Sand County Almanac: February

""There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace."

The February essay, titled "Good Oak," in Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, is without a doubt my favorite.

Though I don't want to gather eggs from my own chicken coop or fry bacon from a hog I raised and slaughtered, I agree with his philosophy.

Over a decade ago, I wrote an essay of my own about these spiritual dangers as part of my application to Rollins College's Master of Liberal Studies program. I was accepted to the program and graduated a few years later.

But I never lived out the ideals and yearnings of that application essay, primarily to raise my children to know the truth of those spiritual dangers. Too settled in suburban living, they just smiled indulgently when I quoted Leopold, patronisingly agreed, ate their grocery store breakfast, and turned up the thermostat to chase away the cold. (Though, since we live in Florida, we more often turn down the thermostat to chase away the heat.)

The kids are out on their own now, two of them raising kids of their own. I still yearn for a backwards farm, at least in theory (I am, after all, rather fond of my suburban home).

But despite my disconnect between my belief and my living in this instance, I still assert Leopold's truth. There are spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. So I'm praying for a farm instead of a mansion as my heavenly home.