Is it really affection?

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I live on a farm and we have several outdoor cats. The theory is that they will supplement what we feed them by catching mice in the barn. One of these cats is Barb, named because I once found her as a kitten sleeping in a coil of barbed wire. We have an outdoor wood stove that heats up water, which goes through a heat exchanger and heats our home. It’s basically a big metal box that’s warm, and once the weather turned cold that’s usually where Barb can be found, unless one of the other cats – they don’t always get along – has chased her away. Anyway, whenever I go out to put wood in the fire, and especially at night, Barb will come out and purr and rub up against my legs. Unfortunately, I’ve almost tripped over her several times while carrying several blocks of firewood. To save me from tripping, I’ve started putting some food out for her to keep her out of the way while I’m carrying firewood. So, does Barb rub up against me out of some sort of affection, or has she just trained me to feed her when she does it?