Inside: Country roads that lead home, A Rural Girl Writes turns three, and announcing the launch of our Stories page. Check out all the latest news fresh from the farm.
Country Roads That Lead Home
As some of you know, I’ve been doing a weekly photo challenge through a site called 52Frames. This past week’s challenge was “Line From A Song,” and for most of the week, I couldn’t seem to think of anything that would work for me. Then this line comes barreling into my brain: “Country roads, take me home.” Perfect! (Though this is Missouri and not West Virginia, as in John Denver’s famous song.) This particular stretch of road is up by the old milk barn, a few hundred feet from where I live. The setting sun adds a nice touch.
Home has been on my mind a lot lately, as I’m sure it’s been on yours, too. I’ve got it better than most, I think, with so much land to spread out on and family (Mom, brother, sister-in-law, nephew) living in homes on the farm. Cousins, also living close, on their part of the original land passed down from my grandfather. I am blessed, indeed!
To be honest with you, staying home hasn’t been hard for me. I’m an introvert, and my life has pretty much been the same, with the exception of Mike’s hours being somewhat different and not working the weekend or Wednesday services and no Thursday night practice. I feel a little guilty saying it’s been nice having him around more often when there are people going through very real hardships.
Even with those who fall into the inconvenienced category, trying to work, run a household, and keep kids from climbing the walls, while, at times, warding off fear, can take its toll. I suspect many of these folks, particularly the extroverts, are thinking of home right now as too much of a good thing.
But as my friend Joy is fond of saying, “God is aware, He is there, and He cares.” Soon enough, we’ll be traveling those country roads, jaunting out into the world, only to come back to that place that sums up so nicely all we hold dear–Home.
A Rural Girl Writes Turns Three
March has always been special to me–my birth month. (I turned 54 this year!) It’s also the anniversary of this labor of love I call ARGW! On March 30 we celebrated three years at the blog–and also an unexpected jump in the number of hits we’re getting per day, tripling in number. I suspect homebound folks are doing a lot of surfing the Internet. (Do people still say “surfing the Internet,” or am I showing my age?)
Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the top posts visitors are reading this year. (Posts written since the beginning of the blog are included in the running.) So without further ado, here are your favorites, along with my comments:
- The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 9: Tortilla Cinnamon Rolls. Although originally published as part of my annual 12 Posts of Christmas, the recipe is so simple, fast, and good it remains a popular post year round.
- Make Our Simple Egg Fast Chai. This used to be the most popular post, and probably is in the number one spot for all-time favorites. Again, it has that magic combination of simple and fast to prepare, yet also yum.
- Uncovering Strawberries in Spring. So many folks with time on their hands seem to be more focused on gardening than just the usual spring crowd.
- Simple Suppers: Easy Pizza. While this recipe isn’t terribly original, it’s got only four ingredients and–you guessed it–is simple and quick to make. And tasty, too.
- Turn Sprouted Sweet Potatoes into Plants. This one surprises me. A lot of people are wanting to know this little trick I tried many years ago on a whim. I guess I’m not the only one with sprouting sweet potatoes.
- Make Our Keto Red Velvet Mug Cake for Valentine’s Day. While not difficult to make or time consuming, I believe it’s the popularity of mug cakes, combined with the novelty of red velvet cake and the holiday that makes this one a winner. Also another recipe that works the whole year through.
- Planting Sweet Potatoes in a Cardboard Box. Intriguing idea, yes. Spoiler alert: it didn’t go like I had hoped. I do plan on giving it another try this year because I think I can make it work better. So call this a post in progress.
- About Me. Not actually a post but rather a page. Inquiring minds want to know about the person behind the posts.
- My 3 Essential Tips for Growing Strawberries. People are strawberry crazy this time of year. I have an entire series of posts on the subject.
- When Your New Year Didn’t Go as Planned. This post remains a perennial favorite that I try to republish every year because there is always someone who needs to read it. Basically it’s about navigating a disappointing (or devastating) start to the year.
That’s the list so far this year. Thank you so much for tuning in to read!
Announcing the Launch of Our Stories Page
I’ve gone and done it–finally! After years with a silly traffic cone graphic on the Stories page and a notation that I’d post something in the near future (yeah, right) I have at long last published one of my fictional short stories for your reading pleasure. “Women is Precious” is the title. (Yes, this editor knows that’s grammatically incorrect, but you’ll understand if you read it.) It’s an uplifting and humorous story (something I think we could all use right now), and it takes place in spring. This story has actually been previously published about 13 years ago, but when I pulled it out to spruce up and post, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it held up.
I’ll leave you with a short excerpt and a promise for more stories, essays, and poems in the future. (No, really, I mean it.)
Happy reading!
Amy
Women is Precious
I wouldn’t have said Arlen was dull, more like preoccupied. A man’s mind can only be filled with so much—the rest has to wait its turn. At the moment, I was a part of “the rest,” pushed to the back burner—actually, set off to the side of the stove, I think, but still near the burner. What came before me were things like cheap hay to finish out the winter, wood to keep the fire going, reports from the weather radio gathered three times daily, and a Civil War chronicle five inches thick and not anywhere close to being finished but “completely interesting,” I was assured.
The winter itch had set in, that endless expanse of time between Christmas and April when the crop farmer waits for spring to arrive like a bull pacing in his pen, waiting to be turned out with the cows.
The old timers had their own take on it. The neighbor lady said spring would be here at the first sighting of a robin. Old man Cutter, who’d seen ninety-two springs himself, said the season takes its time in coming and any fool planting garden before the oak tree buds is just asking for failure.
I had my own ideas. Spring would surely be here, I knew, when Arlen emerged from the machine shed after three days of cussing and tinkering with the old diesel tractor and asked me to help him pull start it. Then I could count on being a crop farmer’s widow for the next month and a half while he was out doing what he was born to do—plant corn. CONTINUE READING
Resources and related posts:
52 Frames weekly photography challenge
My Top Ten Must-do Spring Activities List
Happy Birthday, A Rural Girl Writes!
Accidental Peppers, March Weather Madness, and Other News Fresh From the Farm
Posts from a year ago:
Posts from two and three years ago:
Patsy Reiter
Love this! The Stories page is great. Terrific read! Patsy 🙂
amy@amyharkemoore.com
Thanks, Patsy! 😊