Hellobee

Mrs. Bee and Mrs. High Heels recently detailed why they love raising kids in the city and suburbs respectively. Those great posts made me realize it’s time for me to write a shout out to country living. Mr. Blue and I live in a town of just under 200,000 people, but I grew up in the middle of nowhere on a working cattle ranch. And when I say “middle of nowhere,” I mean thirty minutes from the closest town of 1,000 people. I mean “country” as in the closest movie theater, doctor’s office, or fast food was 60 miles away, while the closest mall or any kind of major shopping was two hours away (in the town we now live in). While I didn’t always love everything about living on a ranch when I was a kid, one of the reasons we moved to our current city is because we wanted our boys to grow up getting to go out to the ranch and having an appreciation for that way of life.  And, let me tell you, it is absolutely their happy place.

Country life: Where a road becomes your playground.

1.  You have almost entirely unhindered freedom to roam and play. We literally have one neighbor within five miles of my parents’ house and beyond that, we know everyone in at least a 30 mile radius. When we were little kids, my brothers and I would ride our bikes down the country road 5 miles one way to play with our cousins, and no one thought anything about it. My parents didn’t have to worry about who we might encounter when we were playing because we had miles and miles of front yard at our disposal, and every vehicle that drives the country road by our house knows that there are kids nearby to keep an eye out for. Obviously, I still set age-appropriate boundaries at the ranch; I’m not going to let them wander miles away, but they have much more freedom there than I could ever give them when we’re at home.

2.  You get to be around animals often enough that you become comfortable with them and develop a deeper appreciation for them. My boys’ first love was cows. From about 15 months on, all they talked about was going to see the cows. They got to get in the truck and go check the cows multiple times every time we were at my parents’. They would get out and Grandpa would walk them around the cows and talk about how they think, what they eat, etc. While their love of cows has never waned, it has gained some competition. “Horsey. Me. Ride.” is a frequent phrase around this house. They boys were on horseback from the time they were babies. The last time they were out is the first time they were allowed to sit on a horse by themselves (both saddled and bareback), but to actually ride the horse, they still have to be with a grown up. Even though they are too little for us to let ride on their own, they are already learning how to take care of our horses, how to hold the reins, how to get them to move and stop, and most importantly how to enjoy and love the experience. My boys will have an opportunity to become really comfortable with these animals because of the frequency that they are around them. They’ve literally never showed any fear of being close to cows or horses because it’s just normal to them, and I love that.

3.  You learn responsibility from a young age. In the country, you make your living from how much and how smart you work and how well you take care of your land and animals. I’ve always said that many agriculturalists are the ultimate environmentalists because we rely on the land and animals and know the value of taking care of them. On our ranch, we practice rotational grazing and do things to make sure we aren’t over grazing so that we will always have enough grass for our animals. Likewise, we take care of our animals before we take care of ourselves. If the water freezes, my dad is out breaking ice so they can drink. In the winter, my boys get to go with Grandpa to feed the cows because we want to make sure they have enough to eat even when there isn’t enough grass growing. At every turn, my boys are learning that we take care of things that have been entrusted to us and we take care of each other.

4.  Your siblings have to be your best friends. Since we lived in the middle of nowhere, my playmates had to be my brothers. We didn’t have an option to play with anyone else on a daily basis, so we played together. Sure, we fought like any siblings do, but we had to make up if we ever wanted to have a playmate again. I truly believe that it fostered a deep friendship that has lasted all our lives.

5.  You develop a strong work ethic from a young age. Almost any farm or ranch kid starts learning to help with the family business from a young age. At somewhere between five and seven years of age for each of us, my brothers and I started helping gather cattle, brand or wean, build fences, feed cattle, clean tanks, or whatever else needed to be done. While every moment wasn’t always fun, I love that I learned and my boys will someday learn how to be a valuable part of a business, how to contribute everything you have, how to work along side those you love for a common goal.

6.  There’s always an adventure around the corner. Whether it’s a family of turkeys eating out of the dog bowl, a bear drinking out of the cattle tank outside your yard, climbing up a tree for hours to read a book, or just going off with your siblings to make up your own adventure, you never know what country life will have in store to surprise you with that day. It keeps you on your toes and makes life fun.

7.  The simpleness of life provides perfect nourishment for a vivid imagination. While it may seem like the lack of “things to do” would be a negative, for a kid, it can be the absolute best thing. When you don’t have all the busyness and activities, you learn to dream up your own fun, to imagine the world however you want it to be. After our last trip out to the ranch, my boys came back with an imagination that had sprung to life. Suddenly, the rocks were cows and the sticks were horses and we needed to take them all to the pond for water, find some grass to feed them, and go count the cows. We go look for cows all over the yard and gather them up so we can take them to the well. I know they would have learned to play pretend games no matter where they live, but I love that the blank slate of time in the country has brought that to life.

8.  There’s a special kind of peacefulness from being away from the rush, away from people, and in the company of the wide open spaces. Even though I haven’t lived in the country since I graduated, there are times I still crave the peacefulness of wide-open spaces. I miss waking up and having coffee and having only the sounds of nature around me. When I’ve been in the city too long, I just have to go somewhere I can see for miles and have no one hustling and bustling around me.

9.  It’s great to have a close-knit community. As I referred to earlier, every one knows every one in the country and that applies to whatever tiny town is nearby. We went to school and church in a town of 1,000 people, and everyone has known me since I was a baby. They cheered for me at sporting events. They watched me sing at our high school graduation.  They threw me a wedding shower. They have held my babies. They have seen me grow and change, both good and bad, and are always happy to see me no matter what. These people know me and I know them, and while sometimes everyone knowing everyone’s business is frustrating, it’s also comforting and nice to know that all around you are people who have loved you from birth.

Glorious, unobstructed sunsets is just one more perk to country living.

10.  Your friends from the city and suburbs think your life is so magical and interesting. While it’s not all fun and games in the country, people we met from other walks of life always thought it was so cool that we got to grow up on a real ranch. People always wanted to come visit our ranch someday, and we loved to host people. We’ve given more horse rides and tours of the ranch than I could ever hope to count. It’s fun getting to experience a way of life that other people think is unique and interesting.