A Country Way of Life

1952 - My farm family

I grew up on a farm in rural Indiana.  Today, I don't live on a farm although I live in the country.  It feeds my spirit and nurtures my introvert nature.  My need to see beauty is supplied abundantly.  

I'm Blessed to have had the same group of farmers surrounding my few acres on three sides and they are "good people".  They have no idea but they are a touch to my Indiana roots and their work, the progress through the seasons and friendly wave are a valuable part of my life in rural America.

My mom referred to our home as
 "The Barn" for good reason.

Having lived on a farm, I'm adapt to some of the more difficult parts of rural living - it's part of the package.  Some "city folk" should never move to the country because they constantly want city living, rules, atmosphere and conveniences.  They want to move into the neighborhood and then change the neighborhood.  

Recently, I was up at daybreak walking in my garden with my first cup of coffee and I could hear my neighbors' cows and rooster waking up.  I had to stop in my tracks and marvel at the perfect sound track I'd been given that morning.

4-H calf and my knobby knees.

I'm betting my house has a ton load more dust than you'd find in city homes.  Farming is a dirty business and the reason (and here is a duh factor) is it involves working the soil.  It involves working the soil in the spring when the wind is whipping the dust along in a vertical sheet.  I close my doors and windows when that's happening and it'll keep happening until the crops take hold.  It's called spring in the country.

When there's beans in the fields, the wind playing across the crops looks like ocean waves.  When the corn is tall and the fog lays close to the ground, the humidity can be held in like a tropical forest.  When the crops are dry, the rustle of leaves is like an entire eco system is marching through the night.  I'm not only used to those events, I look forward to them.  It means there's a good harvest coming.

I've been known to abandon most anything I'm doing to run get my camera when the harvest starts in the surrounding fields.  It's not money in my pocket that they're harvesting; it must be some DNA from centuries of my family farming that hits the excitement button.  

Country living is not a simple way of life as far as actual work.  When I hear farm families described as simple folk I have to laugh.  No business owner has to know as wide of range of functions as a farmer.  Even on my little bit of soil, nature always wants to dominate.  The more acreage, the more work, the bigger the tools, the bigger the risk.  

My risk is minimal considering it isn't my income that falters when crops aren't successful or the economy nose dives.  I don't have millions of dollars invested in machinery, buildings, land, stock, feed, seed and more.  It keeps my perspective in check knowing when I loose a mere favorite perennial, it's pretty minor in the whole scheme of rural living.  

No, it's not all fun and games and not all rural residents and situations are peachy keen.  Not every farmer is "good people" and not every situation easy.  Not every animal is welcome and not every smell floral.  

For me, rural living nurtures my soul.  And that's enough.