Sowin' Love by Mark Keathley

I grew up on the family farm in East Texas but it wasn't like I depicted it in Sowin' Love. My days were filled with exploration and fun.  A few chores occupies 10 minutes, and I rode the riding lawnmower a couple hours a week on our 2 acre yard, but the hard work and long hours of farm life were not my experience. When I talk with my In-Laws about their growing up days, it is another story.  Barefoot with only one set of clothes, up at 4:30 to catch the mules, plowing or cultivating behind them before the sun was up, milking 10 cows in the wet mud, tending the animals, even pumping water for the cows after dark during the still hot months of late summer were just some of their experiences. I'm amazed at what all they had to go through, but I always smile with delight as they tell the stories of their closeness. Six girls in one room, still close to this day, each with their own duties, teaming up to help each other bonded them together. The family farm provided work to do where everyone had to chip in to make it, and the work pulled the family together as a team. They really were sowing more than seeds of grain.  So next time you see chores to do that you have been putting off for some time, call the kids! Heck, call a friend or a neighbor and tell them you don't want to go it alone, and Sow some love! There is nothing like sweating and working together that draws out the love that we all desire.