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June 12, 2008
Rural Living
I’m in rural Wisconsin this week for a conference, staying at a lovely-but-rustic nature retreat where my lodging is a hermitage that best resembles a 1-room cabin from the 1930s. There is a wood-burning stove if it gets cold (which it is, but I’m too timid to play around with live fire in my combustible surroundings), an old-fashioned refrigerator (the icebox is located within the main compartment), and a hodgepodge of mismatched rugs, chairs, tablecloths, and draperies. It’s quite charming – at least for the 3 days I’m here. There is no television, no phone, and no Internet (although there is internet and a phone at the main building)—the last of which is killing me.
The nature center is founded on the principles of spirituality and a respect for the environment, and there are several nuns living full-time at the center. Work exchanges are available where, in exchange for 30 hours of work (cooking, cleaning, landscaping, etc.) you can have free room and board. It’s a great model, and there are people here to spend a couple of months writing a book, a couple of weeks on a spiritual retreat, or even one person who has been here for 4 years after just needing to “get away and reflect for a bit”. There are even two onsite “bodyworkers” (massage, reiki, etc.).
The food is amazing, bought from local Amish farmers, and the scenery is breathtaking. The tall green grasses and wildflowers ripple in the wind, and there are deer and fawns everywhere. It’s pitch black at night, which makes the stars seem to pop out of the midnight sky.
The people here absolutely love their community, with its 2-street “downtown” area (“six specialty shops!”) and its quiet pleasures. The locally famous B&B “mansion” (a 4-bedroom residence) hosts live jazz (the owner on bass and his colleague on the keyboard, singing slightly off-key) on summer weekends and the gun club positively bursts with skeet fans. People here talk about Minneapolis being an urban metropolis, and the small towns surrounding the twin cities being “too fast-paced”. Things here are slow, and intentionally so.
It reminds me a lot of my dad’s hometown in Kansas, where things move at a glacial pace. If you can get in the mindset of appreciating the community’s ability to really listen and take their time in doing things right, then it’s a charming place to live. If, on the other hand, you really like your Starbucks—this place is not for you.
