Rural Renewal Monitor



Transportation key to rural America, too

Des Moines Register | February 7, 2009
Contributed By Mike Steenhoek, executive director, Soy Transportation Coalition, Ankeny

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack's Jan. 31 essay, "Rural America Is in Need of Renewal," offered a thoughtful vision for rural development. However, his approach lacks a critical focus: Rural America must be provided with an efficient, robust and reliable transportation system to ensure continued success in our agricultural sector.

Vilsack accurately emphasizes the role of agricultural exports in ensuring rural economic vitality. However, our ability to achieve a trade surplus in agricultural products significantly depends on our unpaved roads, highways, bridges, rail system and locks and dams along our interior waterways.

Unfortunately, the transportation needs of rural America are not receiving sufficient attention by our federal and state leaders. One-quarter of our national bridge inventory is classified as either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Our locks and dams, particularly along the upper Mississippi River, have not received meaningful investment for decades. Our unpaved roads - the initial link in the overall agricultural logistics chain - continue to deteriorate with each passing year.

It does not require prophetic vision to foresee our competitive advantage in the export market diminishing as other nations invest in their rural infrastructure while we remain anemic in investing in ours.

I encourage Vilsack and other leaders to recognize that the path to rural renewal requires attention to the under-appreciated transportation system that accommodates the journey from farm to dinner plate.

- Mike Steenhoek, executive director, Soy Transportation Coalition, Ankeny

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100207/OPINION04/2070311/1038...

Town puts a colorful stamp on celebration

Omaha World-Herald | Story and Photo by Linda Wuebben | February 6, 2010http://omaha.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=OW&Date=20100206&Category=NEWS02&ArtNo=702069915&Ref=AR&maxw=490&maxh=275

RANDOLPH, Neb. — The Randolph Senior Citizens Center wants to “quilt the town” in celebration of Randolph’s quasquicentennial in 2011.

“When it was suggested, we thought it would be a good community project for our elderly residents,” said Leila Arduser, director of the center. “Our members cannot get around the best, and this was something we could do at the center.”

The suggestion came from Darlene Dowling, a local interior design specialist. She suggested painting “quilt blocks” and selling them to Randolph businesses and residents in celebration of the coming 125th anniversary of the city’s incorporation.

U.S. sets sights on stimulating broadband access for rural areas

St. Louis Post-Dispatch | By | February 3, 2010

The federal government on Tuesday brought the broadband segment of its massive $787 billion economic stimulus package to St. Louis.

The two agencies charged with distributing $7.2 billion to improve high-speed Internet for rural and low-income Americans hosted a daylong informational workshop in Eureka.

The fifth of 10 such events scheduled around the nation drew participants from across the Midwest.

It was designed to help hopefuls navigate the complicated and highly competitive process that's entering the second of two funding rounds.

Healthy Teachers: A Lesson for Schools

DailyYonder.com | By Neal Chamberlain and Robert C. Bowman | February 4, 2010kirksville geometry teacher

Kirksville R-III Geometry teacher Kim Belanger at Kirksville High School, one beneficiary of the school district's new approach to health care.

School districts in America are facing turbulent times. State funding sources are more limited. Local property values are going down along with tax receipts. Schools could likely make the adjustments for recession if recession were the only budgetary difficulty, but they also face the more serious, accelerating problem of health care cost increases.

As 70 - 80% of school expenditures cover personnel, school district budget officers have little choice but to freeze employee salaries or employ fewer teachers if they hope to meet health costs. It seems that school districts have been forced to choose between employee benefits and their primary task of education. Meanwhile, children in U.S. schools are falling behind their peers in other nations, just as they are falling behind in terms of overall well being.

Iowa Farmers Find Knowledge In Online "Farminars"

Public News Service - IA | By Dick Layman

DES MOINES, Iowa - During the winter months, Iowa farmers are often unable to attend educational events to pick up additional skills for the coming planting season - until now. Practical Farmers of Iowa is offering off-season Web seminars they call "Farminars."

Sally Worley with Practical Farmers of Iowa says this is the right time of year.

"It's great for us to have in the winter because our members want more networking opportunities, and they don't have to leave their homes if they have a computer, and they can do it without battling the snow."

Worley says today's Farminar features an upstate New York vegetable farmer who is giving details on how he decided to scale up his production.

"Even if you aren't growing exactly what he's growing, he has quite a bit of wisdom on how he sells things as well as decision-making tools for how he has justified scaling up certain areas of his production."

To participate go to www.practicalfarmers.org. Worley says there will be another series of Farminars this spring, focusing on beginning farmers.

By Dick Layman, Public News Service - IA

Churches' donation helps free rural clinic remain open

VolunteerTV.com | By Staff | January 27, 2010

BRICEVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- A big surprise greeted patients, friends and co-workers at the Briceville Free Medical Clinic on Wednesday. Dr. Tom Kim was there to say goodbye and close up shop, but that all changed when, with a special announcement, tears of sorrow turned to tears of joy.

For nine years, people in Briceville, a little hollow of Anderson County, were treated to the free clinic, run by Dr. Kim, who also runs a free clinic in Knox County. But with friends, patients and employees on hand to say goodbye Wednesday, the clinic was preparing to close.

Rural Areas Win More Than $309 Million in Broadband Stimulus Grants

GovTech.com | By Andy Opsahl,  GovTech.com Feature Editor | January, 28, 2010

Broadband stimulus grants and loans equaling more than $309 million were recently awarded for private-sector networks in rural areas by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), one of two federal agencies distributing $7.2 billion set aside in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for broadband projects. The total RUS share of the money was $2.5 billion. Some of the recent RUS awards went to middle-mile networks, but most of the 14 grants went to last-mile projects, the primary stimulus focus of the RUS. Middle-mile networks will be the main target of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the other federal agency distributing broadband stimulus money. 

While the RUS continued the track record of both agencies of giving all last-mile and middle-mile grants to private companies, the RUS insisted governments would be served.

"The awards for these broadband projects will support anchor institutions -- such as libraries, public buildings and community centers -- that are necessary for the viability of rural communities," said Tom Vilsack, secretary of agriculture in a statement.

College partnership to enrich rural health

Omaha World-Herald News Service | By Rick Ruggles | January 24, 2010

OMAHA - Two Nebraska schools are teaming up to fight the state's rural doctor shortage.

The Kearney Health Opportunities Program, unveiled last week, will bring together the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Students accepted into the program will receive full tuition scholarships to UNK. They will be guaranteed admission to UNMC's med school as long as they maintain 3.5 grade-point averages at UNK, score 24 or better on the Medical College Admission Test and participate in various activities.

Special emphasis will be placed on applicants who are from rural areas of Nebraska and who are committed to returning to rural areas to practice.

Stay Put and Start the Revolution

woman and baby indiana Kay Westhues/Fourteen Places to Eat Hester and Delilah, Monroe County, Indiana

I was in the passenger seat of my friend’s Prius as we drove around the comfortingly rustic court square of Crown Point, Indiana—his current place of residency—when he launched into a monologue over why he would like to move far away, and soon. Only a few years ago he’d bought a house in the small town made famous by John Dillinger, and more recently Johnny Depp,

…I'm not from here
But people tell me
It's not like it used to be
They say I should have been here
Back about ten years
Before it got ruined by folks like me

 
- James McMurtry, “I’m Not From Here”

Life is not poetic enough to arrange it so that James McMurtry was playing on the radio, a soundtrack to my friend’s fugitive soliloquy. In his defense, he’s recently retired and hasn’t enjoyed adjusting to suburbia after a lifetime in Chicago. But as his hybrid curved around the bend, I realized that this was the same speech I’d heard from nearly every twenty-something friend of mine, too -- people who, like me, earned a college degree within the last five years. Almost all of them have expressed an overwhelming desire to “leave the area.”

Nebraskans brainstorm on jobs and growth

Omaha World-Herald | By Joe Ruff | January 8, 2009

Wider availability of microloans and broadband Internet service, investment in wind energy, and less red tape in securing government grants and loans would help small-town Nebraska create and keep jobs, according to suggestions made Friday during a two-hour statewide video town hall meeting.

Ideas from the forum will be shared with President Barack Obama, Nebraska’s congressional delegation and state senators, said Maxine Moul, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program in Nebraska.

Should we banish “brain drain” from our vocabulary

Reimagine Rural | By Mike Knutson | January 8th, 2010

In his report “Rural Migration:  The Brain Gain of Newcomers,” Ben Winchester tells us that many parts of rural Minnesota are experiencing a brain gain with new residents age 30-45 moving in.  This is a very important occurrence because rural areas tend to lose younger individuals as they go off to college. 

For those who haven’t read the report, I want to share a few insights Ben sent me via e-mail. 

First, Ben’s research leads him to believe the trend he discovered in Minnesota is widespread across the Rural Midwest, including South Dakota.  While I trust Ben’s academic prowess, I’d still like to see some research to support it.  After all, my South Dakota heritage tells me that all the good stuff happens to Minnesota and not South Dakota.

Reinventing restaurants (and rural communities)

Reimagine Rural | By Mike Knutson | January 13, 2010

There’s no doubt that good restaurants are important to rural communities.  They make rural communities more attractive places to live.  They often serve as “informal meeting places where community is built” (e.g., third places).  And they often improve the local economy by giving people a place to spend their money locally. 

My guess is that Reuben Wentz must appreciate the importance of a good restaurant.  The 93-year-old retired farmer recently gave $500,000 to his hometown of Napoleon, North Dakota (pop. 857) to create a new community-owned restaurant.   

The restaurant replaces the old, deteriorating building that housed the community’s previous community-owned restaurant.  It sounds like they’ve got a good thing going with the restaurant.  Its features include:

  • 6,000 square feet
  • New, brightly lit kitchen
  • TV monitors
  • Wireless mikes for presentations

It’s also home to the Logan County Economic Development Offices, which set up the foundation that manages the restaurant.  I bet many of Napoleon’s neighboring communities are envious.

Saving Texas Dance Halls, One Two-Step At A Time

NPR.org, Morning Edition | By John Burnett, photo by Julie Soefer | January 4, 2009

Dance halls throughout Central Texas have been dying off from decay and disuse. The best way to save them? "Dance in them," says Patrick Sparks, a structural engineer and president of Texas Dance Hall Preservation Inc.

"My view is that the dance halls are the most Texas thing there is," Sparks says. "You get a look back at 19th-century Texas and the European immigrants that came and formed such a strong part of our character."

Texas was home to an estimated 1,000 dance halls in their heyday in the 1920s and 1930s. Today, there are about half that many; most are moldering away in rural areas.

Pipestone barn named Barn of the Year

Total restoration of barn pays off in competition

Worthington Daily Globe | By Julie Buntjer | January 4, 2010

The David and Marlyce Logan barn of rural Pipestone

Submitted Photo the David and Marlyce Logan barn of rural Pipestone was selected as the Friends of Minnesota Barns Barn of the Year in the farm-use category.

PIPESTONE — David and Marlyce Logan of rural Pipestone recently earned the grand prize in the Friends of Minnesota Barns Barn of the Year competition. Their barn received top honors in the farm use division.

The non-farm use Barn of the Year award went to Carl and Wanda Erickson’s rural Hawley barn, while runners-up in the second annual contest were barns owned by LeRoy Grewe of Gaylord, Mike and Jean Kauffmann of Arlington, Gary and Marjory Becker of Marshall and Ruth Miller of Buffalo. In all, 61 barns from 36 counties across the state competed for the top honors.

The Logans have owned their barn and rural Pipestone farm since December 2007, purchasing it from Jack and Nadine Sturdevant, who had called the place home since 1968. In June 2008, the couple began a total restoration of the barn, removing all of the exterior tin and wood, the asphalt shingles and the wood casement windows. The Barn Doctors of rural Fulda were hired to complete the monumental project.

Agriculture focus helps rural Kansas school

The Wichita Eagle | By Rick Plumlee | Janurary 4, 2010

It was just another hands-on science and math exercise at the Walton Rural Life Center.

The students were learning about how the weather affects Earth's composition. At the same time, they were applying what they had learned about figuring area and perimeter as they laid out a pen for the pigs they are raising.

"This is the fun part," fifth-grader Haley Southern said.

And fun in learning translates into better understanding of the information and a hunger to learn more. That's how it's working out for Walton since it began using agriculture in 2007 as the basis for its curriculum.

"We pull everything into agriculture," Budde said.

And she does mean everything, and for all grades, kindergarten through fifth. From math and science to reading and art, the school presents all subjects to students while incorporating an assortment of animals, chickens, a garden, a greenhouse and agriculture-related projects as learning tools.

Big Plans for Small Wind

Bismark Tribune | By Christopher Bjorke, Photo by Mike McClearly | December 27, 2009

MIKE McCLEARY/Tribune Art Mariner grabs one of the blades of a wind turbine he sells from his Gr-8 Country Wind Power in southeast Bismarck business. Mariner sells the small wind power units mainly to farmers and ranchers. 12-23-2009Wind power has been adding to North Dakota’s power generation capacity in multi-megawatt surges as turbine towers spring up across the landscape.

But apart from major wind farms, individuals can pull a couple of kilowatts from the air on a smaller scale with “small wind,” a niche power source that grew by 78 percent in the United States last year, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

“I think it’s a coming thing. We all know that electricity bills are going up,” said Art Mariner, who has been selling small wind power units at his GR-8 Country Wind Power business for about a year and a half. He said he installs an $18,000 to $19,000 tower and turbine unit about every two months, and expects to sell more in the spring.

Most of his customers live on farms and ranches, but he also installed a turbine at Bismarck State College this summer.

“It won’t totally cut out your bill. No matter how big the turbine is, the wind doesn’t always blow,” Mariner said. But with power generation capacities around 2.4 kilowatts an hour, it will take out a chunk of electricity expenses.

New life in rural areas?

Omaha World-Herald | By Paul Hammel, Photo from Bloomberg | December 30, 2009

LINCOLN — Look south from Interstate 80 in Nebraska's Panhandle and you will see a nearly endless string of wind turbines on the horizon.

But none of the nearly 340 bright-white towers is in Nebraska; they're all across the border on the scrubby, high plains of Colorado.

The sight of multimillion-dollar wind farms in adjacent states — but not in Nebraska — has been a constant irritant for many lawmakers and their constituents.

It doesn't help that the Colorado wind farm, which already has five times the number of turbines as exist in Nebraska, is in line to get even more turbines, thanks to $100 million in federal stimulus funds. 

“Everyone is asking the question, ‘Why can't we develop it here?'” said State Sen. Ken Haar of Malcolm.

Ogallala Sen. Ken Schilz, who can almost see the massive Peetz, Colo., wind farm from his front porch, said wind development, and its potential to revive rural communities, has become a top topic among his constituents.

“If there's economic opportunity,” Schilz said, “the State of Nebraska needs to step up and be able to allow the same kinds of opportunities here.”

Rural Leaders: Senate Health Care Plan Would Help Rural Nebraska

The Grand Island Independent | By Robert Pore | December 11, 2009

With the Senate debating health care reform, Nebraska rural, farm and other organizations are urging lawmakers, including U.S. Sens. Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns of Nebraska, to pass a reform package that places an emphasis on the acute problems farmers and rural Americans face in accessing affordable, quality health insurance.

A telephone conference with reporters took place on Thursday to address these concern. The message of the groups on the conference call was that increasing prices for premiums and a lack of competition in the health insurance market are threatening many farmers' and ranchers' livelihoods as they face medical bankruptcies or are forced to seek other work to gain insurance.

According to John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, the Senate bill offers significant help in addressing the issues faced by rural communities. He said provisions included in the bill aim to control health care costs for self-employed farmers, ranchers and small businesses that dominate rural economies.

Volunteer Fire Departments Keep Rural America Safe with Fewer Numbers

Market to Market: The Weekly Journal of Rural America
Market Place: The Weekly Journal of Rural America | By David Miller | December 11, 2009

According to the National Fire Protection Association, 72 percent of the more than 1.2 million firefighters in the United States are volunteers.

Volunteer Fire Departments Keep Rural America Safe with Fewer NumbersIn most rural areas, volunteers make up the vast majority of firefighters. A case in point can be found in South Dakota where nearly 95 percent of those answering the call are volunteers, and even the State Capitol of Pierre is protected by a volunteer department.

Producer David Miller spent a few days with several fire companies in South Dakota earlier this fall and filed this report.

Green Acres Is the Place to Be: The Recession Is Inspiring More Young Families and Singles to Head Back to the Country

The Wall Street Journal | By Gwendolyn Bounds Photo by Shane Dawley | December 2, 2009

In June, 40-year-old Shane Dawley and his 36-year-old wife, Rhonda, uprooted themselves and their four boys from their suburban Atlanta rental home and bought an old five-acre farm in Ogdensburg, Wisc. Their goal: Flee the rat race and adopt a more self-reliant lifestyle amid the troubled economy.

While Mr. Dawley, who had worked at a parking garage, hasn't found a full-time job yet, he's been working on nearby farms learning new skills (one person paid him with an old John Deere tractor), and his family is raising chickens while learning to garden and hunt.

"Our generation has never seen anything like this," says Mr. Dawley of the economic downturn. "Fear sometimes is a good thing and will push you to do things you ordinarily wouldn't."

The Rural Life: When the Wind Stops

The New York Times | By VERLYN KLINKENBORG | December 2, 2009

This farm lies on an eastward-facing slope, which rises gradually to a thickly wooded ridge in the west. I can feel the mass of that hill whenever the sun goes down, and yet, where wind is concerned, there’s very little lee to it. Last week, the wind came ripping over the crest, knocking down a couple of fence sections and gnawing at the trees with a suctioning, siphoning sound. All day long, the air boomed and roared.

Rural America Surprisingly Prosperous, Study Finds

LiveScience.com | By LiveScience Staff | December 2, 2009

For many people "rural" is synonymous with low incomes, limited economic opportunity, and poor schools. However, a recent study found that much of rural America is actually prosperous, particularly in the Midwest and Plains.

Researchers just had to look at things differently to see the prosperity.

The study — announced today and based on date from the year 2000 — analyzed unemployment rates, poverty rates, high school drop-out rates, and housing conditions to identify prospering communities. The result: One in five rural counties in the United States is prosperous, doing better than the nation as a whole on all these measures.

Moville has a grocery in stock

Omaha World-Herald | By Elizabeth Ahlinm | November 28, 2009

MOVILLE, Iowa — What's a small-town Iowan in search of pickled herring to do?

Nancy Wiese's last-minute Thanksgiving run was much easier this year than last. On Wednesday, when she needed corn syrup for her sweet potatoes and pickled herring for the 12-person family celebration she was hosting, she made a quick trip to Chet's Foods, also known as the Moville Market.

Last year, such a grocery run would have required a 35-mile round-trip expedition to Sioux City.

After more than a year without a grocery store, Moville, a town of about 1,500 people, eluded the fate dealt to some rural towns. A group of residents raised more than $250,000 to prepare a store for a grocer to operate. Chet and Linda Davis, who own Chet's Foods in nearby Kingsley, took them up on the offer, making forgotten gallons of milk and loaves of bread less of a crisis for local families.

Free land the key to small towns' growth?

The Des Moines Register | By Mike Kilen, mkilen@dmreg.com | November 15, 2009

Manilla, Ia. — A drive down Manilla's main street looks all too familiar in depopulating rural Iowa: Empty storefronts passed only by the fall's dusty harvest winds.

But this western Iowa town of 800 people, which has lost 20 percent of its population since 1980, hasn't given up hope.

On the east edge of town, a 12-home development is full. Last week, new roads and utilities were completed for a 16-lot development next door.

It happened because home builders got a good price.

Free.

Can Designers Stamp Out Rural Poverty?

FastCompany.com Blog | By Michael Cannell | October 13, 2009

Plans for a national design center to help alleviate rural poverty will be solidified when 60 designers, corporate leaders, foundation heads, and journalists meet next month for the2009 Aspen Design Summit. The event, sponsored by the AIGA and Winterhouse Institute,is a strategy session for the social design movement.

Harris House

The prospective design center will be based in Hale County, Alabama, one of the poorest areas in the country. The county was chosen because it already hosts a number of similar efforts, including Project M, Teach for America and Rural Studio, a group started by the late Samuel Mockbee to help Auburn students design and build structures for poor communities in Western Alabama, including the Harris House shown above.

First White Spaces Network Brings Broadband Internet to Rural America over Unused TV Broadcast Airwaves

Industry Leaders, Including Dell, Microsoft, Spectrum Bridge and the TDF Foundation, Join to Improve Education, Economic Opportunity and Quality of Life for Claudville, Va. Residents

BusinessWire | October 21, 2009

BUSINESS WIRE)--For the first time in the U.S., unused TV broadcast channels freed up by the transition to digital TV are being used to wirelessly deliver high-speed Internet connectivity to business, education and community users. These unused frequencies are commonly referred to as TV white spaces. Under an experimental license granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Spectrum Bridge designed and deployed a wireless TV white spaces network to distribute broadband Internet connectivity in Claudville, Virginia. To ensure that Claudville residents can make the most of this new high-speed connectivity, Dell, Microsoft and the TDF Foundation contributed state-of-the-art computer systems and software applications to the local school, as well as the town’s new computer center. As a result, Claudville residents have already begun to reap the benefits of joining the online community.

Suddenly, America digs farming

The Huffington Post's 'hot organic farmers' and the Internet social game FarmVille may be signs of a growing interest in growing things.

Los Angeles Times - Opinion Section | By Meghan Daum | October 29, 2009

Farming, which many city folk once associated primarily with children's books and distinctive if not entirely flattering tan lines, is suddenly in vogue. Never mind that most of the food we eat comes not from cozy acreages reminiscent of the setting of "Charlotte's Web" but from big corporate operations. Never mind that census data tell us that fewer than half of family-run farms show a positive net income (in other words, most farmers need day jobs). Even though farming no longer quite makes it as "a way of life," it's somehow become the next best thing (or maybe an even better thing): a lifestyle.

Rural Amenities from the ERS/USDA Briefing Room

From the USDA's Economic Research Service Briefing Room

Overview

The rural outdoors has become a major asset for rural communities—and a key advantage that some rural areas have over urban areas. The rural outdoors can be enhanced through the construction of recreation facilities, but undeveloped rural landscapes have appeal on their own, both for recreation and as attractive places to live. This briefing room looks at the appeal of rural landscapes, the importance of forest landscape preferences, and the role of scenic amenities across the rural-urban continuum. 

Vist the site below for the full briefing:

http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/RuralAmenities/

Subpar Broadband Stifling Small Businesses?

iStock pic

The FCC estimates that it could cost more than $350 billion to wire the U.S. with high-speed Internet access.

Inc.com | Article By Josh Sprio, Photo by iStock | October 22, 2009

From e-commerce and video conferencing to multimedia, businesses depend heavily on fast broadband connections to run their day-to-day operations.  But many areas of the country, particularly rural and remote locations, still have insufficient speeds for these kinds of bandwidth-hogging transactions.

An Federal Communications Commission task force is considering an attempt to standardize broadband speeds of anywhere from 768Kbps to 100Mbps for the entire nation. However, many believe that 768bps will not be fast enough, while 100Mbps may be too expensive to implement. The estimated costs of these plans range from $20 billion to $350 billion.
 
"Both [speeds] are wrong, the real answer is in between," says Devon Koch, the owner of ForesthillCalifornia-based wireless-broadband provider Exwire. "Let's choose a speed that's reasonable and that takes care of today's and tomorrow's needs, and can be done in a reasonable time frame."

HHS Secretary pushes health care reform for rural America

Legislation would make insurance and providers more accessible

The Salt Lake Tribune | By Christopher Smart | October 28, 2009

The health-care crisis in this country is felt nowhere more than in rural America, where a lack of providers and affordable insurance coverage leaves many without needed treatment or in a financial bind. 

For example, one in five farmers in the United States is in "medical debt," according to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius unveiled the new report, "More Choices, Better Coverage: Health Insurance Reform and Rural America," in a conference call with journalists Tuesday, and said health-care reform legislation now making its way through Congress would provide more choices and affordable care to 50 million Americans who live in rural areas. 

It also would provide incentives to attract doctors and nurses to the countryside locales.

Melstone drug, hardware store hopes to survive with help from the community

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The Billings Gazette | By Lorna Thackeray | October 19, 2009
Photo by Larry Mayyer

MELSTONE - On a miserably cold October morning, Barney Richter dropped by Lazy JC Drug and Hardware here looking for an onion and a carton of milk.

"Got to get the chili going," one of the town's newest homeowners said with a smile as he headed toward coolers in the grocery section.

Proprietor Anne Coles greeted him by name from in front of the mirrored back bar that has graced the rambling brick building since it opened as a drugstore in 1912.

Facebook draws a growing crop of farmers

Farmers on facebookMany in the ag industry are using Twitter
and blogs to communicate, educate.

Fresnobee.com, The Fresno Bee | Article by Robert Rodriguez, Photo by Mark Crosse | October 11, 2009

With a hand-held video camera, a computer and 800 cows, Barbara Martin of Lemoore is letting the world into her life as a dairy operator.

No, it's not a new reality television show. And Martin isn't craving her 15 minutes of fame.

But she is joining a growing number of farmers and others in agriculture who are using social media tools to communicate with each other, send out information and educate the public about agriculture.

Dairy operators have become especially skilled at launching Facebook pages, blog posting and using Twitter, a microblogging site.

Martin uses all three to tell the public about the family's 800-cow dairy. She launched her blog, "A Dairy Goddess's Blog," in late August.

Rural Restaurants Serve Online Appetizers

Small town restaurants are finding that social media sites spur customers to the door.

DailyYonder.com | By Pamela Price | October 2, 2009
restaurant twitter Fast Food Maven/Daily Yonder Rural restaurants are luring diners with online gift certificates and twittered tips about daily specials. Lori Sears-Martinez is amused that her coworkers have labeled her “The Mad Twitterer.” The marketing manager of the Scenic Loop Cafe in Leon Springs, Texas, joined the popular social media web site Twitter only a few months ago, and she already has a respectable following of a few hundred people.

“When I started, I realized that many restaurants weren’t using Twitter yet," said Sears-Martinez, "but I kept hearing about it, even on the radio. So I told Christy [Knight, the restaurant’s owner] that if I can figure this thing out, then I might be able to make it work for us in a big way.” Sears-Martinez uses her Twitter account to post information about the cafe's specials and give away gift certificates. Her notes, called “tweets,” consist of short messages no longer than 140 characters. She deems it, “a form of word-of-mouth marketing that you just can’t pay enough for.”

America's Coolest Small Towns

Our Bookshop, Saugerties, N.Y. Brad DeCecco/braddececco.com

Every now and then, you stumble upon a town that's gotten everything right—great coffee, food with character, shop owners with purpose. These 10 spots have it all, in perfectly small doses.

By Yahoo Travel, various contributors 

Cayucos, Calif.
(pop. 3,000)
serious waves and serious food

About halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, Cayucos is everything you want in a mellow beach town — an anomaly on the increasingly built-up coast. While the vibe is decidedly relaxed, two things get residents fired up: serious waves and serious food. Surfer Wade Rumble bridges both worlds as owner of Rogue Wave Cafe, where most mornings, after drying off his board, he sells fair-trade, organic coffee beans. Just off Highway 1, Cayucos requires a dedicated detour, which has helped it remain untouched. "We have beautiful beaches and beautiful people," says Christa Hozie, who runs Brown Butter Cookie Company with her sister Traci Nickson; the duo make super-addictive sea-salt-topped cookies. "I came to visit three years ago and thought it was such a magical place," explains Hozie. Grace Lorenzen had a similar reaction. She moved back to the Central Coast from Seattle in 2002 and now manages the five-room Cass House Inn (from $165). The restored 1860s Victorian has a fitting soundtrack for the coastal town: the lulling surf. — Mario López-Cordero

NM bookmobiles: Books for those without libraries

RAMAH, N.M. — It's the last stop of the day for Rural Bookmobile West, snugged up against a curb in a corner of the Ramah Post Office parking lot, where a few customers-to-be wait in their cars protected from looming dark clouds that smell of rain.

Inside the bookmobile, manager Wendy Roberts and assistant Toni-Lynn Hart scurry around, turning on the generator, snapping on lights, moving CDs to a low shelf and readying the card catalog — narrow boxes filled with cards from checked-out books.

In a digital age where news comes on cell phones and readers download e-books, three bookmobiles chug along the back roads of New Mexico, bringing a library to people who otherwise live without one.

The New Mexico State Library's on-the-road program is unique.

"There are no other state-run bookmobile programs that I am aware of," said Michael Swendrowski of Milwaukee, chairman of the subcommittee on bookmobiles for the American Library Association, which last year celebrated 100 years of bookmobiles. Nowadays, most are operated by cities, counties or regions.