to weasel out of it.

As sure as the sun comes up as does the rooster crows.

Cock of the walk. 

Can't read your kitchen chicken scratching. 

As the old rooster crows the young rooster learns. 

Building a nest egg. 

Henpecked.

Winging it.

Running around like a chicken with its head cut off. (alright this is a little gruesome, but when you cut off chickens head there muscles spasm, and they do flop around frantically. Not to worry they don't suffer.)

Like water off a duck's back. (ducks secret oil that makes their feathers waterproof. chickens don't.)

Like a duck to water.

He's an odd duck.

You're a Sitting duck.

This is great weather, for ducks! ( My great grandma would say this on rainy days.)

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. 

Happy as a pig in mud.

Eating like a pig. 

Clean as a blue ribbon hog at the county fair. (That one makes me smile)

In hog heaven. 

your room looks like a pigsty.

pig pile!

Sweating like a pig who knows he's dinner. 

Bring home the bacon. 

Looks like we butchered a pig and no one wanted bacon. (Alright, so I heard this one on the Big Bang theory, But I love it!)

Taking to it like a pig to mud.

Can't put a lipstick on a pig. (well you could, but she still be a pig.)

What bull dropped that on the barn floor.

Grab the bull by the horns. Or eh, you know.

Bull pukey, BS. Ect.

Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free.

Holy cow. 

Bull in a China shop.

Hoofing it. 

Don't poke the pull, (Realy, just don't!)

Seeing red. (the color red can send a bull into a rage, not sure if it's true or not, probably has something to do with blood, bovines don't like it.)

Shut the door, you weren't raised in a barn. (my response to this is, "I was actually.")

Like shutting the Barn Door after the horse is out.

As stubborn as a mule.

Looking the gift horse in the mouth. (you can tell the age of horses by its teeth, so don't look to see how old the horses is, just say thank you.)

Don't put the cart before the horse. 

Healthy as a horse

Horse patootie. 

Don't beat a dead horse. 

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. 

Getting a little long in the tooth. 

Over the hill. 

As playfully as a kitten.
When the cat's away the mice will play. 

A cat can have kittens in the oven, but that doesn't make them biscuits. 

Don't let the cat out of the bag.

As nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers.

Pussey footing around. (Them little Kitty's can be sneaky, that's why they are good mousers.) 

You look like a drowned rat. ( that's just never good.)

Got your goat. 

As ornery as an old goat.

In two shakes of a lamb's tail.

Pulling the wool over my eyes.

A wolf in sheep's clothing.

Following like sheep.

Getting goosed. (yes gees do poke you in the butt often, I'm sure that's where it came from)

Goose necking.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. (A gander is a boy goose.)

Slicker than goose grease.

Shooting the breeze, or sh**.

Chewing the cud.

Chewing the fat.

Don't get your dander up.

Sick as a dog.

That puts my hackles up. 

Can't teach an old dog new tricks. 

That dog ant gonna Hunt.

You lay down with dogs you get up with fleas. (one of my gramps favorites)

Referring to greens as, rabbit food.

Multiplying like rabbits.

Down a rabbit hole.

Lost in a rabbit warren. 

The straw that broke the camel's back. 

As my family was helping me remember these, we realized very few old saying weren't related to farming somehow. These are all so common that my autocorrect knew what I was typing, out on most of them. Hope you enjoyed this. If you think of any I missed please add them in the comments section.