Tromping through the year’s first real snowfall, neighboring folk in our area met at a nearby farm to welcome the holiday season and the newest “horsey set” members. Farmers and landowners of five to 500 acres, foxhunters and car followers, gathered to meet the family who had just been initiated to country living.

Piling food on plates from a festive table, balancing cups of cheer on our knees, we listened to the new guys on the block explain why they decided to forsake the conveniences of suburbia for the chance to look out their windows at pastures rather than pavement.