Traveling Insights: An Inside Perspective

My view every evening I bike home from campus. Over the last few months I have been challenged. I have been criticized, praised, robbed, put down, and everything in between. My first semester of graduate school is almost over, and I have little travel adventures to speak of. The direction of this blog is going to change, undoubtedly, as will the trajectory of my writing in general. Having just accepted an internship position with Voices for Rural Resilience  and part-time work with Panache, LLC. , I aim to expand my knowledge of social media marketing, web content development, and apples! If nothing else, I would be remiss if I didn't offer some pieces of wisdom that these past few months in Minnesota have instilled in me: 1. Stand up for yourself. This can take shape in myriad ways, whether through a post-meeting email or an outright confrontation. Not one to easily engage in conflict, I have more subtle ways of getting my message across that still packs a punch. While t...

Tomato tasting of over 60 varieties at Cornercopia (farm on St. Paul campus) Tomorrow starts week three of classes. Week five of living in Minnesota. I dare say that despite the hiccups along the way, I'm quite happy in my new surroundings. No, I haven't hit it off with anyone in class and made a thousand new friends as a result, my job is far from as intellectually engaging than I anticipated, and find myself spending more time in the kitchen than the library...Despite my less-than-cinematic adventure, I find myself smiling at the way my co-workers pronounce 'bag', the way people around here cancel volleyball tournaments when it's 85 degrees due to excessive heat, and the fact that being a student means I will still be quite limited in the time I have to explore in the next two years. I am also starting to realize some important things about what I want for myself and my employees in a future business that I run, which is not something I could have said ju...

Best gluten-free pizza crust ever at Squash Blossom Farm So you know how at random times in your life things just come full circle? Well, that's happened quite a bit in my world over the past few weeks...some of the most notable: Applying for a job at UMN that would have me finding supply chain outlets for Kernza (links back to my roots in KS)--landed an interview but didn't get the job, in case you were wondering. :) Connecting with two Minnesota natives here in Minneapolis who I met in Lawrence last semester Seeing an article about what is happening with to the soybean market upon visiting the New Food Economy website for the first time (and having written about the topic here on my blog within the last couple of months) Having my fortune cookie's word turn out to be "fruit" and choosing to take a job with an apple farm in the same week Stumbling upon Cafe Racer, a restaurant my roommate recommended and then realizing it's catty-corner from ...

Amidst the chaos of moving weekend, I received a wonderful photo in my inbox today. My letter to the editor of the Beloit Call got published! I'll spare you the struggle of trying to make out what it says by just posting the text here for you to read. :) I think it does an excellent job of summarizing the impact that my internship had on me this summer. And to think I was freaking out about going over the supposed 250 word limit... Re: Reno to conduct 12 county food survey: Dear Editor, North Central Kansas is imperfect. It’s imperfect, but in the best kind of way. Ten weeks ago I could have told you a thousand reasons why living in rural Kansas is the worst idea anyone has ever had. I could not have come up with more than ten for why it is the best. Ten weeks later, and I feel obligated to write a letter of apology not only the community of Beloit, for not having given it enough credit at the start, but to the entire region of North Central Kansas. Time and time again I...

When you get plants as a parting gift you know you've done something right So...before I launch into a brief synopsis of my last day (and night) in Beloit, there are a couple of things that jump out to me during my first 24 hours back in Lawrence. 1. I love seeing so many cars around that look like mine! 2. The return of students has never felt so good. I didn't realize how much I enjoy the sight-seeing--i.e. young, attractive males. 3. I feel like I should give my parents a big hug for being so damn cool. 4. It's so weird being in Jayhawk country again! For the first time I actually get a small sense of pride for my association with KU. Up until now it has felt a little less embracing. But back to Friday. It started off pretty awesome, with our staff breakfast in the morning. I volunteered to bring batter to make pancakes (recipe below) using cornmeal I got from a local farmer, and decided to risk breaking into tears by reading my letter to the editor that I s...

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 ...