Tag Archives: farm

June 22, 2011 · 3:14 pm

A secret path

When I was a girl growing up on my parent’s farm I was constantly in a world of awe and wonder at nature.  I had my “secret” places, which would change from time to time.  Places I would hide treasures in, places I would hang out in to get away from my annoying younger brother and sister, places where for a couple of moments of my day… I could just sit and be at peace with myself and nature.

This is a path that was created by one of these secret spaces…

It is called the “island” by my family, and it’s FULL of hidden places.  I’ve shown my older son one of my secret spaces in the last couple of years and I’ve now started to take my younger son to some of these secret places to… I hope that one or both of them eventually see the magic I witnessed as a youth.

No matter what they end up seeing, I’m constantly amazed at how just one image can transport me back to my childhood and give me my “secret” space again to escape to during hectic times in my now-adult life!

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November 19, 2010 · 6:16 pm

Farm Girl

How do you express to others how you grew up?

There are not enough descriptors to fill that knowledge cup.

You can say Chickens and Cows and Horses and such,

but those are just names and not experiences for much.

How would you describe milking a cow?

Or killing chickens or churning butter or bucking hay…just how?

It is a perspective of life unlike any other,

like being a lover, a brother, a father or a mother.

I’ll tell you some things that might hit the spot…

You know where your food comes from whether you like it or not!

You learn the birds and the bees very quickly you see,

and realize that animals are a lot like you and me!

They are born; they nurse and feel the closeness of their mom,

they frolic and play and don’t like to be alone for very long.

They are inquisitive and brash and will burst through your gates,

but they rely on you to live so they will sit patiently and wait.

They are beautiful living and breathing and feeling beings,

made for much more than to sit on your plate next to the beans!

You learn from a young age how the earth nurtures us all,

and that she reaches from the brown dirt to the colorful falls.

That you live in a cycle from which you once came,

and that eventually everything will go back to her name.

You frolic and play in her growing plant’s shadows,

and you get to eat and thrive and live from all in her that is hallow.

Your will learn about life unlike anything taught from books,

you will squirm and cry when something dies… but you will still look.

Yes, growing up on a farm is difficult at best to understand,

to know exactly what it’s like to live off the land.

To learn to love animals and the earth the way that we should,

and be the stewards of ALL that surround us, if only we humans could!

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September 13, 2010 · 4:46 pm

The Patina of Stature

This poem is dedicated to Nan… a wise woman that helped me remember one of my life’s main lessons.

The Patina of Stature

I grew up on a farm of meager means; blissfully unaware of society’s themes.

Of power and money, of stature and score; I lived not knowing what lay in store.

I’m not aware of the place or the second it changed but suddenly other people had much more than I could obtain.

They had substance, stuff, knowledge and insight galore; I remember thinking it HAD to be better than what I had before!

So I coveted, prayed, whined and explored… all the ways that I could possibly open up their golden doors.

I focused so intently, I focused so well that one day I turned around and realized I was in hell.

It now had been almost half of my life; I had become a lover, a mother and a much doubting wife.

Of course I was still empty, of course I still couldn’t see… all I knew was that I HAD to find the REAL me.

So I sat and reflected and as I lay score; my visions started to turn to the little girl I was once before.

Suddenly my heart opened up, a haze began to clear, and I could feel my entire body smiling again from ear to ear!

I had bought into their story, their shiny lore; so much so that I sold my farm and bought their entire gilded store!

Only to find out when the chips did finally lay that my blissful ignorance was lost one innocent childhood day.

But now I know where I come from and where I’m going someday.  A little girl stands before you proudly…but in a much more humbled way.

They almost had me, these social-concepts really did.  I would of given them anything to outcast anybody’s bid.

Thank God I looked inside!  Thank God I sought his wisdom!

To know the Patina of Stature was nothing but an empty prison!

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