Patriotism and the Front Yard

The commissioned flag remains in the hutch while you still struggle to remember to buy a pole.

The night that you found out a neighbor’s basement was flooding, you knew that you needed to help. It did not matter that you only talk to this neighbor once or twice a year: a neighbor in need is a neighbor indeed. After three hours of helping pull back wet carpet, tearing up and throwing out soaking carpet pad, and vacuuming up water, you were exhausted, but you knew your tiredness paled in comparison to what your neighbor was facing.

Three months later when the clean up had been completed, that flooded neighbor came to your door with a gift. A commissioned flag that had been flown at an overseas air base. This military family wanted to present to your family a patriotic thank you for the help that you provided that rainy night months ago. Now, you are tasked with finding a way to make sure that you display that flag in an appropriate manner.

What Message Are You Sending Your Neighbors with the Landscaping in Front of Your Home?
From the springtime watermelon sign that you hang on your front door to the American flag that you display from your garage, there are many ways to dress the front of the house. It is important to know, however, that how your front yard look often determines the curb appeal that your property has. In addition, in a time of great political divides, it might be time to return to some favorite American past times like baseball and apple pies. What family traditions can you embrace to make your neighbor and community a better place?

• The smell of baking apples and homemade donuts are just some of the reasons that families are drawn back to apple orchards and pumpkin patches year after year.
• Research shows that baking apples in a pie is one of the most inviting scents that a potential home owner can experience. For this reason, there are a number of home sellers who embrace baking apples, pies, and other fall like desserts as a way to entice potential buyers.
• Always looking to please, if you want to take a pie to a new neighbor it is important to remember that people most commonly cite these pies in their top three favorite pie flavors: apple for 47%, pumpkin for 37%, and chocolate cream for 32%.
• Deciding to visit a local apple orchard is a great way to start the fall off right. Remembering that it takes nearly two pounds of apples to make one nine-inch pie is a great reminder of just how much picking you may need to do!
• If variety is the spice of life, then this is another reason to embrace the tradition of apple picking. In fact, the latest studies show that there are 2,500 varieties of apples grown in the U.S., and 7,500 grown around the world.
• Transitioning from a time around 500 years ago when autumn was just referred to as harvest, there are many parents and grandparents who want to make sure that the younger generation recognizes the work that goes into the foods that we serve in our homes.
• Iinstead of another weekend in front of screens, maybe it is time for your family to go visit an apple orchard.
• One more reason to embrace apple picking is to increase the health of your family.
• New apple varieties continue to improve and encourage interesting combinations of interesting tastes in foods.
• Seasons change whether we like it or not, but autumn remains the most popular season overall, with 29% of Americans preferring this time of year over the other three seasons.

It should not take a flooded basement during a storm to get neighbors to band together. In today’s busy world, however, it is not always common to find neighbors helping neighbors and communities promoting traditions. The fall, though, is a time when local baseball games, baking apples in the tastiest of pies, and community picnics can help set a tone that promotes good will and friendliness. From delivering homemade apple pies to folks who have just moved in across the street to flying the flag of freedom in front of your house, there are many ways to make your neighborhood more friendly and welcoming.