Road rage! We've all either heard about it or witnessed it ourselves. I have not necessarily felt rage, but instead a sinking ship kind of feeling when I realize I am stuck in a traffic jam that affords no easy exit. In the city besides lines of traffic there are also lines at the grocery store, post office or gas station. Some days it even feels like I go from one line to another. What a waste of time! Living close to a large metro city like Chicago has many benefits like easy access to sporting and cultural events. Also, the culinary choices range from some of the best pizza in the world (yeah Chicago!) to fine dining even in the 'burbs (ah, LaGrange ). But lately the city and suburbs just feel too crowded for me. Perhaps I would fare better if I changed my status from being a city mouse to a country mouse.
This summer I had a chance to do just that. First, I traveled to the woods of central Minnesota to visit a dear friend and prayer partner. She lives just outside a small town called Long Prairie. It has about 3,000 residents and is located in the central part of the state, about two hours west of the twin cities. It is a place of wide open spaces filled with various kinds of farms: corn, potato, dairy and even tree farms. My friend has one close neighbor, who lives about a city block away, across their shared pond. My friends' have a relatively small homestead of about seven acres covered with trees, including graceful white birch trees. They are very involved in the community of Long Prairie because my friend's husband is the pastor of a local Lutheran Church. My friend spends most of her day driving to various hospitals and clinics in her position as a social worker for dialysis patients and their families. She drives a big Lincoln town car, which is perfect for those open Minnesota roads and thanks to her large car and the grace of God, she is alive today after hitting a large buck while going 65 mph.
My Minnesota friend is a gifted gardener. She can literally plant anything and it will grow. The property around her house is landscaped with a winding brick path interspersed with various gardens, a rose garden, a daisy garden, and many, many other flowers whose names I do not know. I am a terrible gardener, inside or outside. Nothing that I plant seems to last very long, so I am so in awe of my friend. Besides numerous flower gardens my friend has a wonderful vegetable garden and her very own strawberry patch and apple orchard. She regularly puts up tomatoes, peaches and the most delicious apple pie filling in a jar that I've ever tasted.
Since winters are very harsh in Minnesota; it gets to 30 below some days; one always has to have a ready food supply. And speaking of food, most of the food I ate during my stay was homegrown or farm raised. I feasted on new, and I mean really new potatoes, farm eggs, along with garden fresh strawberries and lettuce. I also discovered a succulent meat that I had never tasted before: venison.Venison is a quite low-fat and comes in a variety of forms; steaks, burgers, sausage and my personal favorite, jerky sticks. My friend explained that the venison is so good because it is corn fed as opposed to grass fed. I'll have to remember that when shopping or hunting for venison. Anyway, I must say I really enjoyed getting back to the basics of planting, harvesting and of course eating the country way. While visiting we had a small bonfire and roasted marshmallows under a magnificent night sky, while listening for the call of wild turkeys.
I also had an opportunity to participate in the Sunday Worship Service at American Lutheran Church. The church was filled with people of all ages. The paster usually calls the children up before the start of the service and does a little lesson with them. This time he used an orange life preserver to show the children what Jesus does for all of us. He saves our lives when we can't swim or the waves of our circumstances are too strong for us to keep our heads above the water. It was a good image of Jesus that I hope to use one day with my own grandchildren. After the time with the children, the service began with familiar hymns and everyone was singing and attentive, There was also an infant baptism at the service. After the service everyone joined in a large, bright community room for coffee, juice and muffins. I felt very welcomed and enjoyed listening to conversations about farms and family. People lingered and I had a real sense that this meeting time after church was important for everyone.
So I ended my country stay with warm and cozy feelings. However, I did have to ask myself if I could really hunker down and relish those same feelings on one of those 3o below zero winter nights? I don't know.
Another country note: Though they were dog-less in Chicago, my Minnesota friends now have acquired a huge Great Pyrenees, named Tanner that roams their property looking for chipmunks and other creatures to chase. Country mice definitely need serious dogs.
On the way back to the airport we passed a huge billboard with a picture of Ronald Regean in a cowboy had with the quote: "Remember when there was hope for real change?"
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