“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain” ~Bob Marley
This has always been one of my favorite quotes; and I am proud to say that I regularly listen to Bob Marley’s hopeful–yet often melancholic–tunes. Music is important in our yurt. It is often playing or being played. Music helps make chores easier, car rides more fun and naps more productive. Evan plays the guitar and sings (he has been accused of having the voice of an angel, before. It’s true). Evan and I have fairly frequent and playful arguments about our music preferences. I have a feeling that Ava (and any other children that come along) will either be a total music snob or rebel and have atrocious music taste (atrocious according to me, of course!).
Ava and I are treated with live music multiple times per week!
My love for music spans many genres and time periods, but I tend to turn to bluegrass, folk and classic rock. On my computer’s iTunes, the bands with the highest number of plays are Elephant Revival, the Avett Brothers, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and Rush (I think Rush is a result of Evan listening to music off of my computer!). Raffi is quickly making his way up the yurt’s play charts, as well. I have been nannying for a couple of grade school girls over the last few months, so I’ve ended up listening to enough Taylor Swift to last a lifetime. Elephant Revival has been my favorite for years (one of the leading ladies rocks the washboard!). I listened to them for much of Ava’s very long labor, and I try to share them with anyone I can! There are some excellent free songs streaming from their website if you have time to give them a listen.
Elephant Revival is great campfire music. This is a shot from a camping trip two weeks ago with good friends!
When I first started farming, I had visions of what my future farm would look like. One of the bonus amenities I pictured was large speakers with a reliable stream of tunage. I imagine that I’ll have worldly, progressive farmhands working for me who bring music with them that will continue to open up our musical horizons. We will craft the perfect playlists to listen to while doing the most common small-scale organic farming/gardening tasks: Stall mucking, transplanting, pea/spinach/tomato/other delicious produce harvesting, CSA packaging, and we must not forget the most common and necessary–weeding!
Now, I see that there are times when recorded music is overbearing and takes away from a task. Sometimes the sound of a spade in the soil, birds flying over head, cattle mooing from the pasture, and the breeze whistling through a gap in the greenhouse door is the best music one can hear. Furthermore, there are times when singing a tune can make the most monotonous work bearable.
The sounds of helpful kids shoveling April 21 snow is music to my ears!
I remember clearing an acre of land in Costa Rica eleven years ago. There were eight of us in the crew and we cleared it using only hand tools (and machetes! I need to get me one of those…). It took the better part of two weeks! We ended up singing many labor songs, often to the tune of “Hi-ho, Hi-ho, It’s off to work we go.” We would create verse after verse, trying to give everyone a chance to add in whatever form of torture they were experiencing. This reminds me of labor songs that must have kept many willing and unwilling farmhands sane while toiling away in the hot fields. In the same vein, I think of people on chain gangs, rowers on huge ships and the other physical laborers singing and chanting together. Music, even in the worst and most trying of times, provides solidarity, escape and sometimes even JOY!
MORE April snow makes me turn to the music that makes me happiest: Led Zeppelin.
These days, I like to sing whenever the mood strikes me. I make up songs about my animals (“Her name was Moki! Moki! Moki! Cooler than all the dogs…”), Ava (“Her name was Ava! Ava! Ava!/Silliest baby around”), Evan (“His name was Evan! Evan! Evan!”…do you see a theme here?), my students and the kids I take care of. I’m not creative enough to craft an entirely new song, so I just parody tunes I know. I’m a fairly terrible singer, but I’ve gotten to the point in life where I really don’t care what others think of inconsequential things like my singing voice.
I cannot help but sing songs about our furry friends
When I was younger, I spent nearly every cent of disposable income I had on live music. I would go to concerts, on average, three or four times per month. Moving to more rural areas was hard at first. What would I do with my free time? Now that I have a child, the idea of going to multiple concerts a month is kind of absurd, so it’s good I made that transition before Ava came along. The music scene in Alaska isn’t that great, and most nationally known shows tend to sell out very quickly to people that aren’t even very big fans. It’s such a luxury to see great live music that people will go to see just about anything!
Evan and I had the pleasure of seeing Moscow, Idaho’s own JOSH RITTER last Saturday. It was a fabulous show in a new theater at the local community college. One of the perks of music out here “in the valley” is that the venues are small so the shows are intimate. The last time Josh Ritter played here (two years ago), he played in a local coffee shop with about fifty people! How many people get to see fairly popular musicians in that kind of space?!
Josh Ritter at the Glenn Massay Theater in Palmer, Alaska.
Josh doesn’t sing about farming, per se, but he is a modern folk singer that would appeal to any Farmgirl, I’m sure. Some of his songs harken back to classic folk characters like Stagger Lee, but he also has crafted tunes about a woman falling in love with a mummy that has come back to life, men lamenting the problems in the world when their loves have gone to war, and some star crossed lovers who find love waiting to push a warhead button to start WWIII in a missile silo, among many other themes. His voice is soothing and enveloping, his rhythm is flawed, and he definitely has some Farmboy charm. (Check out those two links, I think you’ll like his music a lot! He also did an NPR Tiny Desk Concert a few years ago check it out here, and another live NPR concert that is streaming here).
Another music opportunity in our community! Ava’s first orchestra?
Do you have any Farmgirl gems? A new season is upon us and some new music is in order! I will start my farming gig next week, and some new (new-to-me classics definitely count!) music to share with my co-farmers would be great!
I just had to share this sweet photo. Our good friends Bix and Emma left Alaska last week, and this is “Uncle” Bix walking with Ava for the last time in a long time. Sad Face. Perhaps I should parody a song for this moment.
Until Next time,
Sending you peace, love and beautiful harmonies,
Alex, The Rural Farmgirl
Alexandra Wilson 
susana 
Deb Bosworth 
Joy Pascarella 
Jean B 
Dorothy 
Joan 
Nancy 
edith 
Gail 
Maureen 
pam demarrais 
Adrienne 
Barbara 
Jeff Orr 
Denise Ross 
Dori Troutman 
robin fritz 
Jennifer 
Kim 
Marlene 
Barb 
Karen Pennebaker 
bonnie b 
Mary Pitman 
Maria Reyes 
Kay Shoemaker 
Diann 
Lynn L 
“Home” is where you are. Wherever that is. But there are other versions of “home.” I lived in the same metropolitan area (St. Louis-sh) for the first 50 years of my life. Then I got laid off in a terrible economy and had to leave my state to find work. I landed in beautiful Colorado, living along the Front Range of the Rockies. This is “home” no matter what house I am renting at the time (I am an eternal renter). But I often go “home” to visit family and friends in Missouri. There are many versions of home. Many.
Having spent seven years living in my motorhome and driving around the U.S., Canada and Mexico, I went by the adage “Home is where you park it.” The phrase was coined by the Escapees, a group of full-time RVers who are based in Livingston, Texas but roam where they want and had their mail forwarded to whatever location had general delivery. My home was always with me so I was always “home.” Now I live in an apartment in San Francisco and that’s “home.” I chose this city over all others in the U.S. and am very happy I did.
Oh my a new experience on the horizon? I too have had many buildings/areas that I called ‘home’ – right now I have one of the most beautiful buildings ever but can move on to anything – well almost anything – at my age I do require much creature comfort – but could move on. BUT HOME is still my Grandparents HOME where I was loved and I loved – a farm, cows, pigs, chickens, orchard, gardens, lots!! of relatives – LOVE!!! Can’t go back to that, except in my memories n pictures but it is the ONLY place I want to be. Best wishes in your decision. God bless P.S. your Ava is scrumptious!!
Hi Alex,
I have a lot of places I call home too. And I’m so thankful for that. My husband and I built a house all by ourselves (yes, totally) that took us 2 full years of working day and night. I knew this house inside out, literally, when we moved in and you know what? It took me almost a year before is really felt like home. That was when I really became aware that “home” is a lot more than where we live. It is memories! And for the first year of living here, I think I was recovering from the stress of building it (ha ha!) so it took me awhile to really make it a home. Now? It’s the best home I’ve ever lived in and I love it more than any of the others! And a lot of that is now due to the fact that we built it ourselves and the memories of that are phenomenal.
I sure loved your post and what I kept coming back to was your sweet comment about your little 10-year old farming friend. What a lucky little girl she is to have you for a friend. No matter where you eventually end up, it’ll be a happy day for her to come visit! 🙂
It is true – home really is where the heart is.
– Dori –
“Home is where you hang your hat.” My dad always told me that…I think prepping me for the day when I actually left “home”. Good luck in your search for your new home. Looking forward to an update.
There are two “Homes”. One in our memories from childhood, and one where we sleep every night and eat and relax and make new memories. My childhood homes are all gone because of progress so I have to close my eyes and remember it just the way it was. It will always be there. My today home is where I garden, take care of my chickens and cats and put my things in. Every few years my husband gets an urge to move. Leave everything I am familiar with and try something else. I fight it but always give in and have never regretted it. We have new experiences and learn new things like instead of living in a big house on a corner few acres where everyone sees every move you make, to a small cedar home in the woods with lots of acres and no one sees anything. Change is good and can be so fun, but always too scary at first. As long as you have someone with you , that you trust and love, I think home can be anywhere.
My true home is where I live but I’m not far from where I was born. Texas is also my home. I have been here all my life. Traveled a lot and plan to do more for sure when I retire in a few years. Love everywhere…and seeing all what God has done!!