Nouveaux Peasants

I purchased the July British edition of "Harper's Bazaar" during a trip to New York City back in June. One of their articles was about the "Nouveau Peasant," an upper-middle class person who prefers to go back to the land during their spare time, or who lives there part to full-time. That would be me. I moved from the city to the country over twenty five years ago, making me more of an "Old Nouveau Peasant." We're called flatlanders by the locals, even if our kids were born and raised in New Hampshire. 

But what does that have to do with vintage clothing? Well, rural living is a matter of style for some, that borrows from old images, like that of English aristocrats in tweeds and Wellies. 

While rolling and stacking tree segments in the woods behind my house on a very hot and humid day, feeling nauseous and dizzy, I tried imagining that what I was doing might actually be chic and glamorous, dressed in an American version of Nouveau Peasant garb (rubber boots, shorts, tee-shirt and baseball cap). Strangely, the idea that what I was doing might actually be "glamorous"  suddenly supplied me with the much needed psychological edge that pushed me to finish the task at hand.  While I stack firewood as a sustainable source of energy, that is all I do that might be considered farming. I have a job that allows me to live comfortably, and buy other people’s meat, cheese, fruit and vegetables. Real farming, as in farming for a living, is very hard work, which requires long days of hard labor, all kinds of equipment and most importantly, the ability to use and maintain it. It is not for the faint of heart, as slaughtering animals or operating dangerous machine are an integral part of real farming. I am grateful for the image of the “nouveau peasant,” but it has nothing whatsoever to do with the people who toil away at getting quality food to our table.

 The much needed chipper showed up early one morning last summer to finally turn a huge pile of branches into mulch. That machine can suck in tree trunks, and, if you're not careful, a human limb or two.