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Field of Dreams

July 29, 2012 By Talya Tate Boerner 10 Comments

At home in Arkansas, I walked around the rice field each morning. Now that the field has been leveled and irrigated, we have our own private walking trail all the way to the drainage ditch at the South end. There were so many things to see in the early morning. Every day something new revealed itself.

Life is abundant. In addition to the rice and corn and wildflowers and vine covered trees, there were FrogsBeaversDucksDragonfliesButterfliesSnakes….
frog
Each morning I walked and sweated and explored, digging up rocks and shotgun shells and pieces of old rusty farm equipment. Daddy’s equipment?
Something shiny caught my eye. A small silver tip nearly hidden in the dirt. It was an aluminum baseball bat buried at the far back corner of the field near the beaver dam. An odd place to find a baseball bat. Field of Dreams?
My corner:)
My favorite part of the walk was the far Southeast corner which is shady and breezy in the morning. Almost cool. I spent extra time there studying the water and the ditch bank which concealed the occasional pearly white shell formed thousands of years ago when the Mississippi River covered the entire delta region.

Over the past week I slowly gathered all these little found objects and piled them in an old rusty hubcap I uncovered in the field. I placed the hubcap filled with treasures near the edge of the bank as an offering to the rain gods. I hope it works…

talya
Musical Pairings:
Circle of Life, Music by Elton John
“With us, when you speak of β€œthe river,” though there be many, you mean always the same one, the great river, the shifting, unappeasable god of the country, feared and loved, the Mississippi.“

~ William Alexander Percy 

Filed Under: Family, Farm Tagged With: BAT, Keiser, Mississippi County, Northeast Arkansas, Osceola, Thomas Tate

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Comments

  1. Colene says

    July 30, 2012 at 7:01 am

    The heck with the weather forecast. The blog is now in first place.

    Reply
    • TateFarmGirl says

      July 30, 2012 at 1:47 pm

      Wow thanks Colene! Of course this time of year the weather is the same every single day – lol.

      Reply
  2. Kaa says

    July 30, 2012 at 7:17 am

    Hehehe…the difference with how your mind works and how mind works. If I saw a baseball bat buried like that, my first thought would be “crime weapon”? πŸ™‚

    Reply
    • TateFarmGirl says

      July 30, 2012 at 1:47 pm

      Ha!

      Reply
  3. Anonymous says

    July 30, 2012 at 10:16 am

    I thought the same thing about the “buried” aluminum baseball bat. I wonder how close the body is buried…? πŸ˜‰

    Matlock

    Reply
    • TateFarmGirl says

      July 30, 2012 at 1:48 pm

      I bet it’s near the beaver dam.

      Reply
  4. pittypatter says

    July 31, 2012 at 4:51 am

    I wanted to see the baseball bat! Good way for a writer to unearth (literally) subjects for essays, etc. Wish I were as active. I get up and turn on the AC, then the coffee, walk (oh, 20 steps each way?) out to get the paper.Some days, especially when it’s this hot, that constitutes my “walking.” I never lived in the delta, so this blog post enlightens me. Thank you, friend.

    Reply
    • TateFarmGirl says

      July 31, 2012 at 5:14 am

      I should have made a picture of the bat! I do find the delta area very inspiring for my writing, probably due to the memories… Now I’m back in Dallas where it’s too hot to live. 108 yesterday with a heat index of who knows. I can barely walk the dogs but I did fry an egg outside.

      Today I plan to sit at my computer and make the changes you helped me with on Heaven Came Down:))) T.

      Reply
  5. Anonymous says

    August 1, 2012 at 6:16 am

    Loved this. I need to start walking the fields, BUT it is too hot! Where did you leave the bat? I may need it. Mom

    Reply
  6. Barbara Tate says

    May 16, 2014 at 8:37 am

    I enjoyed this as much this morning as I did in 2012. Wow!!

    Reply

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Talya Tate Boerner


Hi! I'm Talya. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (Now Available!)

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Talya Tate Boerner books
Gene, Everywhere

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