Hi, I’m Amy, and my idea of the good life is a farm in rural Missouri, a place with an uncluttered horizon, peppered mildly with the scent of large animals.

I like life served up simple—simple food, simple living. Homemade over store-bought. Hard work and kindness. Faith. Kitchen table conversations with a steaming mug of coffee. This blog is a reflection of that, part inspiration, part practical living.

Linger here a while. You’re always welcome.

 

 

Meet the Rural Girl

 

Name: Amy Harke-Moore

My day job: I write and edit for a living.

Family: Hubs Mike. (We celebrate the big 3-0 anniversary in 2017, symbol pearls, but he knows better than to buy me that.) Our daughter Emily and son-in-law Jared.

Where’s home? The Midwest. Missouri, specifically. No, it’s not flyover country. It’s a place where people live and breathe and work and love and take care of each other. While some people see it as the space between the coasts, it is my beloved home, and I’m fiercely proud of it!  

What makes me, me?

I’m a farm girl at heart. Yes, I said girl, even though I’m in my early fifties. I grew up on the same dairy farm that I live on today, minus the cows. Now it’s mostly crops with four horses, one shy of a dozen chickens, and one noisy rooster.

I’m an introvert, don’t like crowds. I like books and reading.

I like classic television. My current fave is The Burns and Allen Show. Love that Gracie. Nice to let the clicker wander out of sight instead of firmly in hand for fear of something objectionable popping on screen.

I like living where the seasons noticeably change, fall being my favorite. When the pumpkins and straw bales and cornstalks and mums appear along with the hint of wood smoke in the air, I’m happy. I like the progression of it—leaves falling, Thanksgiving arriving with the happy-hectic slide into Christmas, hands down my favorite holiday. (No Christmas songs or décor until after Thanksgiving, though!)

I love living in a rural area. I like small towns—the values. While I’ll visit my daughter in the big city, St. Louis proper, it’s always a relief to get home to the quiet. I like to see an uncluttered horizon. I like breathing clean air, peppered mildly with the scent of large animals.

I love God, but this faith walk ain’t a piece of cake. Sometimes I wish it were. One of my most favorite things to be is simply Child of God.

Hobbies: My creative bent takes many forms—writing, gardening, crafts, and DIY projects, though, as of late, my biggest DIY project seems to be pinning DIY projects on Pinterest.

I have a like-dislike relationship with cooking. Mostly I welcome the creative outlet. Other times I resist the urge to run screaming from the room when Hubs asks, “What’s for supper?” If I were a recipe, I’d be made up of meat and cheese. Sturdy ingredients.

Pets: I love my two boys, cats Winston and Clarence. Winston is named after Mr. Churchill and Clarence is named after the angel on It’s a Wonderful Life. Hubs thought that one up, but it’s pretty apropos, since a couple of years ago Clarence kind of saved my life when I was going through a particularly rough patch. He came to me with a cold and his spine noticeably visible. We needed each other. Or, like Clarence from the movie who feigned drowning to save George Bailey, maybe Clarence pretended to be thin and needy with a bad sneeze.

What inspires me? People who don’t give up. Hard work which results in something valuable. Doing the right thing, even when it costs dearly. Unselfish acts of kindness. I’m embarrassed to say, I tear up when I see that commercial with people helping the woman with the stroller up the flight of steps and the man stroking the stuffed animal bunny ears, looking for the child who lost it.

What might people not know about me? I’m not on Facebook. Nor do I want to be. I’ve also been on a news fast for nearly three years and am happier for it!

Quick faves in no particular order:

Chocolate—milk chocolate, specifically.

Bready things, though it’s exceedingly rare when I partake. (Livin’ the keto life these days.)

When my nephew Elijah calls me “Me Me.”

Dessert after dinner.

Expressions like, “High as the corn in July.”

Growing things.

Dairy cows—oh, how I miss them!

Watching nature happen.

Fields and fields of corn.

The Roasted Bean. Best. Coffeehouse. Ever.

Being an American.

Why did I start the blog? When trying to sum up my thoughts for a tagline, oddly a line from the song “Home on the Range” kept coming back to me—“where seldom is heard, a discouraging word.” I hope readers will come away feeling better about life. Feeling like they have renewed purpose. Feeling like there are still good people on this good green Earth we share.