“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
Adrienne 
Joan 
Dori Troutman 
Jodie 
Joy Pascarella 
Rowena Philbeck 
Alexandra Wilson 
susana 
Deb Bosworth 
Jean B 
Dorothy 
Nancy 
edith 
Gail 
Maureen 
pam demarrais 
Barbara 
Jeff Orr 
Denise Ross 
robin fritz 
Jennifer 
Kim 
Marlene 
Barb 
Karen Pennebaker 
bonnie b 
My brother lives in Willow. The fire stopped about 100 yards from his place so he only lost some food. There will be lots of cleanup though and some hotspots still smolder.
Sometimes it is difficult to remember that my state (Oregon) isn’t the only one walking on pins and needles because of the forest fire danger this year. Prayers and positive thoughts being sent your way! And, speaking of positive thoughts, your comments about Facebook are so true, and reinforce my current attempts to focus more on educational and positive posts while still maintaining my quirky sense of humor. Thanks, and prayers for your safety!
I live in Colorado, where fires are a way of life. That doesn’t make them any less scary or any less devastating. So sad that you all are going through this. So scary!
Labor Day 2011 I lost my house in the wildfire of Bastrop TX (near Austin) along with over 1600 other homes. (Worst wildfire in Texas history – 3rd worst nationally.) We were lucky and got a phone call from a friend telling us of the fire as soon as it started, a mere 1/2 mile from our home. We were able to grab a few things and while we lost some treasures, pictures, 400 year old family bed… we at least got some stuff out. We were fortunate.
Through social media, I was able to keep up on where the fire was, inform friends and family who were seeing our fire on the news that we were OK, tell people what we needed, what we didn’t need… It really was an immense help.
Other ladies had husbands on volunteer fire fighting crews and as their men would call home they would relay the status reports to their FB feeds. Media in Austin wasn’t covering our disaster very well and FB was often the only and by far the most reliable source of information during the chaos of that month.
Sadly, FB has changed its metrics and now not all posts that you or emergency offices post is seen by everyone who follows them. There has been a vast shift to Twitter for this reason as they DO show all of the posts. During a crisis it is unconscionable for news that is desperately needed not to be relayed due to silly metrics for advertising.
Nearly 4 years out, and we are still recovering. Still using social media to gain information and alert us to new threats – floods, new fires… We know all to well that it can happen to us.
Stay safe, have pictures of everything in your house taken and kept in your purse, and good luck. And know that if the sky does happen to fall you will eventually recover… and you can always contact others in the forest fire club for support.
Here’s to hoping that you don’t join the sisterhood of the burning house.
I live in Colorado, actually the Black Forest fire got within 1/2 mile of my home, my sons home is just a street width from the fire – he found temp homes for his horses, unfortunately the chickens had to be turned loose (they all made it just fine) the dogs n cats went with them into friends in Colorado Springs – they couldn’t stay with us because we were under ‘evac warning’. All said my family did fine but a few friends lost everything – one of their neighbors (husband and wife) lost their lives. This fire was man made and still no one held responsible BUT all that said – each and every fire is devastating whether one is personally effected or if it is the community – we can’t thank the fire fighters and other first responders enough for all they do everyday. So glad you are not personally in harms way but thank you for your kindness toward all that are. Just a quick word about Ava – just seeing her makes my heart skip a beat – precious!!!
God bless.
Fantastic post Alex. I do love how people really pull together when terrible things happen. It shows us that community is still alive and well. I’m glad that you’ve shown the beautiful side of life in social media. I agree with you wholeheartedly, when used for good things, social media is absolutely fantastic. Take care.
I know all about how damaging fires can be living here in Australia. We go through the exact same thing every summer season.