The farm is all about traditions. From the recipes passed down from mother to daughter to the coming together at harvest time to work and celebrate. In the book, A Study of American Folklore, Jan Brunvand said, “Folklore comprises the unrecorded traditions of a people; it includes both the form and content of these traditions and their style or technique of communication from person to person. Folklore is the traditional, unofficial, non-institutional part of culture. It encompasses all knowledge, values, attitudes, assumptions, feelings and beliefs transmitted in traditional forms by word of mouth or by customary examples.” All these traditions are a part of the farm culture and make up its unique folklore. All farm life is steeped in tradition. Customs passed down from parent to child. Songs and stories that are told when families get together. Techniques that are taught for the smooth running of a farm.
The first spring after my husband and I were married, we decided to plant a garden. We tilled a little plot in our backyard to prepare for planting. I was excited to get started planting. We had found an awesome nursery on our honeymoon and had brought home a car full of starts for our garden. 
Before we started my husband declared, “We need steer manure! You can never have too much steer manure!” Being new to gardening, I was agreeable, but thought it was funny that he was so emphatic about steer manure. We bought what I thought was an excessive amount of steer manure and dumped it into our garden. 
We had a beautiful garden and my husband convinced me of the merits of steer manure. I no longer argue about the amount we buy each year for our garden.
My husband grew up working on his grandfather’s farm. Every year, as he tells of the experience, they would dump large amount of manure on their fields to prepare them for planting. My husband and his cousins would come together at their grandfather’s farm and would shovel manure onto the fields and then mix it into the soil. As he tells the story with a smile, I can see him as a young boy knee deep in poop and absolutely loving it!. 
This tradition that was passed down from grandfather to grandson, now is passed along to our children. It is a fun part of the process of planting our garden each year. This one aspect of farm culture has been passed down to our children and is a part of our family tapestry. We will never take steer manure for granted in our family. This farm tradition is a part of our family’s folklore.
References:
Jan Brunvand. The Study of American Folklore: An Introduction, 2nd Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 1978
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