Rural Roots Sunday - My Rural Elk Grove Neighbors

“…The Rural Area is valued in our community for its aesthetic and cultural significance, as well as the economic and educational opportunities that agriculture provides. Our commitment to maintaining the Rural Area is clear and codified in core planning documents…” Elk Grove General Plan, December 2025

By Anthony E., a rural area resident

Living in rural Elk Grove means more than simply having open land around us. It means being part of a community where neighbors still look out for one another.

Many of my neighbors are elderly. They have lived here for decades, cared for their properties, and helped make rural Elk Grove the special place that it is today. As they have gotten older, sometimes they need a helping hand. I might mow a lawn or a field, fix a sprinkler, clear a drainage ditch, or help with some other job that has become difficult for them to do on their own.

Nobody has to tell us to do these things. We do them because we are neighbors.

That is the way of life in rural Elk Grove. We know each other. We notice when someone needs help. We take care of our land, and we take care of one another. There is a sense of independence here, but there is also a strong sense of responsibility to the people around us.

Once rural land and this way of life are lost to development, they cannot simply be recreated somewhere else. Protecting rural Elk Grove is about more than protecting acreage or drawing lines on a planning map. It is about protecting a community, its character, its history, and a way of life that still exists here today.

That is why I believe rural Elk Grove needs to be protected and why the General Plan should remain intact. The commitments made to preserve rural Elk Grove should mean something—not only for those of us who live here today, but for the generations who will come after us.

Rural Elk Grove is worth protecting because it is not just where we live. It is how we live.