City Girl Takes the Rural Plunge

The biggest reason: because I had met the most wonderful man who just happened to live on the Kansas prairie. But that one obvious reason aside, I always wanted to return to country living ever since my brief 3-year stint as a teen.

When I was 15, my father moved us from a very short dead-end street in the city to 3.5 acres in a suburban/rural area. For almost 3 years, I sampled country pleasures such as my own horse, barn cats, a goat, rabbits, and of course our dogs, along with an orchard, grapes and our own garden. As one might expect of a teenager, I didn't appreciate all that country living had to offer, especially when I was forced to weed the garden, which I equated to child slavery! I didn't even LIKE veggies, so why did I have to weed the garden?! So not fair.

But as I matured, that short country experience left an indelible impression on me and as I approached my 40s, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was meant to live a more authentic and rural life. Little did I know that I was going to meet someone soon who would transport me from my postage stamp size city lot to an expansive 27 acre prairie spread.

Photo, above: That's my tiny country garden in the front yard of my Ohio bungalow .... snapdragons, alyssum, lavender, black-eyed susan's and other flowers spilled onto my walkway. I loved the messy, country look of it all.

The Kansas prairie owns my heart.

I know now that I was meant to have space around me... I breathe in the fresh prairie air, I can see so very far away, and I can think up grandiose plans and schemes. All this space makes me believe that anything is possible and that I'm capable of anything I want to do. Rural living does that to me. It frees me and motivates me to be more and do more.

So I believe that someday I can really have our own CSA (community supported agriculture). We can expand on our garden every year until it's big enough to share with others. Lavender, sunflowers, cucumbers, carrots and many other vegetables will provide us with a bounteous table of fresh and beautiful reminders of earth's provenance.

I call our slice of prairie "the big wide open". Because it is. You can see for miles without seeing another house. Dirt tractor roads weave between fields of prairie grass and winter wheat where one can see deer grazing at dusk. Fields of golden sunflowers wave their cheery hello during July and August. Sunrise and sunset appear to be in a continual competition of glorious color; sometimes I sit mesmerized, unable to run and get my camera. Oh I'll be honest... sometimes I don't even want to be distracted by my camera. I just want to sit and soak every fast second of a short sunset on our front porch, which by happy accident faces west.

I am thankful every single day that I live in the midst of such stupendous beauty and glory.

Our sunsets require no dialogue. This is big sky country here and every glorious sunset paints a thousand words.

Need I elaborate? Wouldn't you love to start your day with a sunrise like this? We do. Maybe not every sunrise is this fantabulous, and I will admit, it's difficult to admire the gorgeous sunrise when I'm still fast asleep in my cozy bed, but in my defense, that's because I work until 11:00 every night, sometimes later!

Not all of these pertain specifically to country life. The simple living book helped me realize that streamlining and organizing my life would help me find more fulfillment. I didn't need more STUFF. I needed to get away from a chaotic and crazy city life to a more simple, more fulfilling country life.

This is what we are trying to do -- grow more of our own food in our garden, raise guineas and chickens so we have our own eggs. Perhaps later down the road, we can be even more self-sustaining - a few cows, some sheep or goats, a windmill -- I think the possibilities for the future are endless!

I realize not everyone is dying to live a country life. Some people are perfectly content to live in the city. It's nice to have everything nearby, such as the grocery store, gas stations, restaurants, the mall.

And yet it seems to me that more and more people are tired of the day-to-day "hurry-up" mentality that seems to exist in most cities. They long to move to the country where they will have more space to do what makes them happiest.

Which are you ~ country gal/guy or city slicker?

I'd love to hear from you.... do you enjoy living in the city? Or are you ready to dump it all and head to the country? Tell me your hopes and dreams, or what you've already accomplished. Life is all about making your dreams come true, whatever they might be.