Traveling Insights: An Inside Perspective

I ran into a very progressive farmer the other day. And when I say progressive, I mean he has his finger on the pulse of everything that's going on with issues in the food system in America, what the trade deals are doing to farmers, and more. All I wanted to know was where I could find the nearest ATM, and I ended up immersed in a thirty-minute conversation about what we should do with the $12 billion check that Trump is about to sign off on for American farmers as a result of this tariff mess. For those of you less familiar with what's going on, this article  from Fortune does a good job of explaining some of the issues. Visited a shrimp farm in NE this week as part of the NCK Farm Tour What I found most staggering from our conversation (aside from his suggestion that we use the money to pay farmers to take their land out of production and encourage them to spend their free time learning about growing for organic markets) was his comment that, among all the professio...

I'm going to disappoint you all in not having a kick-ass photo of a golf cart to start off this post, but I promise you, I've probably seen at least 100 all together whiz by me or parked in front of a cafe. Being in Courtland yesterday for their 54th annual Fun Day was no exception. And neither was my time spent in Palmer for their fundraiser/auction. By far it was the most successful of survey collection events, as everyone was already sitting down, chowing down on a free will donation meal. All I had to do was give them my pitch and 9 times out of 10 they'd say yes to the dress! :) If you couldn't tell already, I'm getting over my fears of talking to strangers. This job absolutely necessitates that I do. Anyways, golf carts are the go-to for vehicular traffic around here. If it's not that, I run into a four-wheeler on the highway, just checkin' on the crops down the road from the house. It reminds me of many years attending races as part of the Sports ...

My Sunday baby-bouquet: Yarrow and scented geranium Why are rural areas notorious for being 'a great place to raise a family'? Aside from the lower crime rates and slower pace of life, I would think the ubiquity of mothers is one prime reason. I've come to realize this talking to others who are from the area or aren't and decided to settle here. The Planning Commission is no exception. My co-worker told me that being a mom wasn't difficult there because most of the other women had children of their own at some point, so working around daycare, appointments, extracurricular activities, and the like is not a big deal. The schedule is flexible as long as you get your work done. I absolutely love that mentality. I also realize that it is very hard to find companies to work for in urban centers that understand the obligations of motherhood and are willing to 'make exceptions' to work around the chaos that is childhood. There's just a different kind o...

I logged 200 miles the other day. 200 miles. I one day. Multiply that by 20 (five days a week for four weeks), and you’ve got about 4000 miles at least that I’ve probably put on the company vehicles this summer as part of my internship. On the drive back to the office one evening I reflected on how far apart things are out here. It takes twenty minutes to get to the next town, thirty to the one after. The vehicles that populate the roads are mostly SUV’s, pick-up trucks, things that can tow a boat, a livestock trailer. They’ve all got their deer guard, some with a “Make America Great Again” sticker…few are compact and get anything better than 15 miles to the gallon. It’s part of the culture out here to drive something robust, to serve all your towing needs. And as much as it pains me to be the smallest thing on the road (with my tiny Mazda 2, bike rack and all), it is in no way realistic for me to expect those around me to up and switch their vehicle of choice ...

One of the best things about being on the road, alone, for many hours in a day, is the benefit of reflecting. How I should cherish these moments before I begin graduate school (and strive to find pockets of time to relax moving forward)! They are too valuable to be discounted. Lot of cool thoughts came to mind today as I made my rounds from Cuba to Washington to Greenleaf to Linn to Palmer and finally back to Beloit. Among them were the invention of a job as agricultural marketing specialist, the possibility of satellite grocery distributors, and the epiphany that senior citizens and college students have a lot more in common than they might realize when it comes to food. Hence, the title of my post today. Cool engraving in downtown Washington, KS I'm very excited to share this with my readers because it has the potential to transform your marketing angle when it comes to selling food. There is of course the assumption that some of my readers are selling food. :) If no...

Admit it. We love to hate Facebook. It gives us an opportunity to show off the best parts of our lives while concealing the sad moments, the everyday blah that is our lives. We can connect to friends all over the world, people we may never meet in person but have so much in common with. It's also ubiquitous, and not necessarily in a good way. Used as a login for various websites so that we don't have to create new usernames and passwords...the way we converse has even changed. Do people keep asking them to 'like' you too? Why should our affection for each other have to be so publicly on display? On the flip side, Facebook allows for ultra-stalking, like we've never seen before. It has ruined relationships, made people overly analytical about their own relationship status...is it 'Facebook official' yet? Yet there is another angle that's talked about less, which is worth discussing. For example, how have rural businesses harnessed the power of Facebook...

Today's post is dedicated to fleshing out some of the pros and cons of living in rural Kansas. So far, I have determined the following to be definite pros: Outdoor recreational activities are the norm Small-town coffee shops that also function as the local pharmacy Local meat served at the diners and cafes Incredible sunsets and views of the countryside Family-friendly work environments Wireless internet access (with this, who needs cable anyways?) The feeling of safety and security Locally owned banks/credit unions Very low cost of living--food, land, housing, etc. Little to no traffic One cannot ignore the cons, though... Conservative ideas about what someone should or shouldn't do based on a long tradition of doing something over and over again without interruption The sense of entrapment if you don't have a personal vehicle--the lack of public transportation pretty much means you're stuck if you can't drive or be driven around Little e...