BY DARCY DOUGHERTY MAULSBY
February is the month of love, with Valentine’s Day and all the flowers, candy and cards that come with it. I wasn’t thinking about valentines, though, last December during the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives’ (IAEC) Annual Meeting in West Des Moines.
Instead, I started thinking about a love of the land in this unlikely setting, thanks to Red Steagall. Late that Thursday afternoon, Steagall, 87, and The Boys in the Bunkhouse sang songs of the West, celebrating the American spirit. You could tell that Steagall’s connections to rural America have remained as strong as his boyhood memories of Texas Panhandle cowboys.
An award-winning songwriter, recording artist, radio host, TV personality and official cowboy poet of Texas, Steagall also has ties to northwest Iowa. As he shared stories that inspired his poems like “The Fence That Me and Shorty Built,” Steagall recalled the five summers he spent working on his uncle’s farm near Havelock in Pocahontas County. From Texas to Iowa, Steagall’s sentiments reflect a love of the land:
“You don’t own the land; the land owns you.”
“We must care for the land while we’re here and pass it on to future generations.”
“I sincerely believe in the ownership of land in the progress of a free, independent society.”
Who talks like this anymore?
It’s rare to hear unabashed, heartfelt sentiments about land ownership and the essence of American liberty. I was hooked.
America’s story: a history of the land
This brought back memories of growing up on my family’s farm northwest of Lake City, where my dad told me that all original wealth comes from the land. I also recall reading “Gone with the Wind” and thinking about my Irish ancestors who came to Calhoun County in 1889 to farm.
“To anyone with a drop of Irish blood in them – why, the land they live on is like their mother,” Gerald O’Hara emphasized to his daughter Scarlett during one poignant scene. “It will come to you, this love of the land. There’s no gettin’ away from it if you’re Irish.”
Previous generations intimately understood the inherent value of land. Native Americans’ views of land centered on deep spiritual connections, stewardship and communal use – all essential to their identity, culture and survival.
Pioneer settlers often risked everything to acquire land. Western settlement exploded after Congress passed the Homestead Act in 1862. This offered up to 160 acres of public land for a nominal fee to anyone who was willing to claim, settle and farm the land for at least five years.
More than 50% of homesteaders successfully “proved up” and achieved their dream of land ownership. The Homestead Act gave away 10% of U.S. land (270 million acres). By 2007, there were an estimated 93 million homesteader descendants alive, according to the National Park Service.
“We are born to this land”
Despite this heritage, it seems like land isn’t top of mind for most people anymore, probably because we’ve become such an urbanized society. Even in a farm state like Iowa, 63.2% of us live in urban areas. (A community must have a population of at least 5,000 to qualify as an urban area, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.)
Still, there’s something about land that touches something deep inside us. Throughout American history, there have been various “back to the land” movements. Then there’s the current homesteading movement and the freedom to pursue a simpler, more sustainable life.
“My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty.” Or, in the words of the iconic Steagall: “We are born to this land. We call her America. We love her. We are the luckiest people on this earth.”
Darcy Dougherty Maulsby lives near her family’s Century Farm northwest of Lake City. Visit her at www.darcymaulsby.com.
Watch Red Steagall’s performance from the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives' Annual Meeting.
