Green Acres is the place for me.

I don't think I will ever outgrow changing my mind about what I want to be when I grow up. My newest thought on cool jobs, other than being a writer, is to work in agritourism.

Apple Picking in Julian

What is agritourism, you ask? It's agriculture that attracts tourists, precisely as its name suggests. Examples are wineries/vinyards, breweries (where they grow their own grain, hops), pumpkin patches, wildflower fields, corn mazes, Disneyland's new sister park, Lettuce World, etc.

Bate's Nut Farm pumpkin patch

When my roommate decides to mock me, she starts all her sentences with "So, I was listening to this podcast." But what now she has totally gone and downloaded all of the podcasts I listen too, and now she is cool and smart just like me.

So, I was listening to this podcast about agritourism the other day and I thought to myself this is an intriguing field, that isn't new, but is starting to become more legit. Also, I got to listen to my favorite podcast hosts, Josh and Chuck of "Stuff You Should Know" make fun of the Grape Stomp video, a You Tube phenomenon, so it was a great car ride home. 

Then I had this genius idea, wouldn't it be great to have a big field of wild flowers where people could go an frolic. Little did I know I would research the Wild Flower Fields in Carlsbad for work the next day. However, my idea is that visitors can come and pick their own bouquets of flowers.  

Preparing for a future career in agriculture. 

 

This fall I visited a few local agritourism destinations in San Diego: my roommates and I went to get pumpkins at Bate's Nut Farm in Valley Center and picked Apples in Julian. We also wanted to go find some place to pick Oranges in Valley Center, but since most people's orchards are not tourist attractions that probably would have been considered stealing.

My next agritourism stop will have to be a corn maze; I've always wanted to get lost in a really good corn maze.

Since the mid 20th century or so, we have greatly abandoned our agricultural roots for urban and suburban, industrialized living, but I think everyone has a secret love for the country. It's why John Denver sang about thanking God for being a country boy; there is something about getting back to the land that excites us.

Or at least we think it's fun. I had a conversation once with a friend whose family owned a lot of land and grew up having to pick fruit from their orchards. I told him that was my childhood dream to just climb into a tree and pick fruit all day. In fact my friends and I picked whatever the hell we could find from any vegetation from our house, so we could pretend we weren't victims of suburbia. He tried to tell me that it's really not all that fun when it's a chore. This made sense to me, but I was still jealous that he could walk out his front door and pick baskets of boysenberries.

Not my favorite form of Agritourism, but petting zoos count.

I suppose petting zoos and pony rides also fit into this category. I liked animals enough when i was little. I liked them at least until kindergarten when I stood too close to cow at the petting zoo in San Juan Capistrano. She was lying on the ground, her head at the same level as mine. Mrs. Cow decided to turn her head suddenly and smack right into my little body. Now I saw give me the plants any day.






Lastly, if you haven't seen this video then, you have probably been without internet for the past three years. It a great testimony to agritourism gone horribly wrong.