back to the roots

"Look, here comes the liberal."

Who is that? It's me, I am the liberal, the only one. I have now officially entered the heartland of my forefathers, the land that is Western Pennsylvania. While my blood runs deep here, I am a foreigner--a city kid that doesn't know the ways of the "blue collar," that didn't grow up with countless members of my extended family surrounding me. Despite all my irregularities, I'm still kin, and that's good enough to be welcome here.

For Labor Day, Zach and I spent a long weekend at my Grandma and Grandpa's house in the motherland, driving through rolling countryside, eating freshly picked fruit, and visiting with relatives. My only regret is that we did not meet Frannie, my grandmother's Amish friend. This is what you do when you're in New Castle, PA.

Absolutely gorgeous Amish farm in an Amish community a short drive away from my grandparent's house

gma & gpa

The family on my grandma's side is big, and very close knit. Zach and I went to the county fair while we were there, and saw an award winning pumpkin grown by "Alan Gibson", who has my grandma's family name. Seeing that I am also a fan of large gourds, I could only assume that this Alan character was a distant relative. When I told my grandma about this, she replied, "I doubt it." It's not everyday that you find a potential relative that is a champion pumpkin grower, so I took little stake in what she said. However, when I told my dad the same tale, he also replied, "I don't think so." Apparently the Gibson's would never let a family member slip by undetected. Regardless, I still think he is my cousin, even if it is 50 times removed. Gourd growing can run in the blood too.

Me with my cousin's giant 900 pound pumpkin

Zach and I went to a family picnic and saw many of my relatives that I hadn't seen for years.  It's not that I am a bad person, it's just that some of these relations are really extended, but that doesn't stop them from all seeing each other on a weekly basis. At the picnic, one of my cousins lectured me about the importance of family, and that I should never forget that I come from a family of farmers.

But where is my hoe now?

Zach and I went to the county fair while we were there, and I have to admit that I was excited to see the cows, sheep, horses, goats, and the like. I probably see those animals as often as I see the pandas at the zoo.

Zach and I with the wild animals

So now that I am excited about the animals again, here are some pictures from the fair:

A mean-muggin chicken that tried to peck Zach

A friendly pig

A goose with a haircut

The most beautiful chicken I have ever encountered

Some sheep about to get sheared

A passed out pig

A llama with a sense of style

There's a lot more where that came from.

Anyhow, there are a lot of champions in my family in addition to Alan the pumpkin grower. One of my female cousins is a champion livestock raiser (or something like that) and my other cousin might as well be a champion, in addition to working a normal weekday job, he has a farm with over 250 cattle and hundreds of acres of corn to tend to. My grandpa is also a champion of sorts, he is 87 years old and just bought a tablet to check his email at the coffee shop. My great uncle is definitely a champion, he is a retired botanist that is now a reporter and blogger for the local New Castle newspaper. He keeps a police scanner in his house so he can be at the scene as soon as something happens. Last week he had to report on a man that fell under his tractor and died. 

If I had grown up there, life would had been very different indeed. For one, I probably wouldn't find Rooster Crowing contests and a Jr. Fair Goat Costume competition as amusing as I do now. In fact, I probably would have been a champion of both of those. 

But there's really no saying how I would have turned out. I doubt UVA gets many applicants from New Castle, so that probably would have been out. All I know is that I would be saying "you'ins" a lot, which according to Urban Dictionary is "Western PA for You guys. Common with 'more rural' types." And I probably would be running around barefoot a lot, because I love feeling fresh grass and soil under my feet, and there is a lot of that to be found up there.