Tag Archives: respect for animals

My mother never lived on a farm until she married Dad.  The rolling, treeless prairies where one could see for miles, under big skies and puffy white clouds, were all new to her.  She came from Iowa in the mid-west USA – an old established area where the trees were many and old, where the corn grew 6 feet tall, and there were no coyotes howling in the night.  Moreover, she had lived her whole life in small cities or large towns.  She took to her new life like a duck to water, and never regretted her choice of husband, farm life, or new citizenship.

Despite all that she remained a town girl living on a farm.  Everyday life continued to hold surprises for her.  At the top of the list was raising two daughters who knew only the life that was so new to her.  Years later she confessed to me that many times she despaired, “I thought I was raising little savages!”  That remark surprised me.  I could not see anything so strange, and certainly not savage, about the childhood Doris and I had lived.  We were just ordinary farm kids on the prairies!  It is some 40-odd years since that conversation with Mom, and I view things somewhat differently now.  My clearest memories of my pre-school years are, of course, of the times I got into trouble…    Continue reading →