The shift from the greater portion of people living on the farm to having the vast majority living their lives in cities has been taking places for centuries, but in the fifty years of my life it has accelerated considerably. I don't know what the actual numbers are, but even in the rural province of Saskatchewan, the city people easily outnumber us farm folks.
One of the things this does is puts the power of the vote - the political power - in the hands of people who have, at best, a vague idea of agriculture. Not that a factory worker in Ontario needs to know how to milk a cow, or a retail employee in Vancouver should be able to seed a crop of canola, but that, having never seen a real cow, or walked through a field, they have no concept of what work and investment went into the food they consume. You can't blame them for wanting their groceries to cost as little as possible, but if they had a better understanding of the processes needed to produce the food, political policies might be based more on informed decisions.
As it is, most people in this country have no experience of what a farm is. My generation might have a memory of visiting a grandparent's farm, but anyone younger would be out of luck. They get their concept of animals from Walt Disney and have never so much as pulled a carrot from the ground - as simple a harvest as there ever was.
At this time of the year, though, there is a romantic version of an "old time Christmas" that surfaces. Favourite Christmas stories and songs conjure up pictures of a rural setting, a country home, and most of all a simpler time .... heck, even the Muppets head out to Fozzie Bear's Grannie's house for the holidays. (that's one of my favourite season TV specials)
After the rat race we live the rest of the year, and especially the frantic pace we foolishly put on ourselves at this time of the year, I think all anyone wants is to slow it down to an old fashioned bake-your-own-cookies, knit-mittens-for-gifts, sleep-over-at-Grandma's kind of Christmas. I know I love to listen to the old songs I can remember my mother singing alone to - preferrably sung by the same artists. I've never roasted a chestnut in my life, but I love that song!
It's ironic, don't you think, that I am the Grandma and I still long for a simpler time?
I don't know if it will be all that simple, and I can guarantee it will be anything but peaceful, but within the week we will have 16 people and two extra dogs running wild around this place. There will be sleigh rides (behind the quad) and hay ride one night to see the sights (hopefully the Northern Lights will make a showing). We will all eat too much food, probably play board games or card games well into the evenings and enjoy the season through the excitement of the little children we're blessed to have with us.
I guess this is a bit of a Christmas card to the people who read this blog ....... I just wanted to share who we are and what we think and do with all of you and hope that your holiday will be as busy and merry as ours will be - and in true farmer fashion - we'll all soon turn our attention to the next year. To be a farmer is to always live in next year country.
2 comments:
Glad to hear from you. I hope your holidays were happy and full. My daughter and I are planning to visit your country next spring - I have an aunt in Oxford, but we hope to see some other sites as well while we're over there.
Jocelyn
You aren't the only ones who look to Saskatchewan for farm land. In the past two years we've had three families come from England to buy farms in our community. It must be such a huge step to take - leave all the that you know and move to another continent. Then again, I wouldn't be here if my grand parents and great grand parents hadn't done the same thing - in the days before internation flights and telephone service!
Jocelyn
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