Northern Farmer

There’s very few jobs that I like more than stacking firewood. It’s quiet, darn good exercise, and for some reason it puts me into the mood to just think and reflect on life like no other job can. This past week sure has had it’s ups and downs here, most things went very good except for a flood from over five inches of rain and some not so good medical news in the family on the farm. As a farmer, floods are looked at differently than most citified folks look at it. A few fences washed out here and there, par for the course. They probobly needed repairing anyhow so this just puts it higher up on the things to do list, (quick). The water is starting to go down now so in a couple of days I’ll go out and figure out what needs to be done out there. Not in the mood at the present to get washed away trying to do repairs. This is the first time in quite a few years that the pot holes are filling up to the brim with water so maybe the muskrats at least can get their lives back to what it once was. It just hasn’t felt right looking at the pot holes in the past and seeing so many of them dry. Hard to explain, but it’s nice to see em back up.

But stacking wood up to a few minutes ago got me thinking like it always does about so many things. In the backround I could hear the cars on the county road wizzing by, everybody in a rush to go nowhere, but once in a great while it would be quiet out. There wasn’t much farm noises at all except for an occasional rooster crowing. Just listening to the soft wind through the Norway Pine trees in our windbreak. Once in a while I would hear the sound that I love start up over at neighbor Pete’s place, his old John Deere 60 would start pounding away doing some job. Pretty good for an 80 year old farmer. I almost was going to start our JD 50 to answer him back. Why is it so common that country folk keep at it at such an old age, or at least what society considers old. He don’t have to, just keeps going. It’s all around here, people that are so well up in years doing work that would scare many younger folk. And it’s not a job of drudgery that modern society dishes out. These older folk love waking up and getting out there like they have since the depression days. And I was thinking about what these folk have gone through in their lifetimes. No other generation in human history has seen more change, for better or for worse. Maybe stacking wood got me thinking that way because it’s a job they “had” to do to make it through a Minnesota winter alive. We’re supposed to respect and listen to our elders and I hope more people would do it, instead of casting them away, used up. What they have seen in their lifetimes, there’s so much wisdom to be tapped.

In earlier posts I mentioned that we don’t use credit cards and debt is something to get out of as fast as humanly possible. This was taught to me by my father that seen his family loose everything during the depression. The story of it is almost unbelievable to our modernized ears. I’m saving that story for someday in the future to blog. So many of the older folk lived it and have held on to it’s memory that I think it must be rough for them to watch how modern society thinks easy credit is the a god given right.(And I use a small g on that). I had it pounded into my brain for years by my dad and I’m pounding it into my kid’s minds. Stay away from all credit cards, it sure won’t kill you, in fact you’ll be happier than ever. The bank is for cashing checks, period. The only loans should be for starter loans and pay them off pronto. Some folk now can’t even imagine what life would be like without easy credit. The older generation had hardly any credit. There were almost decades that they couldn’t get a loan. And if they could they didn’t want one, after having the rug pulled out from under them in the 30s. I wonder what my credit rating says, that’s what all the “important people” are always worrying about according to the TV. Mine’s probobly pretty poor, never charge anything to get up on the list. Kinda comical for me to think about it, but I’d better stop on that now. It might hurt someones feelings that’s in debt “up to their eyeballs” to know what this farm is worth with no debt. Don’t take it as a brag, it’s not, but the “modern” world doesn’t want people to know that you get ahead by doing things the right way, not the credit way. Good old fashion hard work, and sometimes it looks like a person will never make it, but “they” don’t want people to know this, if a person does go for it with everything they got, the chances are darn good. Just don’t sit around wondering if you’ll make it. Stop thinking it’s to hard or impossible, just do it! Nothing good is ever easy. Oh, if I could only put it in words how we lived for years, but in the end, well it’s not really the end yet, now people are saying, gee you have all of that, I wish, I wish we could. What we did was live better, but poorer than most people in modern society live day to day. We were poor, but it was good.And scrounging and scraping to make it built our family. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

And the last thing from the woodpile is faith in God. I was crushed this week with bad news, but God will see us through. If a person wants to farm or homestead, go for it by putting it in God’s hands. When I was stacking wood a bit ago I wonder what a person would of thought if they came up on me without my noticing. Remember that song, “Daddy Sang Bass. Well, it was being belted out at the woodpile today!

I remember when I was a lad Times were hard and things were bad
But there’s a silver linin’ behind every cloud
Just poor people that’s all we were Tryin’ to make a livin’ out of blackland earth
But we’d get together in a family circle singin’ loud …

CHORUSDaddy sang bass, Mama sang tenorMe and little brother would join right in there
Singin’ seems to help a troubled soul
One of these days and it won’t be longI’ll rejoin them in a song I’m gonna join the family circle at the throne …No, the circle won’t be brokenBye and bye, Lord, bye and bye …
Daddy’ll sing bass, Mama’ll sing tenorMe and little brother will join right in thereIn the sky, Lord, in the sky.

Now I remember after work, Mama would call in all of us You could hear us singin’ for a country mile Now little brother has done gone on But I’ll rejoin him in a song We’ll be together again up yonder in a little while.

CHORUSDaddy sang bass, Mama sang tenorMe and little brother would join right in thereSingin’ seems to help a troubled soul
One of these days and it won’t be longI’ll rejoin them in a songI’m gonna join the family circle at the throne …
No, the circle won’t be broken Bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye …Daddy’ll sing bass, Mama’ll sing tenorMe and little brother will join right in thereIn the sky, Lord, in the sky.In the sky, Lord, in the sky.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 8th, 2005 at 7:20 pm and is filed under Northern Farmer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.