Living in the country: Gatherings for friendship or rural community development

Living in the country! One of my favorite topics. I feel some of the greatest group activities originated from people living in the country who gathered for quilting bees, Sunday picnics, barn raisings and helping each other during the harvest. I'm very happy to host the rural activities hub of this website. -- Barbara Berst Adams

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When people move to the country, I sometimes wonder if we’re subconsciously looking for those wholesome friendly group activities along with the more obvious natural beauty and lifestyle.

I wrote a book entitled "Micro Eco-Farming" partially* for people looking for mini-farm home business possibilities for living in the country. We also have a sister site, the Center for the Micro Eco-Farming Movement, for the same purpose. Many of those readers write to me about the sense of community they hope to rediscover - or have been reunited with – from starting their small farms.

The rural tradition renaissance

Some rural social activities were somewhat lost a few decades ago, but there is a renaissance to bring them back.

They sometimes return with an even more sustainable and visionary twist while remaining steeped in tradition and closeness to the land and seasons.

This hub is for you if you’re looking for:

• Group activity ideas for those living in the country solely to unite with family or rural neighbors and build camaraderie.


• Group activities for those just visiting the country, such as those going on a rural group retreat.


• Group activity possibilities for individual farm owners for attracting customers to their farm.


• Whole rural community development events, such as harvest festivals, where the community participates just to celebrate their rural life as a community, to attract people to their
community to boost the rural economy, or both.

Group activities that revitalize rural communities and agriculture

Today, some people are also using various rural-oriented group activities for rural community development. They occasionally attract town and city folks to their communities with harvest festivals, classes on homesteading skills or farm tours, which bring business to their communities as well as to their individual farms. It’s sometimes called “agritoursism” (here’s a link to another book I wrote on agritourism for those living in the country).

However, the visitors they attract aren’t necessarily “tourists” from distant lands or urban settings. They can be from nearby rural small towns as well, or even classrooms from the nearest elementary school. Many see agritourism as one of the most promising forms of sustainable rural community development for those living in the country today.

Some of the group activities presented here for those living in the country include:

• Bonfires: Rural backyard firepits and campfire cooking -- eco-friendly and fun!


• Rural Businesses: The "Gentle" Secret to Earning Income from Group Activities in the Country


• Rural and Wilderness Camping for Fun or Profit


• May Day as a Countryside Activity


• Activities for Kids on the Farm for Fun or Profit


• Home Food Preservation as a Group Harvest Celebration


• Barn Dance Revival!


• More on their way.

This book is *not* about just the one form of micro farm called market gardening. "Micro eco-farming" is a broad term describing far ranging possibilities from Angora rabbits in a basement to micro greens in a greenhouse to turning your heirloom peppers into world recipe salsas sold around the world.

Some people mistakenly think it means only “market gardening in wide row beds.” But that’s just one of many possibilities and has already been written about many times. So look for a different book on that topic specifically if that's what you need. (There’s a chapter, though, that digests the best of the books and workshops that teach various forms of market gardening).

Instead, along with newbies, it was also written for people already involved in small scale farming or micro farming to give information not available in other books.

For example, I found a small farmer who boosted his yield by so much just by adding certain natural trace minerals, and I don’t see that information often in many of the otherwise excellent books on soil and compost.

Just as important, I wanted people to know that no matter how much you grow, you have to have customers, and when micro farmers really connect on a human level to their local community or shared interest community (culinary mushroom enthusiasts, for example, if that’s one of their crops), they attract customers in a way no giant food brand can.

Micro farms must follow trends and adapt quickly, and community connection automatically does that for them. Micro farms are all very different, so teaching by example is the best method. This title is about these often forgotten topics for both newbies and generational small scale farmers alike.

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