Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Welcome to my Town!

I decided to take some pictures of the city where I live. My city is quite small. As you can see on some of my downtown pictures, it's not real busy. Although from the time I grew up here till now, there has been a lot of development and growth. I loved growing up in a small town and raising my family here too.




Here is part of the downtown at noon. You can imagine when we travel, the uneasiness of driving around in 4 lane traffic when this is what we are used to!















Here is the main intersection in town.

















There are a lot of churches in my city. This is just one that I took a picture of. It used to be said that the day there were the most traffic jams was on Sunday because everybody was heading to church.

















These black fields of dirt are called muck fields. There are a lot of these around here and neighboring towns. When the Dutch people settled here, these fields were under water. They figured out how to drain them and grow crops in them. It is very rich dirt. Muck fields grow things like celery, radishes, and onions.
















That's celery growing in the field. Growing up, my siblings and I worked in the celery. I did not care for that job at all - we weeded those fields (it was hot!!), packed celery and planted it. Planting was the best job. When I was growing up, there weren't a lot of other jobs to get beside the muck fields. Now the city has developed more and there are a few more job choices for teenagers.

Hope you enjoyed my little tour!





14 comments:

Knit-Wit said...

Wow - when I think of crops I think of wheat, corn, beans, barely, flax, and sunflowers. My dad farmed in Northern North Dakota (too north for corn and beans) and then we lived in corn and bean country in South Dakota before moving here - back to Wheat country. Now I'll think of you the next time I eat celery. :-)

Terri said...

We do have dairy farms around here too. I lived on a farm with cows until I was in 3rd grade. My dad continued to grow corn and hay with my Uncle for many years. I loved watching them bale the hay and loved the smell of fresh cut hay.

Anonymous said...

Hey, that hometown looks an awful lot like MY hometown!!! Go figure, hehe. Don't you just love it? My youngest can't wait to get out, but we cherish every bit of it. Topping onions...I tried it once, picking blueberries..tried it, too. I was not meant to be a outdoor girl. I found my place at the Village Ice Cream Parlor. Now we are talkin!

Dena said...

LOVE IT! I love small towns - they are just prettier and friendlier
plus the lack of traffic is a BONUS
I live within 2 blocks of 8 churches - it's AWESOME!!!

I'm Tara. said...

My grandpa and grandma both came from the same small town and I just loved visiting there! Thanks for giving us a tour -- how cool!

Mari said...

I loved the tour. It was fun seeing it through your camera lens. The muck fields weren't that bad!

A Captured Reflection said...

Thanks for showing us around your hometown. That was really neat. Made me feel like I'd come and visited with you :-)

Bonnie said...

I'd never heard of a muck field. That is very interesting !! I loved your tour of your town !! What State are you in again ? My husband asked when I was showing him the muck fields and I couldn't remember ... We lived in a small town in the Australian Outback for 15 months. It had a poplulation of 4000. We loved it.

Laura said...

Hey! That was such a cool idea - very creative. I might have to try that sometime. I like the things you took pictures of - it's a good representation of your town I think!

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Ally said...

Hey I loved the tour... I also had never hear of a muck field either... it´s beautiful... kinda of feel I know you better!

Anonymous said...

I had so much fun with this that I sent a few of my friend to see your post so they could see where I live, too. The church is where my parents go and where my oldest daughter and her husband got married.

Oh, and Mari is wrong...the muck fields are that bad! hehe

It was really fun to see our town through your camera lens.

LeslieW. said...

Wow, and I thought my town was small! I can't imagine working in celery fields, what an interesting tidbit!

The Birds Nest said...

I had to laugh when I read how Dena thinks that she lives in a small town. No. I grew up in a town of 900 people- no stop lights, no fast food restaurants, no shopping, not much of anything business or retail, just people and churches. Now that's small!! I used to de-tassle corn when I was in junior high school. Have you tried that? It wasn't for me. I guess I'm too prissy:)