From the time we are very small children, just able to take notice of the world around us, we begin to develop a fascination with farms.  Some of the most popular toys for small children are play farm sets, small animal figurines, and books about farms and farm equipment.

Some of our first words are animals we recognize from those farm books: horse, cow, pig, goat, sheep and chicken.  We learn the sounds these animals make and love to emulate them in pretend play.  One of my infant son’s favorite toys was a farm set, complete with barn and animals.

What is it about farms that holds our fascination, long after those first years?  Is it simply the power of media and the choices in toys that shape our minds from the beginning to have an affinity for the country lifestyle?  Or is there more to it? 

Farming is part of our history.  We didn’t get to this technological age without first knowing how to grow and produce our own food.  The farms of today look nothing like the farms of yesterday, but still we long for time on the farm.

If you asked most people now, they probably wouldn’t be able to provide a concrete answer about where our food comes from, but they could still repeat for you the sounds every farm animal makes.

I think perhaps part of our fascination is the hunger for a simpler time, when the world wasn’t so fast-paced and fresh-baked pie was always cooling on the window sill.  As for me, I feel blessed to be able to live my life that way, though on a small scale.  Perhaps we should make efforts to get back to that way of life, before the busy-ness of this life makes us forget what we held so dear on the farm in the first place.