Friday, July 12, 2013

Digging Into My Roots

"When I visit my mother in Iowa she always has a project or two or more for me to do, which is fine because I am glad she can live in her own house at the age of 94 and have jobs for me to do. This time she needed some work done in her yard, and so I spent yesterday and today turning over and raking smooth a small patch of Iowa soil.

"What a joy! After 20+ years of struggling with Ohio's clay, I actually enjoyed working the soil of my childhood and youth, with which I grew up and which I largely took for granted. The midwest's dirt is perhaps the single greatest gift of nature and of nature's god to our nation. It is a rich and fertile ground out upon which we built the bulk of our nation's abundance. The coastal folks may think of us as merely "fly-over country," but this land's bounty keeps their bellies full."

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