Reader Mail

cheeky monkey said...

"Hi CG-- I am curious about your farm life. My husband and I are thinking of leaving big city and moving north to Vermont. Have you always been a farm gal? Or was it a big move? And is it in your soul now? We're noth thinking farming (big garden and maybe some goats... and if I can convince myself that I can care for babies AND a horse, then a lovely quarter horse or the like!)

"Enjoy the peace and quiet, and the skunks. The skunks in Canada look slightly punky--almost with mohawks on their blazing backs."

Well, CM, honestly it wasn't a big move for me. To garden, to put up, to have animals, to live remotely, none of that was new to me. But my family of birth didn't do much of that, or value that, so I'm not doing what I was raised to do either. I am doing what my grandparents did, and what their parents did, and I am still in my native culture which is terribly important to me. I value it so much that I have problems expressing it all. Financially it is secure, it is healthier than any other lifestyle I can think of, it is fun and fulfilling, it is good for the kids (they have real responsibilities and a great example), it is good for the planet (less consumerist).

It is in my soul as you say, but I think it always has been. It has always been the mountains and the animals that made my heart sing. So even that punky skunk, that's just funny and a good story -- and a good story, that is more essential than breathing.

I do not believe there is any better life than life on the farm.