This is God’s Country

I don’t know if you are familiar with Blake Shelton’s “God’s Country” but harvest is always when it hits home for me. There is just something about the fall season that brings me a sense of pride, not just in the work that we do, but the way it is done.

As a ‘town kid’ growing up, I had very little understanding of agriculture, other than Old MacDonald’s farm and the occasional field trip to a local dairy or ranch. We grew a small garden at home and I remember hating the work. All that weeding and watering, yuck. Who needed that work when there was a swimming pool? I was never going to live in a small town and I was never going to marry a farmer.

That sound you heard, yup, that was God laughing. I fell in love with a farmer and we started out married life in a small town. Soon enough, two small boys joined our home and we moved out to Road 33 North to his parents’ farm house.

My little carpet farmers have grown into full sized adults who capably drive machinery with tires taller than I am. They swing through the yard with a “Hi Mom” and a peek in the fridge, hoping there’s going to be something good in their lunches today. It’s a challenge to keep enough food, drinks and snacks in the house and I feel like I am forever running to town for something we are out of again. I threaten every year to buy them a milk cow and every year they laugh at me, knowing that I’m far too much of a princess to actually do it.

My love of the farm does extend to my garden. I still think weeding is a chore but now it is stress relief. When I’m weeding, my brain ceases to turn crazy cartwheels. I can focus on the task and find a sense of purpose and accomplishment. Being able to grow my own food and preserve it for later connects me to the land and generations of farm wives before me.

I also grow flowers for the sheer joy and beauty. I’ve been experimenting with perennials and roses, creating a whole section of the garden just for the colour and scent. Bee balm, pictured above, brings the bees to the garden and I was just lucky enough to catch this guy in action!

One of the other things I’m learning with my flowers is how to properly dry them for use in tea and personal care products. A few experiments have been utter failures. Lavender leaves, on their own, make a horrible tea. Others, like peppermint and lemon balm have been much more successful.

For now, I’m back to the garden. The zucchini is threatening to take over my life…