This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Today, I am working with the America’s Farmers Community Outreach programs to share the story that has touched my heart, in such a simple but profound way. My Town, a program sponsored by The Monsanto Fund’s America’s Farmers Community Outreach programs, celebrates rural communities. My town celebrates people, places & stories that make small towns great.
When Mickey and I were married, we had to pick where we wanted to live and where we wanted to raise a family. There are always so many options, but we knew that a rural town was going to be the right choice for us. We live so close to multiple farms and because of this, it has given us the chance to give our kids some WONDERFUL memories & traditions.
Here are a few of our favorites.
1- Apple Picking
Every year, we can drive just a mile up the road to pick the best apples of the season. Each of our kids helps to pick apples and we come home, look for some great recipes on Pinterest and make apple pie, apple dip and baked apples. Our oldest son said that this is his favorite tradition because that’s when our house “starts to smell like fall.”
2- Pumpkin Picking
What could be better than picking a pumpkin straight from a farm? When we first moved, after being married, I bought pumpkins for our porch from a grocery store, but now that we live near a farm, I”ll never do that again. We could go to the pumpkin patch for hours, picking out pumpkins, playing in the fields and showing each other our favorite ones.
Of course, carving them is the best part (that’s what the kids look for when they are at the farm- which one is going to look the best on our front porch, as a jack-o-lantern)
3. Cotton Fields
I love driving down the road, about two miles and seeing cotton fields. We live in North Carolina, where the cotton is plenty. There is nothing more beautiful than driving by – our kids love it. They think that it looks like snow.
4. Strawberry Picking
Have you ever picked strawberries? About ¼ of a mile up the road is a strawberry field. When we drive the kids to school in the morning, we watch the workers planting, hoeing and picking the berries. They are getting them ready for us. We watch as they work so hard and take such pride in their farm and the crops. When the berries are ready, we all go back with our baskets and pick them. Our neighbors all do the same thing, so someone always has fresh berries. Nothing compares to eating a strawberry right off the vine. We have pictures of all of our kids doing this for the first time, red faced with fresh berries all over it.
Here’s Allie’s first time strawberry picking with our family (well, the first time that she actually did some picking… and eating!)
5. Corn swimming
I don’t know if that’s even a thing, but when a farm has a big ‘pool’ filled with corn kernels and your kids can play in it, it’s fun – whatever it’s called! Our kids love to do this in the summer (and on fieldtrips)! Of course, we like to pick corn and eat it, too. Mickey said that when we he was younger, he used to shuck corn on the farm, tossing the bad ones and keeping the good ones… for dinner!
I have a picture of our kids eating their first Corn on the Cob (from our local farm), too.
This one is my favorite- those little pigtails. 🙂
There are so many more things to do from Corn Mazes to hayrides to haunted trails, but I can’t list them all or I’d be here all day. 🙂 Living in a small rural town has so many benefits and I find that it is the perfect place to raise our family. 🙂
I love that people are proud to be from (or live in) a rural community. The Monsanto Fund celebrates these communities. They invest to make them even more vibrant for future generations through its America’s Farmers Community Outreach Programs. A new campaign sponsored by the programs called My Town will continue this celebration of the people, places and stories that make small towns great.
I’d love to hear your #MyTownProud Story. Share it below or on social media with the #MyTownProud Hashtag. Be sure to visit www.AmericasFarmers.com to find out more. You can find them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube.
