I chose Common Ground as the title for my blog because it resonates for me on several levels.  First, it reminds me to try to connect with each of you in ways that unite, rather than divide.  I mean, for dividing, we have cable TV, which does a table thumping,  bang up job on that, right!  Secondly, the phrase touches on the idea that each person, rich or poor, weak or strong, relies humbly on the fruit of this good earth for their daily bread, and in that sense we all share the common ground that makes life possible.  Thirdly, it describes, in a farmerly sort of way, some of the real estate that I purchased in my rambunctious youth.

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Most of my personal belongings have been in a livestock trailer while Grandpa’s cattle were still grazing the back pasture. Our couch, kitchen table, sock drawer and bath linens a couple times traveled in the vented shelter of a trailer designed to haul pigs and cattle.

One of the coolest things about living or working on a farm is access to stuff. A backhoe to plant trees in our yard. A flatbed trailer to haul lumber for a house project. Farmers are known to give equipment multiple roles on the farm. As a child, Mom swam in a large, round livestock water tank, which served the cattle when she and her brothers were done with it. Old tractor tires became sandboxes. The hayrack was a float in the homecoming parade. We even used the machine shed for our wedding reception.
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When my husband and I met eight years ago, everyone agreed we were made for each other.  We were cut from the same cloth, born and raised country, both returning home with college diplomas in hand and ready to begin a life that included a family and a farm.  Perfection.

Except for one minor detail.  My family farmed red and my husband’s family farmed green.  

Just as you may bleed Bear blue on game day and your neighbor run wild with cheese on his head, in the country a farmer’s loyalty to his equipment color runs deep.  And never is that more apparent than during harvest and planting, when a farmer’s equipment – and its performance – is on full display.  

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