Innehållsförteckning för August/September 2018 från Country

Wonders of Wildflowers As a child, I shared my family’s love of flowers and the outdoors. In the summer, we often played in meadows and made necklaces, bracelets and wreaths out of white and red clover. We looked for long-stemmed blue meadow sage and admired delicate pink wild roses along fencerows. Brilliant red poppies, blue bachelor’s buttons and white daisies growing around borders of wheat fields formed some of our most beautiful bouquets. My husband and I used to own 10 acres of woodland. We camped, boated, swung from grapevines and tromped through the woods. During one spring and summer, I noted 48 kinds of wildflowers. There was a giant flat rock near one of our trails that we called the “flower rock.” A blanket of old fallen leaves produced…

Daddy doesn’t often raise his voice. His words aren’t ever harsh, but he sure can be stern—and he saves that for when little cowboys are in danger. Mostly, if Daddy has something important to say, a lesson that needs to be learned, you’ll go haul hay with him. Hauling hay isn’t hard, and there’s quite a bit of road time if you’re taking it to a far-off pasture. You can’t go very fast, and the radio in the old ranch rig quit working years ago. It’s a pretty good time to talk. Often, he’ll ask questions and offer up advice. He’ll remind you about the words written in red, and how they’ll always guide you, even when Daddy’s not around. If it’s really important, he might suggest, “Y’all sit outside,”…

Three horse-drawn buggies. Two pickup trucks. Three cars. I eyed the gathering in the gravel lot in front of the big white weathered barn at the Amish orchard on Back Mountain Road, and I parked carefully. In the cool summer morning, we all quietly looked each other over, wondering how long we’d have to wait for fresh-picked peaches—or if we would get any at all. I’d hardly expected to be first at just after 7 a.m. Even a transplant like me knows when they say “early” in Pennsylvania’s Big V alley they mean about 4 a.m., maybe sooner. By then, our farm town is wide awake. Traffic zips along the main road, slicing into the cornfields that blanket the valley bottom and stretch to the base of the mountain ridges.…

YOSEMITE, CALIFORNIA Galen Clark’s cabin stands as a landmark to a man whose newspaper stories influenced lawmakers to preserve this land. After Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant Act win 1864, protecting the Mariposa Grove of sequoia trees and Yosemite Valley, Clark was chosen as the first guardian. He led many travelers through the park, including John Muir and Ralph Waldo Emerson. EVERGLADES, FLORIDA The southernmost tip of Florida has been preserved as a national park since 1947. Diverse habitats support a variety of wildlife. The Everglades are a refuge for such rare, endangered and threatened species as the manatee and the Florida panther. The land also hosts more than 360 species of birds. Long Pine Key, seen here at sunset, is a critical habitat for native butterflies and host…

There’s a part of the county fair that I skim over every year. It’s one of the hardest parts for our girls—Mary, Emma, Elizabeth—and for me. But at the same time, it’s one of the most important pieces of the girls’ 4-H experience. The reality is that the lambs we buy in the spring for the project are raised for their meat and sold in an auction at the end of the fair. For 4-H kids, this comes with lots of responsibility. If there ever was an opportunity to understand and honor where your food comes from, there’s not much that matches raising it yourself. Not only are they learning about the sources of their food, they are part of the process. The lambs are treated with respect, kindness and…

My father always said I just didn’t apply myself. I did, just not how he wanted. We were dirt poor, so Daddy probably didn’t apply himself either—at least not the way Momma wanted. The Gritstones, a mighty family, lived behind the church and had a sheep pen in the rear with six or seven head. Now, older folks might see the Gritstones’ laundry on a line and think nothing of it. Young folks are different. I saw the clothes hanging there and the sheep resting comfortably nearby, and I thought it would be awful funny to see those sheep dressed for church. If that isn’t applying myself, then I don’t know what is. What happened? Well, everybody said it was a good one, and I figured I’d ride it for…

DELEKTA’S CORNER STORE Warren, Rhode Island delektas.com The charming spot has a traditional soda fountain and original pharmacy furnishings. Stop in for the state’s best version of the local specialty, a coffee cabinet, which is what Rhode Islanders call a milkshake. The secret ingredient is a special family recipe for coffee syrup. When my husband, Mark, and I lived here, we made regular trips to Delekta’s. MARY-LIZ SHAW Fox Point, Wisconsin DAS DUTCH HAUS Columbiana, Ohio dasdutchvillage.com The home-cooked Pennsylvania Dutch-style meals are equal to or better than anything your taste buds have ever met. One of my favorite dinners is the haddock, which you can also get as a sandwich. And the apple dumplings are the greatest in the area. Y ou will also experience the best of our…

My journey began with a conversation about art on a train ride across America. I had recently lost both parents and decided I didn’t want to return to my previous career in the music industry. I needed a change. So I hopped on a train for a long, restorative trip of window-gazing, people-watching and thinking about my future. Born and raised in Los Angeles, I craved a different path, one that had nestled inside me since childhood: to live in a rural setting or small town. When this yearning came up in conversation, the gentleman I had been chatting with offhandedly suggested Bellows Falls, Vermont. He said it had everything I was seeking: a close-knit community, mountains (after all, it’s the Green Mountain State), more cows than people, water (the…

Wisconsin doesn’t have the towering peaks of the Rockies or the ocean-swept beaches of the coasts. There are no rainforests, deserts or glaciers. Most people assume Wisconsin is endless acres of flat farmland, dotted by cows and red barns. Pastoral? Sure. But not exactly a scene that takes your breath away. Let them assume. All the better for protecting one of the state’s best-kept secrets: the Driftless Region. Anchoring the southwestern corner, the area’s topography is so unlike the rest of Wisconsin, it’s hard to imagine how they exist alongside each other. Where the rest of the state lies prone, the Driftless Region seems to jump above and dive below the horizon. Steep hills and rocky bluffs plunge into deep valleys, where two-lane roads and twisting rivers wind like tree…

In the summer of 1935, my grandparents Fred and Emma Ross bought an 80-acre farm 5 miles west of Shelbyville, Illinois. My father, Julian, was 12 years old. The land came with a two-story white clapboard house and a red barn. A dilapidated corncrib stood to the east of the barn. The 1935-’36 winter was brutally cold in central Illinois, but it gave way to one of the hottest summers on record. By the end of May, the soil had warmed up for planting so Grandpa and Dad hitched their only workhorse, Lindy, to a one-bottom plow. After readying the soil, Lindy pulled the planter to finish the job of sowing corn. While workhorses were not pets, Dad loved Lindy. That summer, Grandpa began fixing up the old corncrib. The…

You might hear a cow mooing between the amens at Brisby Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church. To reach the chapel, which is surrounded by farmland near Jacksonville in eastern Texas, you have to turn onto a dirt road that ends in a cow pasture. A dust cloud will follow your car to a hurricane fence that encloses the parking lot. Corbin Brisby, a former slave, bought 160 acres of land in the area in 1874 and deeded an acre to the church, which was founded officially on Dec. 6, 1881. In the beginning, the congregation met beneath a brush arbor. Over the years, a building was constructed and rooms were added. Brisby Chapel is the church of my 1960s childhood. At first, I was a bit embarrassed to invite city…

Enter your best digital snapshots in Country’s annual COUNTRY LIFE PHOTO CONTEST for a chance to win the $1,000 grand prize! You may submit as many images as you’d like in each of the four categories: Animals, Scenery, People, Kids. The winner of each category will receive $100! Entering online is easy, but don’t delay, because the contest ends November 16, 2018. Submit your entries online by NOVEMBER 16, 2018. Visit country-magazine.com/contests and follow the instructions for a chance to win cash for your photos!…

HOMEMADE CANNED SPAGHETTI SAUCE Tonya Branham Mount Olive, Alabama PREP: 1½ hours + simmering PROCESS: 40 min. • MAKES: 9 qt. 25 lbs. tomatoes (about 80 medium) 4 large green peppers, seeded4 large onions, cut into wedges 2 cans (12 oz. each) tomato paste 1 cup canola oil⅔ cup sugar¼ cup salt8 garlic cloves, minced4 tsp. dried oregano2 tsp. dried parsley flakes2 tsp. dried basil 2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce2 bay leaves1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. lemon juice 1. In a Dutch oven, bring 2 qt. water to a boil. Using a slotted spoon, place tomatoes, one at a time, in boiling water for 30-60 seconds. Remove each tomato and immediately plunge into ice water. Peel and quarter tomatoes and then place in a stockpot.…

1. Elroy-Sparta State Bike Trail The nation’s first rail-trail runs 32.5 miles along an old railroad line between Elroy and Sparta. Three century-old railroad tunnels are a highlight of the trail, which is a relatively flat and easy ride or walk on crushed limestone. elroyspartatrail.com 2. Ontario The Canoe Capital of the Kickapoo is home to a handful of liveries that rent canoes and kayaks for paddling trips on the Kickapoo River. Try Drifty’s, driftyscanoerental.net; Kickapoo Wild Adventures, kickapoowild.com; or Titanic Canoe Rental, titaniccanoerental.com, for your paddling adventure. 3. Wildcat Mountain State Park Perched on a hill above the Kickapoo River south of Ontario, this scenic state park has more than 20 miles of hiking trails, 15 miles of trails for horseback riding and dozens of campsites, including 20 hike-in sites.…

Living on a 100-acre farm in the White Mountains, we have our share of predators. After a black bear broke into our chicken coop for the second time, we decided to get a llama as a livestock guardian. We found an ad for llamas at a nearby goat farm. We took two males—a young all-black llama that we called KoKo, and an older black-and-white one that we named Iskay. Almost immediately we had problems with Iskay. He had zero respect for electric fencing. No matter what we did to keep him in, we’d turn around and he’d be out. And he was just plain nosy. When somebody drove into the yard, he was the first to check them out. Between having a farm and a small business, we don’t get…

PHOTO TIP Try experimenting with angles. Getting low to the ground can add drama and perspective to an otherwise ordinary photo composition.…