The Importance of Closing the Gate on the Farm and in Life

By Nancy Kraayenhof
Published on November 5, 2009
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In the three years I have been writing professionally, I have often been asked how I came to name my musings “Close the Gate.” My only explanation is that in my near forty-eight years I have come to learn that closing the gate is a way of life.

I came from the city to the farm, am self employed, independent to a fault, and I can find humor in the oddest of situations. As a wife to one (who would want two?), mother of three, grandmother of three and a friend of many, my discoveries have led me to many different meanings to this very simple phrase: Close the gate.

I run a small daycare where closing the gate on the basement stairs and across the driveway to the backyard is an important matter of safety. It is a coveted privilege and honor reserved for “big kids” on rare occasion to go beyond the gate and into the front.

When moving livestock on a farm, even a small hobby farm such as ours, gate closing is not esteemed or fun and sometimes involves a whole lot of waiting and absolutely no excitement. But it is vitally important work. Ask any farmer who has ever had the pasture gate left open by careless hunters and they will tell you at great length and with much arm waving and gestures of its importance.

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