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Great River Road Country Market

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Grand Rapids, MN
Great River Road Country Market

Kids. Cows. Pumpkins. We offer pumpkins, squash and gourds in all sizes and shapes. On fall weekends, the kids serve up homemade pie and hot beverages.

Our children learn alongside of us, and any proceeds support the kids' college fund.

08/18/2026

Help us pick our County Fair entry! 🌻

We are heading to the fair tomorrow, but we can only enter ONE sunflower stem—and we need your help deciding! Swipe through the 11 candidates and tell us which one deserves the ribbon.

👇 Drop the number ( #1 - #11) of your favorite in the comments below! Voting closes tonight!

08/14/2026

Here's a quick look at what's blooming today, Friday, Aug. 14!

08/12/2026

What's up Wednesday: Aug. 12 - It's dry...
I've been trying to dig up some data today to paint a picture of how little timely rainfall we have received this year. But there's just not a great source. We watched storms roll in from the west and break to the north and south of us. One data site says we've received 0.66" in the last 15 days. My rain guage tells a different story. 0.10" in August. Itasca County is in a D2 "Severe Drought" - down 1.92 # of rainfall from normal.

We started noticing the trees leaves browning in July. The grass also switches to a less vibrant green color to a dull green. Plants bolt. We've seen our corn tassle, but not sure how the ears will fill with a lack of rainfall. To the east of us, they are starting to chop corn silage because the plant is dying.

Our sunflowers, too, have taken to an early bloom and several plants are drying up. The flowers (or any of our crops) are not on an irrigation system. To be watered, it involves dragging hoses, setting up sprinklers, or just praying for rain. Even after hand watering, the ground doesn't look saturated. Eric has been diligent about watering trees.

We have had a water tank set out on our pasture at home because surface water (creeks) have dried up. An automatic float keeps the tank busy when the cattle come up overnight.

All living things need water and food to grow.

08/10/2026

Hello! I thought I'd take a minute to introduce to you the people behind Great River Road Country Market.

My name is Alaina Mousel, and I am the "engine" behind the sunflowers 🌻 and pumpkins 🎃 grown here, and I also make homemade pie 🥧! I grew up here on my family's Century Farm. Established in 1911, I am the 4th generation to work this ground.

My husband, Eric, is my amazing "everything." From discussing planting strategies, building a photo booth, to socializing with guests - he works tirelessly to create my vision. Together, we raise kids, cows, pumpkins and sunflowers.

Our kids are pre-teens and teenagers who go to school in Grand Rapids. They are active and busy in agriculture, school and teenage trends, as well as 4H, FFA, marching band and sports.

We get rolling around here in August with our U-cut sunflower nights, and transition into September and October with our roadside stand selling pumpkins, squash and fall decor (not to mention homemade pie).

We love sharing a slice of our farm life with folks we know, and have yet to meet! We hope you can join us for an upcoming event.

08/06/2026

Our next 🌻 sunflower 🌻 u-cut events will be Monday, Aug. 10 and Friday, Aug. 14!

Join us on the farm, from 6-8 pm, for a stroll through the sunflower and zinnia gardens, an opportunity to cut your own bouquet, and relax with some lemonade.

We're a 20 minute drive from Grand Rapids, MN. Currently more than 14 sunflower and 16 zinnia varieties are in bloom! Our family hopes to share our garden space with you.

08/05/2026

What's up Wednesday: August 5 - Augtober?
As I turned the calendar page this past week, there's definitely been a whisper of cooler temps. I see folks on social media mentioning "Aug-tober" - and I admit, I hadn't heard that term before. Turns out it's a yearning for all things fall.

I can get behind that. I've been dripping sweat with the best of 'em the last few weeks. The list of projects to tackle on the farm seems endless - things like fixing fence and getting ready for the county fair. Don't mention back to school in my household - no one is ready for that schedule to start.

And that's because the chores, farm work and responsibilities don't disappear when school starts. We keep doing livestock chores in addition to the school work. We keep harvesting crops in addition to the homework.

This week on the farm we took a peek at the pumpkins and squash. All the vines are looking great and many are starting to set fruit. The blossoms are huge and the bees are a buzzing!

While the pumpkins are growing, we are on a short vacation (ha!) exhibiting cattle at the North St. Louis County Fair in Chisholm, MN. We have 9 beef animals heading there Thursday-Sunday, and Katie has her leased sheep there too. We look forward to attending the "5 Best Days of Summer" every year for the food, friendships we've developed over 30-plus years of exhibiting, and for the opportunity to give our animals exposure to the chaos before our own county fair (in 2 weeks!).

It takes a tremendous amount of effort to bring livestock to any sort of public exhibition. Sometimes I pause and ask myself why we do it. The fuel alone this year makes the prospect less appealing. And more and more people are generations removed from producing their own food.

This was fairly evident last night at National Night Out where Katie and I set-up with our FFA organization. We designed an interactive game and asked folks questions about agriculture, science, technology and leadership. It underlines the importance of having conversations about where our food comes from. County fairs are a good opportunity to do that!

agriculture

08/01/2026

We are looking forward to a beautiful evening relaxing in the garden. Hope you can join us!

07/29/2026

What's up Wednesday: July 29 - haying season
It's hard to plan any off-farm activities this time of year because it is haying season! We are dependent on weather and equipment to cut, dry, rake and then bale hay.

This past week we checked a task off the list that positions us well for upcoming county fairs and calving season - putting up small square bales of hay. What's a small square? It's hay packaged in a more user-friendly way - meaning I don't need a tractor to feed it (like we do for our 5'x6' large round bales).

Small square bales, depending on the hay, weigh roughly 45-55 lbs. Yes, you can make them heavier/lighter. Large round bales weigh around 1,400 lbs.

Putting up small squares takes a crew. Someone to drive the tractor, someone to stack bales on a rack, and another to trouble shoot the knotter on the baler. Our equipment is old - maybe brand new in the 1960s? By now the "New Holland" lettering is almost completely faded away. There was a time when small square bales was the height of mechanization... just this year John Deere announced it would no longer make this size equipment.

As a kid, I rode along with the haying crew either on the baler guarding the water jug, or on top of a rack stacked 5-6 rows high. Once the hay was baled, then it had to be unloaded. Pulling a big wagon into the barn, hooking up a bale elevator (with a distinct screeching whine of the motor), and the hay mow was always HOT. But freshly cut hay, cured properly is a sweet smell that is irresistible to me. Every chance I get I encourage the next generation to take a deep whiff of fresh hay - hopefully it will trigger the same response in them long after this season.

10/19/2025

Sunday, Oct. 19 - last day serving baked goods and hot drinks. Noon-4 pm. It's been a great fall with ya'll.

10/17/2025

You love pie? 🥧 Me too! We have Chocolate Bourbon Pecan 🥜, Fireball Pumpkin 🔥🎃, Crunchy Apple 🍎 and Tradtional pumpkin pie!! 🥧 🥧 🥧 Servrd by the slice all for the price of $4!! 💵

Want something unique and tasty? 😋
Try our Pumpkin Bars!! 🎃🥧 Delicious, tasty, and gloriously good! 💯 Fans describe it as "A soft under-layer glazed on the top with a white frosting!" ❄️ and "So good it can't be described!" 😮

That is not all! We have amazing 👏 Pumpkin 👏 Ginger- 👏 -snap 👏 Cookies!! 👏🍪 A awesome cookie we hope you enjoy! 😋🍪👌 and Kandy Korn Rice Krispie treats!

This will be our last weekend serving up homemade baked goodies!

We hope you come by etheir Saturday or Sunday, 12-4 PM! If you are busy and want some pumpkins please feel free to come by during weekdays and self-serve yourself pumpkins!! 🙏🎃❤️

We sincerely hope you take the time ⏰️ to come by this year and support us, me and my family appreciate the support and love ❤️ given to us from this stand! 🎃 If you don't come by this year we hope to see you the next. 🙃 Have a happy Autumn 🍂, Halloween 🎃, and such! Have a good day! 👋 ~ composed by June, social media manage, age 10

Address

11702 Co Highway 3
Grand Rapids, MN
55744

Telephone

(218) 340-1595

Website

facebook.com

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