5 Things Southern Kids Grew Up Selling In The Front Yard During Summer

There is a summertime magic about lemonade stands. Growing up, the nostalgic activity served as a way to keep kids entertained (and outside) by making an easy homemade product, creating an eye-catching stand complete with a hand-scrawled sign, and waving cheerily at passerbys—with supervision, of course. The money might go towards a charitable cause, or school supplies, or ice cream scoops from their favorite local spot; but the purpose really was rooted in the activity itself.

It’s a rite of passage for many kids, but Southerners tend to do lemonade stands a bit differently— often not selling lemonade at all, but other old-fashioned Southern-fied specialties. Here’s what you might have seen at a childhood summer stand in the South.

Pimiento Cheese

One summer growing up, I sold over a hundred pimiento cheese sandwiches during a weekend-long neighborhood-wide yard sale in my grandma’s Florida town. My mother and grandmother were on constant sandwich-making duty, since I could hardly leave my post. Albeit, my grandma’s pimiento cheese is renowned in many circles and just the thing for hot, sweaty shoppers, so it was like spearing fish in a proverbial barrel.

Sweet Tea

Lemonade is all fine and dandy, but what a humidity-racked Southerner also needs is a crisp glass of sweet tea made like their grandmother, which is exactly what I sold alongside my pimento cheese sandwiches. I’m not the only one—it’s a sentiment I’ve heard from others who knew that to catch a Southern crowd, tea bags and mountains of sugar was quite an easy bet.

Boiled Peanuts

While there’s no beating a proper roadside stand for boiled peanuts, they’re still easy enough for kids to help make and sell out of styrofoam cups, attracting anyone on the way to a body of water or who wants to feel like they are. Boiled peanuts are like a mirage in a desert, pulling in with nostalgia and mouthwatering saltiness.

Peach Cobbler

If you’ve never come across a stand selling servings of peach cobbler on a tiny styrofoam plate, my deepest condolences. It’s one of summer’s simplest pleasures that most people don’t actually make often themselves. Sure, grandma has to help out with this one, but the kids close the deal and serve it up. Similarly, you might see banana pudding in cups or slices of pie. Often, these are then devoured in the car.

Produce From the Garden

If you’re lucky enough to live somewhere with a bountiful summer, vegetables straight from grandma’s garden make for a low-lift activity that gets rid of excess green beans, peppers, or berries. There’s nothing more fun than getting your veggie dinner planned thanks to a kid selling peas in their front yard. 

Read the original article on Southern Living