Farmers are the backbone of American culture, tending day in and day out to crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry and other livestock. If it weren’t for farmers out in the country, we wouldn’t have fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products and other food items to bring nourishment to our dinner tables. Farmer costumes come in sizes for men, women and children can be fun and fictional or designed to look like the real deal.

A standard farmer costume features a pair of denim overalls, a plaid shirt, work boots and a brimmed straw hat to shield the sun’s harsh rays. A female version might feature a full pioneer-style dress with a full apron or a sexy farm girl costume with Daisy Duke shorts, a gingham check blouse tied up at the waist and an innocent blonde wig styled in two long braids.

The 1965 television comedy, “Green Acres”, with Eva Gabor and Eddie Albert, featured the pair as unlikely farmers transplanted from big city life. He was an accomplished and wealthy attorney and she was a socialite dripping in jewels – yet they found themselves up to their elbows in unexpected antics on their ramshackle farm. This is a fun show to premise a farmer costume on because the country look can be combined with the razzle-dazzle of jewelry, heels and expensive gowns. It was a running gag on the show that the Oliver character wore a different finely tailored suit for each of his farm tasks.

Movies are also a good place to get ideas for your farm costume. A literary classic turned movie, “The Grapes of Wrath,” featured farmer Tom Joad (played by Henry Fonda) facing some of the harshest times ever, eventually selling the family’s land and moving West during the Great Depression. Another memorable farmer from the big screen was Arthur Hogget from the 1995 movie “Babe.” Unable to kill his profit-making pig, he instead competes with it a local dog show despite the initial ridicule of his neighbors. Get a friend to dress up in a pink pig costume if you decide to dress as this fictional farmer.

Even Luke Skywalker was a farm boy of sorts. Luke helped his father tend to the crops and drones on the planet Tattooine before he left to become a Jedi knight. While a Star Wars costume doesn’t seem much like a farmer costume, you can still pull it off if you know the back story! He’s not high-ho-the-merry-oh-farmer-in-the-dell, but this Jedi farmer does have the Force within him – and hopefully that’s as useful as a green thumb.