WELL ROOTED: Wyse Guide
Ben Ashby
WELL ROOTED: Wyse Guide
SLOW LIVING THROUGH FOUR GENERATIONS OF FARMING
Kaleb Wyse hosts the lifestyle blog and YouTube channel “The Wyse Guide” about his life on Knollgate Farm, where he farms, bakes, cooks, gardens and decorates in Iowa and hopefully inspires others to do the same.
FARMING HAS BEEN A PART OF MY LIFE FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. I grew up on a working farm in southeast Iowa and was able to be outside most days. Mom always had a large vegetable garden and flower gardens and would preserve all throughout the summer. I never thought of these skills as uncommon, or realized that other kids weren’t learning how to garden and put up preserves, but I learned how to do them just by watching and helping.
For a while, I didn’t think I’d become a farmer too. When I graduated with degrees in business and accounting, however, I realized something wasn’t right. I hated sitting at a desk. That wasn’t the life I found fulfilling.
At that point I had moved into my grandparents’ farmstead, and after work, I would slowly rip out all the gardens and start them over. In the evening, I would preserve from my garden. I started doing what I inherently knew to do when you have a farmstead.
A friend and I started Wyse Guide as a way for me to help others learn what I knew from my family. Not everyone is so lucky to grow up and learn how to garden or preserve. Wyse Guide allows me to give others a chance to learn.
As uncharacteristic as it sounds, I grew up a quarter-mile from where I currently live. My years in college made me realize that I am someone who needs to feel a sense of home and deep roots, in a place with meaning. My family has been rooted on these farms for four generations and I can’t knock that feeling. Every time I travel, explore, or leave, the moment I arrive back in Iowa, I know I am home.
Of course, living here does have its setbacks. In a rural area, nothing is just a walk away. Groceries, shops, and conveniences all take a drive to reach. Rural living forces me to be content with not having everything at my fingertips. This is why gardening and preserving have become so important, and really are a way of life. During the summer months, all the vegetables I need are in my backyard. During the winter, I am able to still enjoy the garden with whatever I preserved.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about farming, it’s that Mother Nature always wins. I have a large yard and gardens full of vegetables. Whenever I think I am mastering one of them, a crop will fail, an insect will take over, or a drought will come. At first I want to get angry, but as the years go on, I realize nothing I do will win over nature. She was here first and will be here last.
Autumn, with its harvest and promise of abundance, is like no other time of year in a rural area. I love hearing the rustling of corn in the fields ready to be harvested. During the fall, the corn dries in the fields until it is time to pick. The breezes blow the leaves and create the sound of my autumn. As they are picked, I love the distinct aroma of corn. There is no way to explain it other than to experience it.
When it comes to autumn decorating, a pumpkin makes all the difference. Even one small pumpkin instantly transforms a room into a cozy autumn picture. I pile, stack, and fill every bowl with all the pumpkins and squash I can grow. There is nothing better than coming home to pumpkins placed by the doors.
I also make an effort to enjoy this time of year by planning a trip to a local orchard or visiting a pumpkin patch. Going and doing is a fulfilling way to feel autumn.
It’s funny, every year when pumpkin spice lattes become available, I always think I have to get one. I do and then I’m done. It’s ok, but I’d much rather have a good cup of coffee on my porch at home on a crisp autumn morning. I think I finally realized you cannot commercialize autumn; you need to experience it. And isn’t that exactly what makes it so great?
— wyseguide.com
— @wyseguide
