The Truth

When you move from one place to another, you really have no idea how it is going to go. Good, bad, or ugly. Have you ever done it? It’s kinda scary and exciting and wonderful and sad and happy all rolled into one.

One of the most difficult parts of the transition for us has been the total, complete, different-ness between the two places, the one we moved from and the one we moved to. With that in mind, I thought I’d share some of the realities of moving to the country from the city. You see, just because you move to the country doesn’t mean you are going to know what to do, how to function in the country. No, the knowledge of how to be a successful country dweller doesn’t just automatically happen when you pull the moving truck down that gravel driveway.

ONE.

The people are nicer here. Much much much nicer here. Much more friendly, kind, caring, neighborly, generous. They take care of each other. They help each other. I know we all THINK it is true. And I’m here to tell you that it is.

Same with the front porches. They are much more important here. I love my front porch.

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Yay for the country!

TWO.

The other day I was going to till my garden. But, when I popped my head into the utility room to put the clothes in the dryer before I headed out, I found a flood. A flooded utility room. So, I spent the time I had hoped to be in the garden cleaning up a flood.

Now, the washer came with the house and was a million years old, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that it leaked. But I was. The good news is that I had my own hunk of junk washing machine that I moved here in the barn. So we took this old one out and moved my old one in.

When I raised the lid, it smelled funky. A neighbor just happened by and told me to turn the washer on the hot cycle and add 4 cups of vinegar. Then about half way through the cycle, add 1 cup of baking soda, but keep the lid up. I did that and the washer smelled fresh, fresh, fresh.

So, do that if you ever need to freshen up or clean your washing machine.

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YAY for country! Helpful neighbors. Barns with extra washing machines.

THREE.

About that tilling that didn’t get done in my garden.

I FINALLY had an hour to spare and I thought, hey. I’ll get out the tractor and finally learn how to use it. It came with a plow attachment, so I’ll figure out how to connect it and get this garden ready to plant in no time at all.

This was a mistake.

Do not trust a city girl with a tractor and a plow. Unless you have first trained her thoroughly.

My poor garden. I ripped it to shreds. What a mess! What do I do now?

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BOO for the City Girl.

FOUR.

What I research and think about has changed considerably.

Like now.

I am trying to identify what is growing in my front pasture.

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These are the kinds of things I do now. Look at photos on the internet of grass. You see, I am planning to cut the hay for my horses this year and need to know what types of grasses these are.

Also, I stalk the “farm and garden” section of craigslist. My husband will walk by, “What are you looking for?” I see goats and sheep and chickens and horses and bees. I see equipment that I have no idea what it is for. I see tractors, new and antique. I see auctions. I am entertained by the “farm and garden” section of craigslist. Big time.

So, what am I looking for? Nothing in particular. This is just my country form of window shopping. If I see something I like, well then I’ll head through the revolving door and check it out. If not, I go to the next shop. See?

Yay for the country!

FIVE.

I celebrated my 52nd birthday the other day. AND THANK YOU FOR ALL THE BIRTHDAY WISHES! I was overwhelmed. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I got your emails and messages and loved those facebook posts! Makes my birthdays even better! Ever since Kramer said that birthday wishes come true, I’ve believed it is so. (Kramer from Seinfeld.) So, I make an extra special birthday wish every year.

I was super excited when I opened one gift from my husband and found two shiny new tail pipe covers for my rusted tail pipes on my big Teal truck. It used to be jewelry for me on gifting occasions. Now it is tail pipe covers. I love it.

I’m also headed today to get a new gasoline tank installed, also part of my birthday present. My truck has two tanks and one has a leak. These are the things that excite me. Tail pipes and gasoline tanks.

YAY for the country!

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SEVEN.

Nature is closer at hand. We are surrounded by living things other than people.

I drive over a rushing mountain stream any time I leave or return to my house. I walk down a deeply shaded path through the woods. I notice frogs and worms and salamanders. I’ve learned to identify some wildflowers and herbs. I know my trees now by the leaves.

Deer, rabbits, trees, flowers, chickens, horses, turkeys, grasses, bushes.

Mice. (more on those little creatures in a minute.)

Snakes. Who, I would like to say, I am learning to not be so phobic about. I watched one down in the creek the other day. It’s head was sticking up through the water. It was a warm day and he was just hanging out, enjoying the sunny day. Brown, marked. A water snake. These guys get killed often because they have markings of dangerous snakes. But they are harmless. They have tiny heads and tiny mouths and tiny teeth. Anyway.

The important thing is that I just stood there and watched. That is huge for me. I thank you guys for helping me with this. Am I cured? NO! Not cured, but I’m headed in the right direction. And so far this spring I have not found any in my house, so….that’s good, you know.

I have a field, almost an acre.

Part of this.

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THIS is what I think about on my sleepless nights, THIS field of mine. What should I plant there? Lately, the answer has been sunflowers and pumpkins. I envision it and dream it. There are no weeds. Of course no snakes. It is in beautiful full bloom. Sunflowers above pumpkins.

I used to think about work on my sleepless nights. Now it is sunflowers.

YAY for the country!

EIGHT.

Farm life is harsh, graphic.

I’ve heard so many stories that make me cringe. When someone asks, “Did I tell you what happened to our calf?” I always say–“is this a happy story? Because I don’t want to hear it unless it has a happy ending.” For some reason, that makes people want to tell me even more. A friend’s mule killed a calf. A friend’s horse had to put to sleep. A friend’s chickens were almost completely wiped out in one night. Another friend’s horse was injured on barbed wire. And the coyotes got a neighbor’s cow.

It’s just too hard. CountryLIFE and FarmLIFE are about LIFE to me. Not death. I’m lucky that I live in this era, when I can avoid many of the hard things about countryLIFE that earlier generations couldn’t. If my parent’s families wanted bacon or chicken, then they had to have pigs and chickens. And had to raise them. And kill them. And process them. This I could not do under any circumstances.

Proof? The other evening I got home later than usual. Dark had almost fallen when I went to lock up the chicken house. When I opened the door of the house, I saw mice everywhere. They scrambled all over, up the walls, across the floor. I am not exaggerating here. I bet there were 30 mice, maybe more. I had never seen anything like that before. I just stood there. Mouth dropped open. Frozen in shock. One fell on my neck. And I just stood there. I am not afraid of mice, it was just super FREAKY.

I must do something about that. I don’t want mice in my chicken house. But I don’t want to kill them either.

I thought I might have a problem a few weeks back because I saw a chicken running around with a tiny mouse in its beak. It was running and squawking and all the others were chasing her. I tried to save it, but it was too late.

Then, last week, I was cleaning out some of the mess that accumulates on the floor of a chicken house. I took a snow shovel and shoveled a big scoop and headed outside. When I was dumping it, I saw five teensy tiny baby mice. Their eyes weren’t even open. I put them back on the shovel and took them in the chicken house where I hid them under some hay, hoping their mother would find them.

But I had no idea of the intensity of the situation. It can’t be good for my chickens, for sure.

As soon as a few more weeks pass, I will put a live mouse trap in the chicken house. I don’t want to now because I am afraid that I will catch the Mama Mouse. I will then release them across the road in a big field.

My friends who were either born in the country or have lived in the country for a while think I should kill the mice. This will not happen.

Just like my injured chicken. She is still hobbling around and I am thinking that her walking may be permanently impaired. A friend said, “I guess you should just eat her.” This is Lola, the chicken I’ve had since she was hatched and shipped to me. There is no way I would. Just. Eat. Her. She is a pet. Plus, we don’t eat chicken any more.

Both YAY and BOO for the country.

NINE.

The weather matters here. A lot.

So much of what we do is outside. So much of how I plan my day depends on when it is dry and when it is wet.

I look at weather.com religiously. I focus on the hourly reports. If it is indeed going to rain, what time will it come in?

The weather used to not matter to me very much. Rain or fog meant slower traffic, a longer commute. That was about it. Otherwise, I had air conditioning for when it was hot and a heater for when it was cold. Didn’t really impact my day or week or month.

Yay for the country. I like being aware of weather and the seasons. I feel more CONNECTED to the earth.

TEN.

I saved Number Ten for you.

Whether you live in the city or the country or somewhere in between. Yay or a boo? Tell us a TRUTH about the place where you have chosen to live your one, sacred, wild life.

Until next time, Friends, savor the flavor of life!

Lots of love, The City Farmgirl, Rebekah

 

  1. Sheena says:

    I live in Surburbia. I have neighbors on EVERY side of me also my back yard! BOO for Surburbia! I can however at any moment go to the store and buy anything I need, all the stores you need are less then 10 min away in any direction from my house! Yay for the convince of Surburbia. I must say I LONG for a home like the secret garden that’s by the Ocean. Until then I will just make the best of what I have and love evey minute of it!

  2. Dori Troutman says:

    Hi Rebekah,

    Awesome post! 🙂

    The truth for me is that even though I grew up in the country, living the ranch life, I just didn’t have a clue to the work involved. When we retired 4 years ago from the SouthWest desert to the farm in Tennessee that we had purchased 6 years prior, all I thought about was the beautiful homesite at the top of the hill with a view of the whole valley, the green grass that is so incredibly beautiful, the ability to have a garden without watering it continually, the dreamy cows we bought, etc. THEN reality hit and the huge job of getting utilities to the top of that amazing hill for our home, the mowing (and mowing and mowing) that the green grass requires, the weeds that grow faster than the vegetables in the garden, and the stress and worry of calving season with those dreamy cows! 🙂 But, I’m happy to say that now, four years later, we’ve settled in to a very nice routine and even though we work like demons all summer, it is the best work ever and the only work we want to do!

    So… Yay for the country! 🙂

    – Dori, the Ranch Farmgirl –

  3. Sherry Holmes says:

    You need a working cat. I have wood rats…I hate to kill them..but I do. Or should I say, my cat and terrier do. They spread disease and so do mice. That is the harshness of life in a rural setting…and I’m not even in a rural setting, I am in the suburbs and DREAM of the country. If you can’t kill them…then at least relocate them far from all people. 🙂 Deep deep in the woods… Oh…and chickens love to eat pinky mice. Sorry for the visual there….Love your posts..and oh so jealous.

  4. Jan Galbreath says:

    I am so excited to be moving to Asheville next month. I won’t be out in the country like you are, but I love reading your posts and love all that you have observed and learned in the time you have transitioned from city girl to country girl! You inspire me to get back to my country roots–therefore I plan to get involved with Patchwork Urban Farms in Asheville and get connected to the land again by way of community gardening. Thank you for your wonderful stories!

  5. Carol in NC says:

    1. We moved from the country to a neighborhood made up of people from the northeast, who moved to FL, then retired here to their second (or third) homes in WNC. They are much, much older and not exactly friendly. They seem pretty empty and purposeless. But the view’s great!

    2. Yay for baking soda!

    3. Uh, no words.

    4. I love Craigslist farm and garden! And the arts and crafts section to see if there are any spinning wheels even though I have two and don’t need another one.

    5. Facebook birthdays are the best!

    6. Are you sure that wasn’t a copperhead? They like to stick their heads out of the water too…

    7. Wait a minute. What happened to Six?

    8. I have a mouse thing like you have a snake thing. Which is why I PROTECTED MY BLACK SNAKES!!! I would have gone berserk if a mouse landed on me! What if they are in you house and crawling on you at night??? Ok. I need air.

    9. My husband is the weather nerd around here and called me yesterday while I was out picking strawberries to tell me that a storm would arrive at my location in “47 minutes” and that I should “pick fast.” uh, ok.

    10. Mix of yay and boo. I’m getting to know my neighbors whether they like it or not, and I LOVE all the wild woodland plants I have on our two acre ‘burb lot. Plus, I love my kitchen and have plenty of counter space for all my ferments!

    Thanks for the post. It made me think!

  6. Nicole White says:

    I too have “moved from one place to another” and another and another. In fact about 17 moves in 28 years. Big moves – California to Germany to Oklahoma to California to Virginia to Nebraska to Virginia to Oregon to Utah (and some smaller moves in-between). There’s been in town, in suburbia, in the county. There has been good in all places. We have met amazing people. My kids are comfortable with anyone and they way they live. I’m once again in suburbia, and because of many reasons, will likely stay here, but I love the country, I miss the country, and so I work to create a little haven on my suburban lot.

  7. JoEllen says:

    I live in suburbia too and have for quite a number of years. I’m 67 and an empty nester and a 24/7 caregiver for my 98 year old mother in my home. I would love to live in the country even with all the pitfalls but for me even that would be joyous! But I have had to CHOOSE to be thankful for where I am now and what I am doing! I also get my country fix by reading your blog – thank you for your transparency and your commitment to your readers! I have a small back yard and divided it up so the very back part is a “pretend acre of loveliness” even though it is probably 1/16th of that. There are raised garden beds, garden structures I have made, some chairs to relax in, and a barrel that collects water from our gutters. I can work off stress and frustration by tending to my piece of heaven while my mom takes her nap. Sometimes our dreams come true, and sometimes we have to accommodate them in other ways — but attitude is so very IMPORTANT! (I don’t think I could handle a mouse dropping on my neck though)

  8. Sandy says:

    I look forward to moving to the country. Soon, I hope. I am surrounded by neighbors who speak nasty chemicals on their lawns and in their homes. 4 chickens is pushing it here. I NEED more. I want to here the birds chirp and the creek flow. Yay country. Boo suburbia.

  9. Nanette says:

    While you are loving/tolerating your mice in the chicken coop, just remember their droppings carry the Hanta virus. Have a wonderful summer.

    PS: I’m a farm raised kid/adult city dweller, lake cabin owner wanna be/will be!

  10. Debbie says:

    Howdy Rebekah! I just love your posts. I don’t comment often because I read them, smile, give you a virtural farmgirl hug and move on with my day, but this time I just had to stop long enough to 1. Wish you a Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday to my farmgirl sister! You are doin the 50s’ right! 2. Share my Boo’s and Yay’s for my one, sacred and wild life. ( That should be your book title BTW). If you don’t claim it, I will. It’s grand, inspiring and intriguing!
    I was raised in a rural/suburban area in Northern Nevada. Then we moved to suburbia, then as a young adult I moved to an apartment then a duplex ( while building my career as a hair stylist) then a cottage, then an apartment, then suburbia, then came marriage, two kids and more suburbia living. I’ve always made my dwellings my home cuz, I want to be happy wherever I am. Yay! However, I have also always dreamed of country living, spent many hours driving around in the country in search of the ” perfect” country home and location. It finally hit me one day after moving east, that the farm I longed for was already planted inside of me and I just needed to look at my circumstances differently. I never really knew what ” kind” of farm I wanted, I just knew I wanted horses and not cooped up in walled-off lots with concrete driveways. When we moved East, and into our home on half and acre I didn’t see a backyard flower farm. I saw plenty of space ( more than we had ever had ) for the kids to play and as small patch for growing some flowers and veggies. Well, the kids are grown, time is a tickin’ and I will have my flower farm be damned my suburban lifestyle. Yay!
    The truth about where I live is that I must make it the truest place for me ( and my family). I still dream of a home surrounded by abundantly blooming fields of flowers ( I say YAY to your field of sunflower and pumpkins BTW) but in the meantime, I’m making the most of this life right here at Dandelion House. A life filled with the people and pets I love to the end of the earth, and just enough land for me to practice flower farming on a small scale. Yay! Now, the only BOO in my happy little tale is there is still no horse for me to see out my kitchen window… But, what kid of a farmgirl would I be if I gave up on that idea? Not gonna happen!
    Love your posts and your spirit!
    Farmgirl Hugs,
    Deb the Beach Farmgirl

  11. Teri Schneider says:

    Wonderful post Rebekah! The truth for me is that I have lived both in the city and in the country and I definitely love the country most. It’s where my son learned to help birth a calf and my daughter spent many, many a day making countless mud pies in our garden as I weeded. These wonderful times helped form my children into people who respect the earth and all its simplicities and complexities. Something they will take with them wherever they go in life.

  12. debbi skinner says:

    i simply, absolutely love the way you write! i think you would be a wonderful and interesting woman to meet and get to know.

    debbi skinner
    midland texas

    • Tamera Everett says:

      Debbie Skinner!! Im FROM Midland too!! (We call it Midland/SLOWdeatha!! LOL Odessa IS a slow death but only incremintally moreso than Midland!). I left in 1999 before this big Boom-only 80,000 people at that time.. The weather and sand storms SUCK but the people are golden!! Its the country!! at least it was then!!
      Tell that Hell Hole of dry dispair hello for me!!
      Tamera
      DFW

      • Debbie skinner says:

        Hi Tamera,
        Thanks for your email. No, Midland is not country any longer I am afraid. Lots of knuckleheads came to town for the boom and i would like to get Midland back to the way it was but that will probably never happen now. You see, i like it here. I came to town from Pennsylvania in 1981 and never looked back!
        Hugs,
        debbi

  13. diana henretty says:

    When our kids were 3 and 5, we sold everything we had, packed them up and moved from Phoenix Arizona to the mountains of western Montana. We had $1,300 to our name, I was full of dreams and hopes and thought we were rich (1983)
    We got there without a job, a house to live in, and had never even seen the state of Montana before.
    But we stayed for 12 yrs, learned how to fish, hunt, raise a garden, can, bake bread
    and cook, bake and everything I always dreamed of doing.
    It was the hardest years of our lives, and yet the very best.
    Diana, Noel, Mo

  14. We live up the Southfork of the Shoshone River in Cody, Wyoming. We have 40+/- acres of grass to mow and bale for our horses and cattle. The one truth about living here is the spectacular, palatial, ever changing views of nine mountain ranges, granted as a gift by our steadfast, never changing, creative Creator!! Priceless!

  15. Reba says:

    Whippoorwills!!! Yay for the country! At evening when sitting on the front porch and a neighbor calls to see if you hear the beautiful sound of one calling to the other!! Beautiful!!! Peaceful!!!

  16. Tamera Everett says:

    This is hilARIOUS! You are titally me.. I would be the total paraniod, waiting to set the mouse (KINDNESS!!) trap and putting back the little Pinkies to grow into teenager mice!! I cant kill anything so im sure id loose large amounts of weight.. If i know its name im NOT gonna kill it!!
    Good luck and so happy you are thinking about something other than traffic and crap i am forced to think about … til the Ambien kicks in!!
    Tamera
    Dallas Tx

  17. Amanda says:

    I was lucky enough to grow up knowing the truth!! I remember deer hanging in the trees during hunting season, early mornings fishing after milking, catching lighting bugs after chores at night, and picking raspberries in my “free time”. My neighbors were down the road. Now, my husband and I work on his family’s farms and we moved to a house, while it’s close to the farm, that has neighbors right next door. I live in both worlds now and I have to say that I LOVE the “true” country life better. At least one of my neighbors likes flowers and gardening! I only now really appreciate it now since I’ve experienced both sides. You have such wonderful stories to tell! I love to read them!

  18. Cindy says:

    The farm is blooming! The garden is in! The coop is clean! The goat pen is clean! The pasture is growing waiting for my dream horse ! The weeds are growing by leaps and bounds ! The new 20 acre alfalfa crop is seeded and the baby sprouts are growing like crazy! The flowers are planted! whoooooooh ! My husband and I are exhausted! This is a Lot of work! This farm life! Yaaahoooo for the farm! Wouldn’t trade it for anything ! Husband and I left Reno are 2 ago setting out on this farm venture in Boise , Idaho area ! I was a realtor,he was ins agent ! Left behind friends! Grandson who’s now in college ! Family and everything familiar! We have met awesome people here! Made new friends and still have our old friends who are coming to visits! Only 6 hours away! Love our new lifestyle ! Got the adopted cat named Gypsy ! Wandered in as a kitten last August through the field! Have the dogs,goats,chickens are raised and now in there new coop! Lots of adjustments as you know! Well! I love my farmhouse we built! The barn is new too! Wished I had an old red barn ! But! You can’t have everything! New doctors are working out! I think it just takes TIME ! To adjust to it all! So Yaaaaaah for the country! Can’t imagine returning to the suburban life! Close neighbors! Barking dogs and annoyances EVERYWHERE!love the space now around us! Sooo peaceful ! Well,hope we both enjoy this beautiful and challenging adventure we both are embarking ! Cindy

  19. susana says:

    I was born on a farm and I hated it when we moved to the city….my calm left me and I was anxious all the time. I miss the tall tree on our farm. Miss the cats that/chased the rats away from the barn. Miss the smell of hay. Miss my swing in the tree. And even those sticky garden snakes….we used to torment my mother with….putting them in her clothespin bag or basket of laundry. Lol miss the squeaky spring door on the house slamming in the wind….while we sit on our porch. Miss those little distractions that made country living so beautiful.never had a me jump on my shoulder but fell in the pig pen a lot when I took the scraps to them….and misse it when i used to ride on the back of those squeakers…. whod get me into hot water a
    lot. Miss the sweet smell of clover in the air after a mowing and getting ready for plowing. Miss those things…the closest I get to that is mowing my lawn. MoST of all, I miss the ride into the the village with our horse to get stuff at the store….that was one thing I loved….riding and caring for the horses and getting to
    ride them every day! 🙂 missing those fine things….hope there is horses in heaven because that’s the closest I will get to moving again! Miss everything country!

  20. Marcie says:

    Hi Rebekah, I feel for you about the mouse problem; yes, capture them soon to get them out of the chicken coop; your girls don’t need to be around that.

    About the garden – go in with a tiller and till the soil until it is all tilled together, then rake it flat (may need some help with that). When we first moved to our country location, the local folks let us know we were ‘outsiders’. A year after moving here, we wanted a garden and the soil was a red gummy clay and we asked a neighbor if he would bring his tractor and till a small portion for us. He said it would cost us 25.00 and we agreed and he brought a large tractor with a turning plow and dug down almost two feet and turned up large chunks of clay and dirt and we paid him and he left. For a second I thought he felt sorry for us. We bought a tiller and my husband tore into the turned up dirt and we added some compost tea that I made up from rain water, compost, and herbs and when the soil was raked flat, we planted our garden. The plants became a jungle and we had a great garden. This spring puts us here six years and the soil in our garden is a beautiful brown color since we compost all summer and each year we have a better organically grown garden than the year before.

    We may have moved here from the city but this old country girl grew up in the deep farming delta south and knows how to grow things. If we have extra produce we share with the local food bank which makes lunches in the summer for children and senior citizens. The neighbors still wonder how can we grow a better garden than them? Because when it does not rain, we water our garden and are constantly composting.

  21. Kate Gatski says:

    What a pleasure to read your blog! Thanks again for your forthrightness and humor! I just love it. We are fortunate to live at the top of hill in rural Pennsylvania, where the fields unfold before us. There are no neighbors in sight. It is similar to where you are. We do savor the quiet, peace of our surroundings. Ahhhh… Although you are right, the realities of country life (especially with animals) can be very trying. Thanks again for sharing your experiences! Looking forward to reading more!

  22. Karen(old cowgirl) Montoya says:

    I do not know if you are throwing or otherwise feeding your Chickens corn but that will bring in the mice. They love corn. If not your chickens do you have corn around for any other animals? That will bring them in if it is laying around some where.
    I come by this info. honestly because my Dad grew chickens and he always put his corn in a metal barrel. When he gave it to the chickens it was never left on the ground or in a dish. He would only give them so much and then stand over and watch so no mice ever got into it. They were trained to eat the corn within a half hour or none for them. They did. He said it took several weeks before they caught on but they did. No mice. He learned from his Mother. know that was 60 some years ago but I think it would still work today. As for live traps I also use them and one thing I learned, they come back. You do have to take them away, very far away as in any woods, unused land mountains what ever you can do to keep them from coming back. Just some advice from someone brought up in a small town out in the country. Still have a place out in the country. Hugs Kay

  23. Sarah B. says:

    I was lucky enough not to have moved any until now, at this point in my life there are changes upon changes after so long of there being none. Always lived in the country and have loved it, and there are harsh realities that go along with it but I couldn’t imagine not having the joys that the country brings and lucky for me my husband and I are moving to a new area on a farm of our very own. We are building a new home and we are extremely excited, that said I am having a very hard time with leaving the area I’ve known all my life. I focus on the positive things and look forward to the future and on the building of something that we’ll create but I still have a hard time relating to the area. I loved being able to have a connection in our town and having people know my family who has lived in our town for over 5 generations. You were so right Rebekah with the emotions you mentioned that go along with moving! Thank you for reminding me that there’s people who feel those things too! Wish me luck on me making my new connection and finding my new truths!

  24. Kelly M says:

    I Recently found your blog and i must say how i LOVE it. I’m a suburban girl.. born and raised but i have had that “Smalltown-County-Farmgirl” blood running through my veins. Im only 20 years old but i am already so lost in life. You see, all my summers and some falls and winters, i would visit this very small town in Pennsylvania… located very far away. I love this town, love the people and know everybody there. I love the “small town feel” and the way of life up there. I don’t love though that its not by my family. Not close to really anything and its not my “home”. I would love to live here and have always pictured myself living in a place like this. The farm. the animals. the land. happiness. the summer breeze. the fields. the not so hectic life and everything else it has to offer. I dont know what to do. or where my life will take me. But i hope its somewhere happy like your life took you.

  25. Karen(old cowgirl) Montoya says:

    I grew up in a small town in the High Dessert area of Oregon. I loved living there. I went through all 12 school years there. I had friends that had farms and ranch’s. I spent most of my time with them and my own dog and puppies. It was such a wonderful place to grow up in. Then the wood mill shut down and most people lost money, homes, businesses. Now it is so different. As a retired Senior I will not move back there. It is nothing more than a tourist town now. Gone is all the businesses like the big Mom and Pop grocery stores, places to buy furniture, cloths, home accessories. It is just a small town with no identity. It brings tears just thinking about it. Memories of first dates in a wonderful restaurant. Setting with friends in the front of a restaurant watching out the window for the new or best guys coming by. Eating a huge plate of fries and cokes or 7-ups. Belonging to the Rainbows.
    All of these things were there when I was growing up, a town that took pride in it’s self. Who celebrated every one of the birthdays of our presidents and of the person it was named after. All the organizations who had special days of celebration. Yes, there were people who knew everyone’s business but also who watched over you so no harm would come to you. People who cared. People how loved each other.
    One who was there.

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