Living in town for twenty years I knew a lot about city life. My experience moving to the country was full of adventures such as driving, farming, and blizzards. It is a whole New World to someone who has never been.
It was October 15th, 2011 when my significant other Bret, our new daughter Aubrey, and myself moved into our new place on the farm. Now Bret grew up on a farm, so he was excited to start our lives in a familiar location. I on the other hand, was a little nervous because I did not know what to expect and was out of my comfort zone a little bit. I embraced that fact that this was a new start for all of us and made the best of it. Packing all of our things in town was a bittersweet feeling. My friends and family all lived in town. I was always close to them if I needed anything. Would I be in the country by myself all the time? Gas stations and Grocery stores were a few blocks away. Am I going to have to drive twenty minutes for a gallon of milk? All these questions were running through my head. I can admit I was a little panicky when I saw the moving truck pull up in my front yard. I took a deep breath and thought to myself this was going to be a good change and I did not look back. Pulling into our new house the first thing I noticed was the smell. The powerful smell of cow poop and diesel fuel shocked me. Is this what my clothes and house were going to smell like from now on? The next thing I noticed was all of the bugs. Flies were swarming all over our yard, bees were buzzing around our flowers, and at night the mosquitoes were enough to keep you indoors forever. It did not take me long to realize that this was going to take time getting used to all of these things. Lying in bed that night I took another deep breath and said to myself this was going to be a good change. The next morning, I woke up to deafening sounds of gates slamming, tractors roaring, and cows’ mooing like something was wrong. I went outside to see twelve people sorting the calves from the cows in a process the call weaning. Now, our house is about 100 feet from the cattle yard. If you have never experienced this, I will tell you that you will not sleep for at least a week. The cattle loudly cry throughout the night into the next day looking for their moms. I thought it was sad but at the same time I was wishing for the day it would stop. A few weeks later Bret invited me to go combining with him. At first I was a leery but eventually went with. Cutting down corn in a colossal tractor was actually fun. Combining was thrilling; there was so much going on that I stayed busy the whole time.
