I was born on the fringes of Kosciusko, in the county but outside the city limits.
I was born in the same house I lived in for the next five years. We had no inside bathroom or running water, a huge downside to country living. The ice truck that ran regularly from the ice plant in town, situated where the Redbud Park and the sculpture of Thaddeus Kosziusko now stands, came by our house twice a week with a big block of ice for our icebox.
It makes me feel very nostalgic thinking about this time in my life but I would NEVER want my life to be this way again! Yes, I live in the country again, the country, not the sticks. When I walk three blocks in town, I walk into a different neighborhood. At the same distance in the ountry, I am nearing our neighbor’s front porch.
We have no street lights, just stars, lots of them. We have a deep well, no city water and no sewage system, just a septic tank. Erma Bombeck once said that the grass grows greener and the weeds more proficiently over an in-ground septic tank. This statement is true. We do not have much pollution, just tractor exhaust and cow scents.
We do, however, keep our mouths shut when mosquitoes swarm. Lady bugs fill our window ledges and even sometimes get in bed with us. We do not much traffic and the only night sounds are of hooting owls, mooing cows, howling coyotes and the song of the tree frogs.
In the city I can look out our windows and see neighbors’ houses, businesses, busy streets and moving cars. I look out my country windows and I see geese swimming on our pond and eating bugs and weeds, cattle grazing or feeding their baby calves, our little horse feasting on the new green grass and jumping around in his fenced area and a large pond that holds big bream and trout that we “seeded” years ago when caught by my grandsons and my brother. There is not much noise at all except for nature.
I cannot get to a grocery store in five minutes but I can get to a plowed ground in which the rich dirt holds fresh vegetables. I have a pantry, not filled with cans of stored goods, but a vegetable closet that holds canned vegetables, many bright red jars of tomatoes and crisp green pickles.
It gives us a feeling of satisfaction to know we planted, harvested and preserved foods we put into the ground as seedlings. Several years ago I would have told you “I am not a country girl.” I have proven myself wrong. I love everything that farm and cattle ranching brings into our lives. We seem to have slowed down and are enjoying times down here more than we ever imagined.
Of course my husband was raised on a small farm and at the time I am very sure he just wanted to get away from the slowness of country living. Now we thrive on the unhurried lives we are enjoying.
Weekly Recipe
We have just prepared our garden to plant our corn. This is one of our favorite recipes made with corn.
Corn Pudding – 2 cups of creamed corn, 4 eggs whisked with 1 ½ cups milk, flour, salt and sugar, and then 2 T. melted butter Pour into a buttered baking dish and cook on 350* for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
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Peggy Sims is a local food columnist and a resident of Kosciusko.
