Farming Heritage on America's Byways

Published on Mar 8, 2005 in Featured Travel Stories

As the nation's population shifts from the country to the city, our children might begin to think that milk comes in plastic gallons and that corn comes in a can. Well, America's Byways can help you educate your kids (and maybe even yourself) about our country's agricultural heritage. Get your hands dirty as you travel to working farms that maintain the flavor of old-fashioned traditions.

Drive the Sheyenne River Scenic Byway during harvest and you'll typically see combines crawling over the sprawling fields of ripened wheat. However, if your visit corresponds with Sodbuster Days, held in July and September, a very different sight will greet you. Watch draft horses and mules prepare the fields for threshing, haying, and of course, the popular "putting hay in the barn" event! Step inside Sunne Farmhouse and other outbuildings for an opportunity to experience historic domestic life. You can sample lefse and rommegrot, along with the more familiar foods of ice cream and Dutch oven pies and rolls. Sit down to an old-fashioned quilting bee or learn a new skill, such as tatting, embroidering, or carding and spinning wool. Save some energy for the big Harvest Dance on Saturday night, and make sure to wake up in time for the Sunday morning parade.

If you can't make the limited dates of Sodbuster Days, try the American West Heritage Center on the Logan Canyon Scenic Byway, which is open year-round. Depending on the season, you'll have opportunities to play farm ball, churn butter, press cider, and shuck corn. The AWHC takes you back to farming from the period of 1820 to 1920 and interprets all aspects of life in the West during that time, so you can practice bartering with mountain men or even stay the night in a Native American tipi. Other overnight adventures offered by the center will have you packing a handcart and trekking through the landscape of the West as the early pioneers saw it. Mark the three days before Easter Sunday on your calendar to visit with fuzzy chicks and woolly lambs during Baby Animal Day held each spring.

In the early days of the nation, the frontier experience was not limited to what we now consider the West, but started on the western frontiers of the current Midwest. Historic farms in Ohio and Minnesota document the livelihood of early settlers. One visit to the Olof Swensson House and Farm on the Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway, and you'll come away inspired by all that early immigrants could create out of limited means. Tour the 22-room house that Swensson and his daughter built on a sturdy foundation of huge slabs of granite. Engineers will be impressed by the barn, which features an elaborate system of wind-bracing and notching.

Visit the farm of one of Ohio's most famous settlers, located on the Ohio & Erie Canalway. Historians know the value of Jonathan Hale's letters as an aid to understanding the daily details of a settler's life, but visitors don't need to pore over paper to appreciate the joys and hardships of settling. Just come by the Hale Farm and Village to experience first-hand the life of an early pioneer. Costumed artisans and villagers will make you feel right at home as they share the village gossip over a cup of coffee or explain their craft. Or take the kids to one of the Fridays on the Farm activities where they can meet cows and pigs, grow plants, and grind corn.

America's Byways will sprout in you a love of the land so essential in our nation's culture. Don't just go to the store when you can go to the source.

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