Wordless Wednesday: Cabbages

Third-generation vegetable farm in New York.

Megaregions and our farm

For at least the next generation, our corner of the country is insulated from a population growth trend called megaregions. The smart people at a project called America 2050 define a megaregion as “multiple, adjacent metropolitan areas connected by overlapping commuting patterns, business travel, environmental landscapes and watersheds, linked economies and social networks.”

The U.S. is expected to have 11 megaregions by the year 2050. The Great Lakes megaregion, for example, will include the cities of Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. This megaregion is expected to experience a 28.3% growth in population by 2050. The Texas Triangle is another megaregion and includes the cities of Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. About 70% of the Texas population is expected to live in this region by 2050.

The U.S. will include 11 megaregions by 2050.

Our farm is about 30 miles south of the green circle in the middle of the map, Wichita, Kan. — not yet a megaregion, but still an area to watch. Maybe two generations from now that green circle will become another megaregion, connected to the Kansas City area. That’s OK with us. That development is north and we’re south.

Don’t get me wrong. I think these megaregions offer lots of opportunities, especially for employment, mass transit and more. I just want to be on the outside looking in.

Three Years Ago Today

Three years ago today, I started blogging. I thought I’d better share something insightful about what I’ve learned, how I’ve grown, or what’s ahead for this blog.

Sorry everyone. Maybe I’m not feeling insightful. Or, maybe this blog is simpler than that, just stories and thoughts, sometimes random.

I’m indebted to the inventor of blogging (need to find out who that is) for providing a format that’s become my favorite. A fiction writer I’m not and I gave up personal diaries after high school. And, I’m indebted to you for reading. It keeps me motivated to know someone will read.

Over the past three years, here’s the post that generated the most views: https://lynnwoolf.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/restoration-historic-stone-house-barn/

Here is one of my least read posts: https://lynnwoolf.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/butterflying/

And, here’s the post that led to the most exploration around my blog: https://lynnwoolf.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/kansas-wind-2-cattle-shed-0/

Today, my anniversary post shows one of my favorite places: Walking with Cesar along our country road. Here’s to another year of blogging.

Country walking with Cesar.

Martha’s Gate

Martha’s Gate is on highway 77 in Dickson County, Kansas. I often drive by, but stopped this time to admire Martha’s pasture and cows.

I hope Martha is around the next time I drive by. I’d like to meet her — and compliment her on her beautiful piece of country.

Wordless Wednesday: Sisters on pasture

Annie and Belle

Moved Away: 721 Road Schoolhouse, Nebraska

Moved Away is an accidental series about forgotten farmsteads and rural homes.

This one-room Nebraska schoolhouse is another disintegrating rural landmark. However, the spring sunshine seemed to lift it the day I drove by — and stopped to wonder about its former students and teachers. It is at the corner of 721 Road and Highway 75 in southern Nebraska.

Nebraska one-room schoolhouse

Wordless Wednesday: Honey Creek School, #21, 1874

Honey Creek School, Beloit, Kansas

Moved Away: Rock Springs Farm

This is the second in an accidental series about forgotten farmsteads and rural homes. Many lean and crumble while they wait for their family — or any family — to return. Others, like this beauty, seem to need just a few repairs and a fresh coat of paint.

This farmstead is near Rock Springs 4-H Camp on K-157.  Someone cares for it, since the lawn looks like it was mowed last fall. The newly emerged daffodils give hope to this country scene.

Rock Springs House

Rock Springs Barn

Population Density: 4

An article I read recently mentioned population density — people per square mile. The term left my brain until the other day when I was driving into town. Our farm is on the northeast corner of a section, which is 640 acres or one square mile. Population density for that square mile: 4. Us.

Head a mile north. Population density: 0. Head a mile south: 0. East: 0. West: 0.

We do have neighbors, who live just outside the sections around us. But, “aloneness” is one of the reasons we love our rural life. And, it quiets the soul to look at land free of electric poles.

Convention or family reunion?

American Agri-Women at the 36th annual national convention.

American Agri-Women (AAW) recently held its annual national convention — its 36th — in Wichita. Our convention had the framework of any other convention: keynote speakers, breakout sessions, officer elections and awards ceremony. That’s where the similarity stopped.

First, this convention was entirely coordinated by volunteers. There was not one “staffer.” Members secured the location, speakers and sponsors; arranged tours and meals; coordinated the business proceedings; devised out-of-the-ballpark themes and decorations; and attended to every last detail from registration forms to audio-visual needs to workshop signage.

Members didn’t just attend sessions in bland, sound-proof conference rooms. We broke free to venture out to see ag operations — grain elevator, wildlife preserve, ethanol plant and more.

And, perhaps most distinctively, members embraced each other as family. This family doesn’t share genetics. Instead we share a passion for agriculture. “Passion” is one of those overused marketing words. However, there is no other word that fits.

Members of other professional organizations share a loose bond, often based on occupation or industry, such as marketing, PR, etc., etc. AAW members share a lifestyle, a heritage, a legacy — producing food, fiber or fuel. We either live on family farms, go back to work on our family farms, or support family farms in our businesses.

We didn’t just listen politely during presentations. We asked questions. We challenged. And, we sometimes disagreed. Ag is serious business, after all, with major obstacles to how our legacy survives, and how we produce goods in a sustainable, responsible and profitable manner. Only a family can stand up to that kind of challenge.

There’s always room for more at the family table. So, if you eat, consider joining us: www.americanagriwomen.org.