By ERICA MANTERNACH
DesMoines Register

It is a sultry, sunny summer Sunday in June at the annual Sand Springs community picnic. I lazily lay on a jean quilt with my feet running through the lush green blades of grass, my cheeks absorbing the warm rays of sun, and my mouth watering as I submerge my taste buds into a succulent slice of watermelon.


I hear the laughs of the neighbor kids playing softball, while my dad’s friends toss horseshoes, and my mom’s friends discuss their favorite summer recipes. As the day draws to a close, we gather to cheer on participants in the buttered-watermelon races and to feast our eyes on the fireworks display. While the crickets and bullfrogs serenade, I reflect on the threads that make up the intricate web of life in my corner of rural America, in Sand Springs, Iowa.

Sand Springs: If you blink as you drive by, you’ll miss it. Although Sand Springs is small, it is here where I have learned huge, irreplaceable life lessons. It is a community embodied with traditions and ethics. I have lived here on my family’s dairy farm my whole life. A big piece of what makes my community so special is the dedicated family farmers.

Living and working on our dairy farm has always been a family affair. My parents, brother and I have always held a share of the responsibilities on the farm. As a little girl, I would bring a cup of coffee and cookies to Dad, nurture our fluffy kittens and run to get the mail. My responsibilities became more significant as I matured. This sharing in the responsibilities taught me the value of working together for a common cause.

Life on the farm embedded in my character a firm work ethic and discipline. I learned the value of completing a task on time and doing it correctly the first time. Doing chores on the farm also gave me a taste of what hard work and discipline can accomplish. These values will guide me through my adult life.

My family has nurtured the value of faith and taught me its significance on our farm and in our community. Our family has faith that after devoting time and money to the crops, we will reap rewards during harvest. I have witnessed the faith of our community in services to pray for rain, in our prayers for sick friends and family and in our courage to rely on God during times of difficulty. These essential threads of faith, hard work, responsibility and cooperation unite my rural community during times of hardship and tragedy.

The Sand Springs community united for a common cause when it organized a benefit event for a neighbor who was having serious health problems, resulting in mounting medical bills. Again it showed this helping spirit when our neighbor’s barn was destroyed by fire.

My family felt this support when my father was injured. Neighbors helped with milking cows and tending the crops. Some neighbors provided meals, and others visited my dad to keep his spirits up. There are no words to express the gratitude that my family or other community members have for our friends and neighbors. The support they provided during troubled times cannot be measured, but only felt by those who receive and give it.

In rural America, people care about one another, share with one another and look out for one another. Our neighbors are bound together not just by the threads of a traditional celebration, but by the web of life, held together by faith, hard work and hope for the future.

As I enter adulthood, this is the type of community I look forward to living in and contributing to each and every day.

ERICA MANTERNACH graduated from Monticello High School in May. She will be attending the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University in Minnesota this fall to study nutrition science. After medical school, she hopes to establish a practice in a rural community, assisting its members in achieving a more healthful lifestyle through proper nutrition.

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