Back to the Basics

Somewhere around here, I have a couple of gorgeous photos of my husband and son, Max, in a field with a barn in the background. It was taken my my aunt Patti after a fall hike on her and my uncle Terry’s farm. I had the pleasure of spending some time there tonight “working” and came away with about 32 quarts of freezer corn.

I wish I had taken my camera to capture Colby toddling around with a shorn corn cob, sucking the juice and making himself a sticky mess. It was sweet.

Anyway. I don’t have a photo for this post, but let me paint you a picture in your mind. Cicadas chirping, Moses the old dog bellowing about but scaring no one, a breeze after a hot day, a seamless operation of shucking, boiling, cooling, shearing and filling bags of corn. Kids running barefoot and dirty; the whole thing ending with sweet tea and butter and salt for the last dozen ears of corn.

This is what I want. I want a house in the country, with a proud garden and the time to store food I’ve grown for the winters. I want kids and dogs running free, and my baby and I on the porch swing late at night where no one can see.

You can have your Starbucks and even your Targets. Isn’t this what it all ends with anyway? Family, land, hard work and the knowledge and pride of a job well done.

I’m goin’ back to the basics of life.