St Francis – C is for Comfort

The Great American Farm Tour Minnesota Meetup

Twas the day of the farm tour and all through the house,
Every creature was stirring, yes, even the mouse.
The children were loaded in the van with great care,
In the hopes that the Rhodes Family soon would be there;
The children practiced what they would say in their seats,
While they snacked on organic, non-GMO treats…

We had a lot of fun at the Great American Farm Tour Minnesota Meetup. The park was packed with kids and the lawns were packed with like minded small farmers. It was a lot of fun meeting new friends and sharing our farm stories.

If you haven’t heard of The Great American Farm Tour, you should check it out! It’s about small farmers using permaculture methods to grow food and raise animals. My Dad recommended the Rhodes family to me last year and I’ve been hooked, watching almost all of their YouTube episodes.

All of us were excited to meet and talk to Justin and Rebekah. Rebekah was even sweeter and more beautiful in person. They were kind enough to take the time to talk to each and every person. I can only imagine how tired they must be after traveling across the country, but they were kind, patient and respectful to everyone.

My Dad and Cat were the most excited to meet the Rhodes. I think it might be the highlight of the year for both of them. Cat was especially thrilled that Justin asked her to play her ukelele.

Waiting for the Rhodes to release their video of the day, all of my family had the farm tour youtube tab open and kept hitting refresh all day. lol You’ll have to check us out in the video below. If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing, you can skip to 7:42 to see us!

What farmers are you fans of? Do you have a favorite YouTube channel or a channel of your own? I’d love to hear about it!

Happy Farm Tour to all, and to all a good-night!

Check out our video of the meetup!

Check out the video from The Great American Farm Tour to see what everyone was growing at the Minnesota meet up:

Oops, We Mixed Up the Date!

It was a hot Saturday as we drove a little over an hour to Community Park in St Francis, Minnesota. We drove up to meet my parents and sisters at the Great American Farm Tour Minnesota Meetup.

There was a lot of major road construction along the way, and thankfully Nate was driving. I get anxiety driving in unknown places with a lot of traffic. Add detours to the mix and I might have gotten us lost.

As we neared the park, we saw a bus heading toward us. Nate asked me, “Is that them?” as he pulled the van over to the side of the road. The bus had slowed and turned onto a dirt road. The kids were hopping in their seats in excitement as we saw the Great American Farm Tour logo on the side.

We debated if that was the turn to the park, since we were so close, but decided it was a private farm. We thought they were perhaps running behind and had just gotten to their host’s house and they might be a bit late to the meetup.

The park was mostly empty when we got there. There were only 3 other cars in the parking lot. My parents greeted us and let us know that only two of the people were also waiting for the farm tour. I let them know that we had just seen the bus and perhaps they would be a little late. The children played at the park and I caught up with my parents.

As time wore on, I began to worry, was this the right park? Was this the right day? The other car waiting for the Rhodes left without saying anything. I began to look for the meetup information on my phone. My Dad was the one who let me know, but since I was behind in watching the farm tour, I personally hadn’t seen it yet.

It took awhile to find the info because I couldn’t figure out how to pull it up on my phone. I watched the youtube video to find out the date and I laughed when I realized we were indeed a day early. I could tell my Dad felt awful about it, but it honestly didn’t bother me. I called it our planning prep trip. Now we knew about the road construction and detours and we also knew exactly where the park was. Sunday, Nate would be a work and I would have to drive up instead. Plus, I got the joy of seeing my family two days in a row, a rare treat!

We hung out awhile longer, playing with the kids and enjoying our family time. Cat ended up going with my parents to spend a night at their farm.On the drive home, we stopped at Aldi’s for some snacks before dinner. It had been a fun day and we looked forward to returning to the park again on Sunday.

Have you ever gotten a date wrong that ended up being a blessing instead of a disappointment?

Check out our video!