Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Monday, May 20. 2013

Ohio

Lovely flat farmland north of Columbus, this weekend. A little further north, the land becomes pleasantly rolling in a way which is reminiscent of New England. Corn ("maize" to you in Yorba Euroland) is just beginning to sprout. It is no wonder that ambitious New Englanders and upstate New Yorkers fled here in the early 1800s for the good farmland. 90% of Americans were in the agricultural industry at the time and they were not stupid about money. It was not about aesthetics: subsistence farming sucks. People desire profit. Farms are outdoor solar factories.


I'll post some more of my Ohio pics later. I took almost 50, which is a lot for me in 3 days.



Posted by Bird Dog in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 05:12 | Comments (12) | Trackbacks (0)

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Grew up in Richland County, Ohio, which is 60 miles north of Columbus. The picture reminded me of home...
#1 Joe Luke on 2013-05-20 08:28 (Reply)
Commuting between work in NJ and home in Ohio, it was always a relief to see the Welcome to Ohio sign on I70.

The place is a home you want to be in.

I take a hundred Ohio pictures a day, on a bike commute.
#2 rhhardin (Link) on 2013-05-20 09:07 (Reply)
I don't get your fondness for The Land of the Buckeyes.

Early on, the best farmers (and the prettier women) left OH for lands west!

On my roadtrips through the Midwest, the farms in Indiana and Illinois were uniformly better-kept and the corn of full height to to edge of each field. Ohio farms, by contrast looked raggedy, even run down, and the height of the corn and other crops, fell off significantly toward the edges of each field. (As for women, I drove across the whole of Ohio twice and found but a mere handful of attractive women, either driving/passengering cars or working. Serious issues with carbohydrates!)
#3 Earl T on 2013-05-20 10:39 (Reply)
I think it's partly cultural. Food is extremely cheap in America. In many parts of the country, women feel free to get fat once they get married. Wealthy women tend to stay fit.
#3.1 BD on 2013-05-20 10:57 (Reply)
Try northwest OH. Williams County and surroundings. Farms will equal or surpass anything in IN or IL. (I'm an IN native.)
#4 BillH on 2013-05-20 11:11 (Reply)
Bill H,

Correctomundo. There are no prettier farms or women than in Ohio. Some equal, none better.

But it may be that Earl T is reporting from the Mother Ship, and gets his states confused...

.
#4.1 Dr. Everett V. Scott (Link) on 2013-05-21 17:04 (Reply)
Lovely picture.

I keep hearing about fat women. Are all the men slim as gazelles, then?

Furthermore, economic times are tough in Ohio, and many women overeat when under stress. Healthier than smoking. Whereas a higher percentage of men drink or hell raise when stressed. One makes you fat and gets you snarked at, the other destroys your life and that of your family and gets you into jail or dead. I'd say offending the delicate sensibilities of visiting chattering types by getting fat is pretty harmless..

As to women getting fat after marriage, I know far more men who let themselves go looks-wise after marriage. I notice this especially when visiting relatives down South.

IMHO, if someone is fat, it can mean that they are a REALLY good cook who brings joy to the life of her family. or that they have a hard life and have chosen a route other than bulimia, alcoholsm, or substance abuse to manage stress. Food is good.
#5 Retriever on 2013-05-20 11:44 (Reply)
Farms as solar power factories is spot on.

Before the Industrial Revolution (really, fossil fuels), the ultimate source of all energy was agriculture, barring some marginal sources like sailing ships and water wheels.

Land was literally power (in the physical sense.)
#6 Whitehall on 2013-05-20 12:16 (Reply)
This looks very familiar. Taken along route 31 maybe?
#7 egd on 2013-05-20 13:42 (Reply)
Somewhere between Gambier and Columbus. All the farms look sort-of similar.
#7.1 Bird Dog on 2013-05-20 19:44 (Reply)
Indeed they do. We live in the Central Ohio area and this one looked like one I've passed a number of times when going to visit family in Michigan.
#7.1.1 egd on 2013-05-21 08:24 (Reply)
You're making me homesick. I grew up on a farm in the flatlands of Central Ohio--outside a little burg called Mt. Gilead. It was an amazing place to grow up, be a kid. Thanks for the reminder.
#8 jes on 2013-05-21 00:50 (Reply)

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