This Land, This Life, This Farmer's Wife: 30 Days of Thankfulness on the Family Farm-Day 7

Day 7-Point of View

I’m thankful to look out my window in the morning and see this….

and this…..

and this…..corn everywhere, beans on the rest. We started our marriage in a house up a long lane in a farm house about 5 miles away from the main farm. It was quiet there. We had a fields all around our house and the best darn Amish neighbors we could ask for. But there, the only person who really ever dropped by was the UPS man. That was getting a little expensive just to have company! I am kidding! However, it was an out-of–the-way location and the few days a year they farmed around our house were treasured! When our oldest was about to enter kindergarten we had the opportunity to (or we begged his family for the chance to) move to the main farm. Corn fields are awesome. Solitary lives are great. Quiet is important. But it was a bit much for this “Main Street” girl to handle. I needed a little more action. I grew up in the center of town, next to the Dairy Bar. People cruised. We walked. We had lots of company. We visited our neighbors. We hung out on the porch (or the roof out my bedroom window, right guys?) and watched the action. So as a grown up, I was kinda lonely for some action with two little kids out in the middle of boon docks and husband who may as well been 30 miles away for 15 hours a day. Watching the corn grown and the snow melt was B-O-R-I-N-G!

Now that we live on the main farm, not only do I see corn and beans and timber when I look out my kitchen window, I’m liable to see a truck driver warming up his rig. Steam rolling out and him smiling at me as I pour my coffee! I usually see the guys on a gator or golf cart hauling parts and seed and dragging… whatever the heck they are working on around our house over to the shop or the barn. There are always people here. Always action. Our home sits in the middle of a circle drive that is crawling with activity most all of the time.

Even though the working guys NEVER come in to share a cup of coffee, and people still don’t really “drop-in” to chat (though I seriously wish they WOULD!) I’m just comforted by the action and the life out the window. It’s kind of like living on Main Street. Only this time it’s Kenworths, not Cameros. It’s lunchboxes not ice cream cones. But it works for me and I’m thankful!