Rural Roots Sunday - Growing Up in a Rural Elk Grove

I was fortunate to spend my formative years growing up in rural Sheldon. In 1987, just before my eighth-grade year, my family moved to the Sheldon area from South Sacramento. That move turned out to be one of the best decisions my parents ever made for our family.

At the time, Sheldon was defined by open space and simplicity. The north side of Calvine Road was nothing but fields.  West of Highway 99 stretched orchards and cattle ranches. Roads like Grant Line and Waterman cut through farmland. It’s hard for my children to imagine that landscape today, but it shaped who I am.

I had always been a bit of a tomboy—catching frogs and chasing butterflies—but rural life expanded that freedom in ways the city never could. With wide open fields and large properties, we spent entire summer days outdoors, safe to roam, explore, and discover.

My friends and I would saddle our horses in the morning, riding all day through the Sleepy Hollow area and north, crossing Calvine Road, creating memories that remain deeply meaningful to me.

Now I enjoy to bringing my grandchildren to visit my parent’s home, where the rhythm of life feels wonderfully unchanged. We love watching cousins, grandkids and great grandkids race across the grass and field barefoot, laughing, tumbling into cartwheels, chasing volleyballs, and catching frogs.

My three-year-old granddaughter is happiest with dirt under her fingernails, while carefully digging for worms in her “Maka’s” (great grandma’s) compost pile as if she’s uncovering buried treasure. I’m deeply thankful that Sheldon has remained a place of open spaces and large parcels, allowing a third generation of our family to know the simple joys of open land, curious days, and a childhood spent outdoors—just as I once did.

My hope is that rural Elk Grove remains…..more than just a memory.

Debbie M.

Rural Area Resident at Heart