I come by this push to return to my roots quite honestly. Apart from ancestry which is so minimal it wouldn't qualify me for school loans - even if I could document it - but the native american way of life has always rung true for me. Black Elk's philosophies, the guy who wrote Indian Givers and the one who's title I cannot remember at the moment - always struck a chord in my soul. Apart from that though, there was the year my Mom got to live her dream (now my dream too really). We had a farm house on about ten acres. No stream but lots of woods. We raised pigs and chickens and rabbits and ducks. I was 8 and my brother was just 1. barely. It was great fun. Except for plucking chickens - i hated that part. But really - of all the places I've lived - that was my favorite of them all. If I'd been older - enough to really help - maybe we wouldn't have had to leave our farm. I liked it there - a lot but there's only so much one woman can do when her husband won't help. That's where I lucked out - my Hubster rocks. He's with me all the way without question. My mom would have loved him. And this makes me quite happy. I think I have some pictures somewhere of our run-down little farm - I may have to go searching. See if I can't put an image on my dream here. Because I would love nothing more in the world than to go back to that simple way of life. We even had fresh milk delivered when we lived there (Mom hadn't gotten far enough into the process for cows but she would have eventually if we'd been able to stay). I remember her making butter and her attempt at cheese (not so good the first time around). This is what I want for me, for my kids, a simple and maybe oldfashioned way of life. One that doesn't take more than it gives. One that focuses on the good we can do, the fruit that comes from our own labor. That praises and rewards hard work in a way so little does now. I think I was born in the wrong century - by a long ways. Granted - I like my indoor plumbing a lot - but otherwise... so the wrong century!