My family doesn’t understand me. My whole adult life I have worked in the Agriculture industry, mainly Livestock Production, and Bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University is specifically in Livestock Production Management. The long and short of it is, that piece of paper tells you that I am a “glorified ” (tongue in cheek as we way that0 cowboy in the girl kind of way. I have spent long hours working with livestock, patching barbed wire fences, calving out cattle, kidding out goats, training horses and dogs and running tractors, feed trucks, payloaders and skid steer loaders.
With my goat rental business, I camp out on the prairie with my goats at each job site, roughing the weather: hot and cold, storms and snow. People are impressed with my ability to live like I do in the summer and even in the snow. I seem to thrive living like this and truth be told, IF I could live year round camping out, I think I would prefer it to living in a house. Heck, there was a few months when I was in Oregon that I lived in a barn. I DON’T need much to be happy and a peace.
There is a freedom that few understand when it comes to living outside. I sleep better, even when it is hot. All I have to doo cool off at night is wet a sheet down and lay it on top of me. By morning, I am usually in my sleeping bag, cold from the temperature change in the evaporation of the water. But that is how the old timers used to live! What I do is nothing new!
There is more to living outside, like a cowboy. There is a sky of stars at night, the song of the prairie and those amazing sunrises and sunsets that are never the same! The sound of the animals, not only the wildlife like coyotes, it is the sound of the goats or cattle as they sleep. There is a rhythm in their breathing that lulls me to sleep.
My family doesn’t get my lifestyle, very few understand it at all. City slickers have no clue what they are missing and my readers probably can’t comprehend what I am trying to convey but that peacefulness I get living like I do, you can’t imitate it unless you actually participate.
Sleeping on the ground (I have 2 sleeping bags for cushion and one to sleep in) I sleep better than in a bed. It is hard to explain but there is a benefit called ‘grounding’ and since I started sleeping on the ground, I feel better inside. I’ve lost a lot of inflammation and my body seems to work better. It is probably all the fresh air as well.
Whatever my family thinks of me, it doesn’t matter because my life is my own and as long as I am happy, that is what truly matters. However, there is a more important aspect to living outside. I can commune with God on a level that few comprehend and that is worth more than any fancy house and big plush bed could ever be worth. Living simply as I do, I can appreciate the little things in life that truly matter. I am not missing anything, I have more than most, I get to live life and see life as it should be, simple and free.
Educated Cowpuncher 