The Homestead

~ by JoAnn

What is it about growing up in rural Midwestern USA in the 60’s and 70’s that set this era, this place, and these people apart?  Our home was not unique at the time.  We lived on the same farm where our Dad was born and raised.  (It would later come to be marked as one of the Midwest’s centennial farms; in the same family for more than 100 years.)  The house was set well back off the road surrounded by 120 acres of fields and wood.  

Like most farms in those parts, it was not a big farm, but rather a self-sustaining one with enough garden, livestock and harvest to feed the immediate family and the ability to be generous to close family and friends.  The barn was an outstanding feature of our homestead.  It stood strong for as long as our family had owned it.  My Dad had stories to tell about it being built and then later added onto.  What made this ordinary farm so special?  It was the history that was born in its dirt, the continuing story that grew on its land, and the people that continue to nurture its memory.  The heritage that stands like the strong beams of the barn, need not be forgotten.  Yes, I am just a farmer’s daughter.  Some may not know my roots, or understand its value in forming the kind of person  the farmer’s daughter’s across American have become.  Come join this simple journey of one miwestern farm.  Find out what it means to be “just a farmer’s daughter.”    

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E7bc149Xe0&feature=related