Harmony Hill…Where Mountains Meet Magic!

Over the years, I’ve probably quipped this old adage a kazillion times.  Having been raised in North Florida with a brother-in-law who was a farmer, I probably heard it said equally as many by those around me growing up. I was just a little girl [ my sister was 12 years older than me] and though I remember hearing statements such as this, I never really knew what they meant by them.  At age 6 my widowed Mother and I moved into the ‘city’ and country life seemed like something very remote…how on earth could anyone live out  in the boonies where there are no malls?

Fast forward to now where I have somewhat returned to my roots.  I have forgotten the mall and chosen a life in rural Upstate NY.  As I was driving along the back country roads the other day, I was drifting in thought when it came to me that something was different about the countryside.  There was something my eye was picking up but my brain couldn’t quite make the connection as to what it was …then it hit me.  Field after field had been hayed. Where once there had been tall flowing, tasseled hay there were now beautiful clumps of timothy, alfalfa and clover strewn up and down the hillsides. It hit me like a lead balloon….they were making hay while the sun shines! I chuckled at the childhood memories that flooded back simultaneously.

Most of the East Coast and certainly our slice of Upstate Heaven has been inundated with rain this season.  Early in the season, I believe it was May, we had about a week of unusually warm weather.  Enough warmth that the farmers got in an early haying and they were all very happy and anticipatory that it was going to be a bountiful year.  This, of course, turned out to be a glimpse of something we wouldn’t see again until now…. in August at almost the end of the season.

If you’re not a farmer you’re probably like me and you don’t think much of too much rain.  Only an annoyance because we can’t get out as much, or our small gardens are stunted from too much rain, or our roads are a mess, or any number of little things that don’t really make a whole lot of difference when placed up against a bigger picture.

Farmers definitely look at it differently.  Only one haying in by August means they have been to the bank for operating money about as many times as they could go.  One haying means their livestock didn’t have the silage they needed and feed costs got deducted from an already shrinking profit margin.  One haying meant there was nothing to sell to help pay the bills and one haying meant they had to sell their cows because they couldn’t afford to feed them.  One farmer who was looking for his lost dog stopped by our place and told us the last time he took his cows to the market he had to PAY to sell them….now he was giving them away.  He wondered what he was going to do? He had been dairy farming his entire life…he didn’t know how to do anything else.

It wasn’t until I moved up here that I really became aware of the precarious lifestyle the dedicated people, like my brother-in-law, who supply the bounty we find on our grocery store shelves have chosen for themselves.  They don’t whine or feel sorry for themselves…they can’t imagine doing anything else.  I think what they would really like is the respect they deserve for being the selfless stewards of the land and lords over our dinner tables that they are.

So, the moral of this story?  THANK  A FARMER TODAY…your next meal depends on it!

Jana

It’s hard to explain to people what makes Upstate New York so different than other places. When you’re here…you just feel it. There’s a peacefulness to it, yet it is alive and full, pulsing with life…but in a good way.

Spring is a time of renewal, life coming forth and new beginnings. The buds are bursting forth on the red maples making the hillside look like a mini fall. Rolling meadows are bright spring green against the backdrop of the mountainside that changes color going from brown to green.

Just before sundown here at The Hill, our wildlife begin celebrating & sharing with one another what a glorious day they had. We hear the  joy in their various sounds. We sit and listen as the Tom’s gobble for a new mate, the chickadees and phoebes sing their songs, the peepers begin to chorus in as night falls, the owls hoot in agreement… and then there are those amazing stars. If you live in or near a big city and you’ve never seen the night sky without light pollution then you’ll be in for the treat of a lifetime. On a clear night, the Milky Way is so brilliant it looks close enough to touch.  Shooting stars are usually visible every night.

It’s not really easy to explain why it’s so different up here…suffice it to say it’s just something your Soul remembers once you are here!

Shante’
Jana