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I had the immense pleasure of taking part in the inaugural Harvest Tour over the weekend. The short of it is, fabulous!
Now the longer version…
The event took place in the town of Hampton, IA. When you think of a bucolic town, Hampton certainly epitomizes this. It is the county seat for Franklin county with 4,461 city residents. The downtown area was amazing with small shops along each side of the town square. And, oh the agriculture: it was indeed everywhere. What a sense of community!
Here is a list of the scheduled activities:
- Maynes Grove and Star Gazing
- I missed this event on Friday night
. It just so happens that the Iowa Testing for my son was last week so he had to to attend school that day. We did get to view the beautiful autumn night as we were driving and it was magnificent! - Shopping Downtown
- What a marvelous town square in Hampton. It was full of interesting stores. My family and I had just the best time visiting these stores. My daughter Kate purchased a new backpack while my son and his friend picked up some neat 3-D puzzles and figures. The shop owners were just the epitome of what you can expect from a small town. The shop owner at Cornerstone Cottage loaned me her Flip camera since I left mine back at the Bed and Breakfast. She didn’t know me, but knew Deb so “any friend of Deb’s was a friend of hers.” Now that is just awesome!
. It just so happens that the Iowa Testing for my son was last week so he had to to attend school that day. We did get to view the beautiful autumn night as we were driving and it was magnificent!
- Fashion Show (Car Show too!)
- This was a neat little event put on Orange Possum. Afterwards we all took photos with the local media. I managed to sneak out a bit early to check out the car show. And the memories of my childhood came flooding back with all the older automobiles. I spent the greater part of my teenage years restoring and building older vehicles.
- Combine Rides
- One of the local farmers hosted the group with lunch in the field (fried chicken, yum!). This family farm operation then answered questions from the group with topics that ranged from proper tiling to conservation efforts. As usual, the local farmer was a wealth of information!
My Son Alex Getting Ready To Harvest!
- Tour of Latham High-Tec Seeds
- John and Shannon Latham, along with their son, hosted our group and talked about the neat things they were doing and then showed the group around their facility. I really enjoyed meeting both Shannon and John. Their operation is impressive and very much rooted in community. My hats off to the Latham group on their success and support of the Hampton community!
- Sukup Demonstration
- Sukup provides grain handling, storage, and drying equipment. They have a product that allows for effective drying of grain ensuring even test weight and higher quality of grain.
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| Photo Courtesy of @UncommonQuest |
- 1917 Movies – “A Night Like It Used To Be.”
- This was a really fun event where folks dressed up in the clothing of 1917. There was a plethora of hors d'œuvres and local win
- Brunch with Bloggers and Family
- This event was a perfect time for the bloggers and their families to sit down at brunch and talk about agriculture, community, and, of course social media! Naturally discussions about social media were a constant among the group.
- Fall Festival
- I missed this event . My children were ready to go back home so we had to head back to Illinois. But everyone should stop by and visit Harriman-Nielsen Farm
Bloggers To Connect With:
Claire Celsi: Twitter, Blog, Facebook, G+
Jon Swanson: Twitter, Blog
Sara Broers: Blog,
Heather Lilienthal: Twitter, Blog
Jocelyn Wallace: Twitter, Blog, Facebook, G+
Laura Gaulke: Twitter, Blog, Facebook, G+
Deb Brown: Twitter, Blog, Facebook, G+
I will be posting more photos and videos from the weekend on Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, G+, Tumblr, and Twitter. So, whatever platform you use, I’ll be there!
You will notice the title of this post mentioned agriculture, community, and new friends. Please check back soon as I will be posting about each of these topics in separate posts.
Thanks again for reading.
Regards,
NJT
