Tag Archives for " beauty is everywhere "

Happiness: Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places Contributes to Happiness

Want to live in happiness? Pay attention to your world and you will find beauty all around you.

I live in the country, more specifically in farm country. Right now, I look out my windows and see fields of hay, oats, alfalfa and sugar beets. Peaceful scene, especially when I pretend the flowing irrigation water (I live in the high desert of southwest Idaho) is a river.

I love the peace and quiet out here. Makes for easy writing and creating art in all kinds of media.

Except when I hear the rumbling. The first time this year it took me a few moments to remember just what that loud sound was…the plane that sprays the fields.

As a health fanatic, I definitely do not like that the fields all around my house get sprayed with chemicals. Fortunately, this time the wind blew away from my house so I am pretty sure none of that mess fell in my yard or on my own garden. (If people had any clue how many chemicals go into their unnatural food they would buy organic without thinking twice!)

The wind blows constantly up on my ridge so I always ask the Universe to direct the wind away from here when that plane roars on to the scene.

Chances are you never had the privilege of watching a crop duster. I never thought I wanted to. So I was surprised, even taken aback, as I watched the pilot maneuver over the fields. It was much like watching a ballet. The field closest to me lies next to telephone lines so the pilot has to barely clear those lines in order to get low enough to spray the crops.

He sweeps over the field so low it almost looks like he is driving a car. Then quickly he raises the nose of the plane in time to clear the electric lines. He makes these amazing curls and turns to come back again.

Watching the farm season provides such an education for me. That plane only sprays one field at a time. Every crop is planted and harvested according to its own schedule. No wonder people go to college to study husbandry. I had no idea how much goes into being a farmer who raises commercial crops.

Here in cattle and horse (and sheep, goat and alpaca country) many of the fields grow hay. Man is such a genius. They have a piece of farm machinery for every task that needs doing.

Apparently this week was harvest time for the first hay cutting. Oh how delightful that fragrance is – all along the road with field after field of fresh-cut hay. As I drove through the countryside heading into town I saw hay bales in al sizes from small enough to lift to enormous bales they lift with the tractor.

The really neat part is one day the hay gets cut down then left briefly to dry. Then a machine comes along that scoops up the hay and (Are you ready for this?) puts out neatly tied bales right in the field!

Farming is an art and the process makes for a very beautiful dance – when you choose to see it that way. How lucky am I to witness what most people never see?