Rural Roots Sunday - What Mornings Look Like Out Here
Most mornings start the same way. Feed buckets, water troughs, and ninety plus animals that do not care if you slept well or if you had a rough day at work
"…The Rural Area is valued in our community for its aesthetic and cultural significance, as well as the economic and educational opportunities that agriculture provides. Our commitment to maintaining the Rural Area is clear and codified in core planning documents…" Elk Grove General Plan, December 2025
Most mornings start the same way. Feed buckets, water troughs, and ninety plus animals that do not care if you slept well or if you had a rough day at work. The goats are usually the loudest, they let you know the second they see you coming. The sheep are quieter about it, but just as ready. The pigs mostly want to be left alone until the food shows up, then that changes fast.
It is not glamorous work. It is buckets and boots and getting dirty before most people have finished their coffee. But there is something to it that is hard to explain unless you have done it. You notice things out here you would miss anywhere else. Which animal did not come running today. Which fence line needs attention before it becomes a bigger problem. The way the light hits the field right before the sun is all the way up.
We always seem to have family, friends, and neighbors that help keep this place running day to day, and without that this would not work the way it does.
People ask sometimes why anyone would take on this much work when it would be easier to just live in a regular neighborhood. Honestly, some mornings I ask myself the same thing. But then you step back and look at the whole picture, the animals, the land, the quiet before the rest of the world wakes up, and it is obvious why this way of life is worth protecting. It is not just about having space. It is about the daily work that keeps this land the way it is, and the reason people choose to take that work on in the first place.
This is what a lot of the rural area actually looks like on any given morning. Not a postcard. Just people getting up early and doing the work that keeps this place what it is.
Anonymous
