Ponytail Picks #53 - Rural

Ditch the hustle and bustle of the city and join us in the fields for a little while.

---

LISTEN / WATCH

Open air inspirations

I’m a BC suburb kid, to be sure—I’ve lived here in Abbotsford (one of Vancouver’s many little siblings) since I was 10, have most of my formative memories here, and will likely continue to live here for the foreseeable future, but I often feel like I’m a rural prairie boy at heart.

I have the roots—I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba to two Manitoba farm kids—and every time I visit the area (I have lots of extended family there), the rural regions outside of Winnipeg in particular of course, I feel my soul being nourished and filled with a yearning for more of its openness, quiet, and simplicity. It’s not just a nostalgic or familial pull either—I’ve felt the same feelings during car journeys through Saskatchewan, or day trips through the flat farmland here in the Fraser Valley. For all the excitement and convenience of the city, I just don’t think anything can beat the peace of the countryside for me (and I don’t care how much like a naive suburboy I may sound). Here’s a mix of a few folky films and tunes that speak to that part of me:

She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

A longtime favourite. Hoppin’ trains, cookin’ gophers, singin’ the blues around the fire—it’s got it all.

Eschatological message aside, I think this song speaks to anyone who yearns to be free and flying away from the heaviness of a capitalism-driven life.

Minari (2020)

“Come here. Look. Take a look at this. Look at the dirt. Look at the color. This is why I picked this place.”

“Because of the dirt color?”

“This is the best dirt in America.”

I listen to the wind, to the wind of my soul
Where I’ll end up, well, I think only God really knows

Evil Does Not Exist (2023)

Evil does exist, unfortunately, as much as this film so beautifully baits us into imagining that it doesn’t, with its peaceful and patient depictions of rural life.

Tie me at the crossroads when I die
Hang me in the wind ‘til I get good and dry
And the kids that pass can scratch their heads
And say “who was that guy?”
Tie me at the crossroads when I die

First Cow (2019)

A powerfully patient and beautiful portrayal of two souls in the still rural Pacific Northwest trying to make it and milk it for all its worth.

-JB

---

READ

A book about the environmental potential of farming

Allan Savory and Jody Butterfield’s Holistic Management

There was a moment a few months ago that I went on a bit of a regenerative-farming content rabbit hole. It started with documentaries like Kiss the Ground and Big Little Farm, it included the excellent German-language series Farm Rebellion on Disney+, and a little later on, it inspired a search through the resources at the college library where I work.

That’s where I cam across Holistic Management, a no-nonsense treatise on how to put the back-to-basics approach to agriculture into action and why a large-scale transition away from our current, soil depleting and carbon-producing method is so important.

The college had a number of books on the subject. This was the best one. You can tell from the get-go that Savory wants the base of his audience to be practitioners—farmers looking for solutions rather than city-slicker hobbyists wasting time and resources. Not that curious condo-dwellers are left out of the picture, but he uses the right type of data—soil health and sustainable economic results—to underlie the environmental impact reports on the top of our elitist, metropolitan priority lists.

In so doing, he goes a long way to bridge the value-gaps between our rural and urban mentalities. We all want act responsibly toward the environment and feed our families. Savory helps show us the way.

-AK

---

Our boots are off and our trucks are parked. Join us next time as we intentionally put our heads in the

clouds.