When I want to escape the cacophony of civilization, I head to the country. I love to see all the grazing cows as I drive through a quaint rural backroad. The lush, wholesome scenery is exactly like the images on my organic milk and yogurt containers.
Maybe I come across an antique shop, where I find a wooden ironing board from the late 1800s. Not that I'd use it, but at least I'd have something in my cluttered urban dwelling to remind me of a simpler time. I love the warm, fuzzy sensation I get when I see all the barns and farm fields in the country. It makes me feel rooted to the earth. The landscape is just like a beautiful painting you admire from a distance.
And don't you love the smell of woodsmoke in the winter? Nothing is more home and hearth than a wood-burning fireplace. It's primal. And what about the people that live in the country, who tend to the cows, the fields, and the rustic barns? By God, they are the real salt of the earth. They are rugged and virtuous, just as they were portrayed in that famous commercial from a year ago. So if the country is a nostalgic place of purity and healthful living--a rural idyll where one finds harmony with nature--then it makes sense that people, including the rich and famous, will seek out this oasis. But all you foodie enthusiasts pining for a taste of authentic country living should know that there is nothing modern or authentic about celebrity farmers living in a socially constructed agrarian paradise.
