Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 6
F
From the
Farm
Text and photos by Elizabeth Hunter
Legacies
YOU KNOW WHAT MARK YOU'RE LEAVING ON THIS WORLD?
IT'S PROBABLY NOT WHAT YOU SUSPECT.
MANY YEARS AGO, I read one of
those back-page essays - perhaps in
National Wildlife Magazine - in which
a man recalled a summer afternoon
in childhood when he and a friend
came on a puddle in which hundreds
of tadpoles were crowded together.
The pool was drying up; it was pretty
clear that the tadpoles weren't long
for the world. Since he and his friend
didn't have anything better to do,
they got a bucket and spent the
afternoon transferring the tadpoles
to a nearby pond.
Years later, when the writer began
reading about the worldwide decline
of amphibians, he remembered that
day, and it occurred to him to wonder
whether moving those tadpoles
might not have been the single most
important thing he had done in his
lifetime. He and his friend hadn't
thought of it as a mission; in the
world they lived in, there were plenty
of frogs and toads. They hadn't even
done it because they felt sorry for the
tadpoles. They were just a couple of
kids looking for a way to fill a summer
afternoon.
I have never forgotten this piece of
writing. I made a copy and reread it
many times. I'm not sure where it is
anymore, but I still think about what
the writer said. The point of his story
wasn't wildlife conservation. The
point was that you can't know what
it is that you will do in your life that
will make a difference. You may think
you can, but you cannot.
Ten years ago, in as happenstance
a way as those two boys coming
upon and moving those tadpoles, I
set something in motion that might
turn out to be the most significant act
of my lifetime. On my daily walk, I ran
into my neighbors Helen and Bruce
McKinney, and asked them if they
could help me with something. I had
bought my house in Bandana nearly
6 | BlueRidgeCountry.com
Alvin Livingston, right, Junior Silver, Roy McKinney and Emily Cena fill their plates
at a Bandana Club potluck.
30 years earlier, but because I worked
all the time, I knew almost no one in
my community. Like everybody else in
Bandana, when I passed someone on
the road, I threw up a hand in greeting. I'd met a few neighbors, like
Helen and Bruce, in passing, but I
could count on the fingers of one
hand those with whom I'd had so
much as a conversation.
In the previous three or four
years,the community had lost two or
three "old widow women" who had
approached or passed the century
mark. Their deaths had made me
uneasily aware that, while I knew the
basic outlines of what had happened
in Bandana since I'd moved in, I had
no sense of what life had been like
here before then. If I were going to
increase my understanding of the
place I lived, and I wanted to, I had
http://www.BlueRidgeCountry.com
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014
Cover
Table of Contents
From the Editor / Worth a Click
From the Farm
Digital Help Guide
Creature Feature
The Hike
Mountain Report
Great Home Buys in the Mountains
Festivals & Events
Country Roads
Sip the Best: Mountain Wines, Brews and Spirits
Experience North Georgia
Wild Ponies of the Grayson Highlands: The Photoessay
‘Favorite Restaurant in All The World’
Sadie, Ace Baseball Dog
Sleeping in the Museum (No, on Purpose! In a Bed!)
Mountain Garden
Cabin in the Woods: The Expansive Welcome of Primland
Guest Column
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Intro
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Cover1
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Cover2
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Table of Contents
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 4
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - From the Editor / Worth a Click
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - From the Farm
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 7
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Digital Help Guide
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Creature Feature
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - The Hike
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 11
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Mountain Report
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Great Home Buys in the Mountains
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Festivals & Events
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 15
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 16
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 17
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Country Roads
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 19
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Sip the Best: Mountain Wines, Brews and Spirits
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 21
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 22
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 23
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 24
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 25
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Experience North Georgia
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 27
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 28
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 29
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 30
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 31
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 32
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 33
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Wild Ponies of the Grayson Highlands: The Photoessay
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 35
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 36
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 37
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - ‘Favorite Restaurant in All The World’
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 39
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 40
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 41
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 42
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 43
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Sadie, Ace Baseball Dog
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 45
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Sleeping in the Museum (No, on Purpose! In a Bed!)
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 47
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 48
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 49
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 50
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 51
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 52
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 53
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 54
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 55
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 56
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 57
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 58
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 59
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Mountain Garden
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 61
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Cabin in the Woods: The Expansive Welcome of Primland
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 63
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 64
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - 65
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Guest Column
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Cover3
Blue Ridge County - March/April 2014 - Cover4
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