The national core curriculum plays an important role in the Finnish education system as the backbone for teaching and learning. Municipalities as local education providers are obliged to organize education by developing their own curricula in relation to the core curriculum. In this article, we look at how local curricula are developed and implemented in rural schools in Finland. The data consists of interviews of 21 subject teachers in two rural schools. We focused on how the development and implementation of local curricula are experienced and interpreted by teachers working in rural contexts. Developing and implementing local curricula challenges rural teachers at different levels. There is a disconnect between a policy level relating to a predominately urban frame of reference and a more practice-oriented local level based in rural viewpoints. Teachers' lack of local knowledge makes integrating local contents more challenging, and exploring the local possibilities requires active teachers.