Crazy

January 23, 2011 by The Minnesota Farm Woman

I am often asked why we decided to move from sunny, beachy St. Augustine Florida back to northern Minnesota. More often, I am asked “Are you crazy?” Those of us who have experienced the changing of the seasons miss them when they are no longer there. I can’t even tell you which is my favorite. Winter would probably not get my vote, but if anyone has ever looked out the window on one of those cold January days to see the sun shining on pristine white snow and a sky so blue it hurts your eyes, you will know that winter days are not always dark and dreary. I can live in the country and have a garden as big as I want, with a truckload of rich black compost delivered by the local doctor in his old pickup for the price of a key lime pie. I can and freeze my own vegetables which remind us of the fall harvest on cold winter evenings. I can raise my chickens and gather their eggs, and am always amazed when I feel their warmth in my hand as I gather them from the nest. I have traded those eggs for vegetable plants from a friend’s greenhouse and maple syrup tapped from neighbors’ trees. A short drive away is the cabin that my dad built. On summer Sunday afternoons we grab poles and dig worms and hope that the motor starts on the old boat. I know the joy of living near my sister, mother and cousins again, and we visit as often as we can. I found a second family in my church where my slightly off-key alto blends with other voices in the choir and magically becomes beautiful music. We moved from a city growing too large to a small town where there are no strangers. We all know each other, help each other, laugh together, comfort each other and wave when someone passes by our house. We can grow older with the friends who knew us when we were young, and we remember, together. Crazy, isn’t it?

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments

15 Responses

on January 23, 2011 at 2:16 pm | Reply Amanda Grubbs

Love this mom 🙂
This really is an amazing place to live!

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on January 23, 2011 at 4:05 pm | Reply MQ

Wonderful writing, Beautiful scene;)

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on January 23, 2011 at 5:33 pm | Reply Lynn (Jessica's Mom)

You are truly Blessed! I also hope to leave St. Augustine one of these days, as well, and head north. I completely understand and say “No, you are definitely not crazy!” Returning to hills, a change of seasons (and yes, even snow), small town life and a little farm all sound like bliss to me. Great post, thanks for sharing!

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- on January 23, 2011 at 6:03 pm | Reply themnfarmwoman
  
  Thanks for your kind words, and by the way, your daughter is awesome!
  
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  - on January 24, 2011 at 1:47 am Lynn (Jessica's Mom)
    
    Thanks, Chris – your daughter is an amazing young woman as well!
    
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on January 23, 2011 at 7:13 pm | Reply Dianne

You are not crazy, you are amazing and wonderful!!!

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- on January 23, 2011 at 7:21 pm | Reply themnfarmwoman
  
  Thank you!
  
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on June 14, 2011 at 6:48 am | Reply debbie

You are not crazy at all! You are amazing! It sounds as though you just about have the perfect place on earth to live! It sounds so very beautiful and peaceful. I enjoy your blogs so very much!

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- on June 14, 2011 at 4:47 pm | Reply The Minnesota Farm Woman
  
  Aw….thanks Debbie! I appreciate it!
  
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on June 19, 2011 at 12:44 am | Reply Susan

My husband and I moved from Phoenix, AZ to Anchorage, AK about 4 1/2 years ago. We bought a condo and lived in Anchorage until about a month ago when we were finally able to buy a house on 5 acres out in the country. We have had a lot of people call us crazy for moving here from Phoenix, but we love it. I was born and raised in Montana, but my husband was born in Oklahoma and raised in Phoenix. We had intended to move to Montana for years…I always wanted to go back “home”. As it turned out, God had other plans, and we moved to Alaska instead. We love it here; we can’t bear the thought of leaving “home”…not even to move back to Montana.

We’re planning to turn our 5 acres into a self-sufficient homestead, complete with chickens, goats, pigs and even yaks. As well as a large garden, orchard and greenhouses. We have access to all the salmon we can catch, and we plan to hunt moose to fill our huge chest freezer. Most of these things won’t happen this summer, but we’re excited to begin this journey.

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- on June 19, 2011 at 5:19 am | Reply The Minnesota Farm Woman
  
  Wonderful, Susan! Someday, we will visit Alaska, I hear it is absolutely gorgeous. I look forward to keeping up with you adventures. Self-sufficiency is my dream, not my husband’s, so we will go with the chickens, gardens, and wild food gathering for semi-self sufficiency. (Is there such a thing?). My suggestion? Buy a pressure canner. Freezing is wonderful, too, but there is nothing like canned salmon (I’m jealous!). I have never canned moose, but canned venison is really, really good. Thanks for reading!
  
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on December 29, 2011 at 8:06 am | Reply Emma Ann Weatherly

After many corporate moves, we left sunny Broward County, FL to return to Ohio, where we had grown up, where our large family lives, where life is a bit slower-paced, and yes, where you can live in a small town where there are no “strangers,” for everyone you pass on the street says “Good morning, and how are you?!” with a smile. Ah, yes, the seasons… how I missed them! Perfect? Of course not! Crazy? Perhaps! But family, old friends, the seasons, the slow rumble of the train in the distance moving through the village down the road as I write this… Life is good. I believed “Bloom where you are Transplanted.” But home… country, small towns… what compares? I wrote about my memories of this little town in “A Shady Neighborhood,” on my blog page. I hope you’ll visit!

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- on December 29, 2011 at 9:31 am | Reply The Minnesota Farm Woman
  
  I will be sure to visit your blog and read. Thanks for your kind words.
  Chris
  
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on July 24, 2015 at 8:27 am | Reply Joann Kilmer

So wonderfully written – there is no comparison between big city and little town USA – especially when it is “home”, where family abouds around you! Keep up your writing – you do a great job and so many things you write about I can relate to having come from the farm myself……… I enjoy you!

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- on July 24, 2015 at 11:08 am | Reply The Minnesota Farm Woman
  
  Thank you!
  
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