Thanksgiving in rural West Virginia. Work still needs to be done on a farm…no matter what day it is. The son-in-law’s field next door grows some sort of inedible huckleberry bushes that cows won’t eat. And it chokes out the hay. It overgrows when the pH is off in the ground so the field needed brush-hogged (a brush hog is a really big mower that will cut through small trees and scrub brush) and then very finely ground limestone spread on it. All hands are needed when a big job comes up and Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity with the extra company around.
We walked down to the shop and there was a problem with one of the spreaders. The axle was frozen and wouldn’t take grease so they got the wheel off, heated the axle with a blow torch till they could make it move enough to get some grease in it. Once it was reassembled, two of us sat on the spreader while they drove it down through a field till the wheel moved freely. How they know what to do for these problems is beyond me but it was fun riding over through the farm in a convoy of three tractors, a bobcat and the pickup full of farm dogs. They always want to go where the action is.
Thanksgiving is all about family after getting a good chunk of work done. We gathered seventeen of us around our particular brand of traditional Thanksgiving fare…brown beans, corn bread, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, beef, pork, coleslaw, and several sweets. It’s totally different than the typical turkey and dressing feast. The beef and pork was home raised and butchered right here on the farm. It’s a simple, humble meal served to wonderful, earthy, hard-working people. It’s loud and boisterous and fun. There’s football and Nerf gun fights and crying babies and teasing and jokes and gratitude…gratitude for the love of a good family, a solid hand-built home, and the abundant blessings of a loving God.
I love my life.
❤️
“Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”
Psalm 107:8-9 NIV