9/22/08

Almost done harvest


We are finally nearing the end of harvest. Its a "rain day " today but once the weather dries up we only have a couple days left. This picture is of Roman helping wash the grain dust off the windows. He loves to come along with me and be one of the working men. Please don't report us to child labor....it was entirely voluntary. Today I am trying to catch up on stacks of laundry, baking and a really dirty house . Unfortunately the cleaning fairies didn't come while I was away and 2 weeks worth of house work is all still here waiting for me. I enjoy the solitude of operating the combine and being out in the field...just me and my satelitte radio ...singing along to spirit 66. No one asking me for snacks or hanging on my leg...its a nice change for a few weeks of the year. I am not a sedentary person though and this job requires sitting all day...literally. My body is rebelling against this forced sedation and I think I am starting to atrophy as my hips fuse into a sitting postition. I will be making a date with the chiropractor and massage therapist once this job is finished.

I am so glad my kids are getting to experience life on the same farm that I grew up on...and worked on every summer as a teenager.
I love the fact that my kids have a first hand knowledge of where their food comes from...whether its from the backyard garden or from the fields where Grandpa and Daddy work. My kids get to see what wheat looks like before it is made into flour, or what canola seeds look like before they are pressed into oil. They graze our back yard picking berries , apples and vegis....they realize that food isn't made in the supermarket.

We live in a "town" of 100 people...there are lots of young families. Which is totally unusual in rural sk. The kids run in packs as they freely explore the nature all around us. They have the chance to be kids who climb trees, get dirty , chase frogs and build forts. Another benifit of this rural life is that my kids get to attend a small two room school ....my kids are actually the fourth generation of my family to attend this small school. Again this is unusual since most of these pioneer schools have been shut down and the kids bussed to larger towns and cities. I love this school! My son's kindergarten class the largest class they have seen in years...a total of nine kids. It is such a large class that they had to convert part of the library into the kindergarten classroom....so I guess it is now a three room school. In case you were wondering what kind of an education they get in a tiny rural school, there are 9 kids for 1 teacher in the kindergarten class this year....and the teacher is wonderful. Aili is in a class that has 4 -1st graders, 8 -2nd graders and 1 -3rd grader. It is such a unique school experience in which they interact with kids of all different ages and no kid "slips through the cracks".....pretty hard to do when there are only 8 kids in your grade.

There are some trade offs of not living in a city like not being able to order in pizza , pop over to the movie theatre or watch my kids get fat at McDonalds...actually its quite funny taking our kids to "the city" they point and stare wide eyed at every building over 3 stories high, every billboard and giant inflatable floating above the car dealerships....but after a day in "the city" I am relieved to return to our simple quiet life ...away from the rat race and materialism of our modern world.

1 comment:

Fran said...

Carla! What a wonderful collection of thougths! What a gift you have been given to raise your children on the same land you were raised on!
Keep up the good work... and enjoy that massage appointment!
Fran