Lesson #3 - Country is a Way of Life

Country Lesson #3 - Country is a Way of Life - There is a different between “country” and country.  I quickly came to realize that my previous notion of “country” was nothing like the life that Josh’s family led.  Yes, they had tons of land where they can escape from city living, ride four wheelers, and party (if Jackson County wasn’t a dry county); however, they embody country living at its truest sense.  They always have and always will live off and depend upon the land.  Josh’s family has raised tobacco, dairy cattle, beef cattle, pigs, meat chickens, egg chickens, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, pumpkins, gourds, herbs, flowers, and hay. The farm has not only provided them with food, it has also provided thousands of others with fresh, sustainably raised food for over 30 years at farmers markets throughout the state of Kentucky.  Without the farm, they wouldn’t have been able to survive, and that sense of dependence on a farm creates a very different lifestyle. They need the food from the land because the nearest highway or substantial grocery store is 45 minutes away, which is still miserably hard to get used to some days.  It has happened many times that dinner plans have to change because I forgot one ingredient at the grocery store.  They can’t go on vacations or make definitive plans because, from their experiences on the farm, there are too many things out of their control that can and often do go wrong. Sometimes birthdays and holidays have to be put on hold in order to cut hay before it rains or take care of an injured calf.  One bad storm can wipe out their ability to make farm payments and change the course of their entire year.  There is love/hate relationship between them and the land because it provides them with food and a way to make a living, yet it ensures a life of instability, poverty and stress.  This relationship to me is country living.  Country Lesson #3 - Country is a way of life and a relationship with the land, not a couple acres to party and ride four wheelers on.  Josh will always be country.