Chapter 40: The Back Forty
“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” Henry David Thoreau
I used to love reading Thoreau in college. When I was stuck in a city, even though it was a small city, reading Thoreau brought me a sense of peace, quiet, and perspective. He was my nature escape when I couldn’t get to the real woods. Fast forward many years, and I still feel a calm presence when I read his works. Now, with three active children, outdoor life is increasingly important. If you lived near me, you may hear me say, “just go outside!!” Outdoors is a place where the kids can run wild, be loud, try new adventures and play like kids were meant to play. I’ve often said that I could live in a smaller, less perfect house if I had a large place to play outside. Many cases this has been true. We have lived in several one bedroom homes. Once without kids, once in one with a child, and once in one with three kids. What all these homes had in common was the opportunity to live outside as much as possible. Raising our children with a love for being outdoors and knowing that life can be enjoyed outdoors is important to our family. Learning to take care of your large outdoor living space is also important.
My back forty has always been physical space. While I love being around people, I do not enjoy living around people! I need the space to roam, to play outside loudly, or to breathe without smelling what the neighbors are cooking. When you find your place for retreat, whether a city park or a forest, take care of it. Just the other day we were walking with our family down a path towards some woods. The kids were having so much fun discovering different plants, some which they’d never seen before and listening to all the different insects and birds. We came to the end of our path and found, much to our dismay, a pile of trash where the previous tenants had had a burn pile. The kids were sad to see burned standing trees and microwaves and ovens in the ditches. We had a good discussion about how in the past, people would dump their trash in ditches because it was out of sight, out of mind. I even talked about a past professor whose favorite phrase was, “no car bodies please”. He would say this, almost daily, to reinforce the truth that old car bodies do not stop erosion on a hillside, like some people in the past used to believe. Instead, the cars and trash leach dangerous chemicals and waste into the water. We also were able to discuss a clean up plan for the ditch, come fall.
Even in our retreat we have lessons to be learned. On that walk, our kids learned very quickly to identify poison ivy and thorny locust. They also learned to recognize the impact a human can have on the land. What good is it to have a house if the land it is on is not tolerable? My children have learned their parents’ love of the land. They love to take care of the earth, picking up trash when they find it, and they love to be outside as much as possible. This is something that brings me great joy. They will ride their bikes in a rainstorm, just to not have to come back inside, only getting frustrated when lightning comes and ends their fun. They spend hours swinging in the swing their dad put up for them or playing ball in the yard. They even take their doll houses outside and set up their cities outdoors. They make their “back forty” wherever they can find space to play and roam. In our days of apartment living, we would wander for a day going from open space to open space, playground to playground, searching for a niche to be in that was not indoors. Now, we have acres to roam on and through, and we all love it! We enjoy sitting on the porch swing, watching the lightning bugs flash or seeing the stars sparkle. We love to run barefoot through the grass and catch grasshoppers. We don’t take for granted the cool breezes that come with the rainstorms, but enjoy the fresh air that is given to us through the rains. Maybe because our house is not a mansion and our children have to share a room we find greater joy in being outside. Daily we are out there stretching our legs and minds by finding and learning to love and protect our own back forty. Find your space and learn to truly live!
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