Mother Earth Would Approve!

The first time I saw a snow-capped peak, I thought it was a mirage.  It was my inaugural trek coming in from Nebraska on I76, and as memory serves, I spied the Rockies.  Well, not the whole range, but one large peak covered in a blanket of white – looming in the distance.

In the time it took to rub my eyes in disbelief, it was gone.  We were on the plains.  Hay stacks had transformed into large straw-colored bales somewhere between the Mississippi River and this border
crossing between western Nebraska and eastern Colorado.
  
I wouldn’t learn to appreciate this expanse of billowy, amber landscape until I stood on my BFF’s acreage.  Forty years had passed since my first foray into the flat earth that teased its way upward until the mountains reigned.  Now I stood with my friend, a true Colorado farmer, a vocal champion of organic skincare and steward to this land.  Her land.  An 80-acre rectangle of grasses and scrubby ground plants.  Situated directly across from the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Weld County.  

Crouching down to inspect a clump of native grass, we were checking to be sure that there was no bind weed.  An invasive plant that requires drastic eradication measures.  This land was perfect!  No offensive foliage to thwart Lily’s plans to build an agri-tourist destination.  This property has morphed - boasting a beautiful barn-like event center that will house the operations of Lily Farm Fresh skin care in addition to the endless possibilities of events that are only limited by imagination.

That day as I stooped to feel a prickly plant, I allowed my gaze to wander to the west.  In Colorado it is natural to always seek the mountains.  They are beacons of direction and hope.  The sun was just beginning to dip behind the front range and dark clouds were mimicking the silhouette of the Front Range.

This was the first time I had eyed the curve of the earth.  The soft roll of an unseen hill.  The ancient question of flat or round evidenced in my purview. With my head perpendicular to the land and my eyes seeing the world sideways, I could actually witness the gentle, feminine curvature of our life giving planet.  This is why country folk love this kind of landscape.  It is magical and majestic, and it took my breath away.

My first Colorado lover was a quick, cursory view of a mountain peak.  In the forty years of living on and off in Colorado, I have consistently appreciated this vision.  For fifteen years I awoke to a view of Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs.  I never tired of the sameness because it really was a bit different every day.  The sun and the clouds danced on this peak and provided an ever changing scene.

But this day, on a yet unplanted patch of farmland, in prairie vastness and mountain shadows – this day was a time to honor a new lover.  The earth itself.  The mother of all creations and majesty.  Out here where the sky seemingly touches the golden yellow grasses - I can hear the earth rustle, as if Mother Nature is blowing a gentle breeze to initiate a quiet symphony.  It is almost always windy out here.  I like that.  It feels fresh and gives an expansiveness to the quality of the air.  

Three years have passed and the earthmovers have come and gone.  The barn is almost finished.  There is hemp planted on 10 acres and more farming to come.  This patch of earth will host many happy events in the years to come.  It will also be the creation station of Lily Farm Fresh Skin Care.  And an organic farm for children and their parents to come and see and feel the plants and the earth.

I do not feel unfaithful to my original snowcapped lover in this beautiful state I live in.  I rejoice in knowing I can love both the mountains and the plains.  And I can appreciate my friend, who diligently works to preserve this 80 acre plot as well as another 200 or so acres as organic, pristine land.  Mother Earth would approve!