Dear Farm Journal,

Moving to the country has made me realize that everything I enjoyed about the city was actually something from the country. I used to love that La Crosse is on the Mississippi River. I would go down to the river, everyday if I had the chance, to watch the water roll by and think. I used to love visiting the parks in and around La Crosse. Sometimes I would visit three or four of them in one day. I would just walk around, appreciate the grass, the flowers, the trees, the smells, and the somewhat quieter air around me. Now that I live in the Driftless, I feel like the city’s attempts at natural beauty were a ruse. For me, to experience natural beauty, I have to leave the city blocks and city lights behind me. I want to be immersed in a reality that is something like 90% nature and only 10% civilized. I mean, I have lived without running water, and I don’t really want to go back. So I do take comfort in a stable home with running water, electricity, Wifi, and such. I have also come to live in a way here that most of my experiences happen outside these walls, off screen, using the running water to give my baby plants a drink, as we attempt to draw life from the natural world around us, to feed…well, in all honesty, probably to feed over an privileged white population. So…how noble and wholesome is that?  

~Joy