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Featured Sponsor:
Look for these sponsors' logos throughout the various sections of this site.
Sustaining Sponsors:
Our Latest Rural Business Opportunity:
WILLIAMS BROTHERS
Just Listed in Arapahoe, NE
Our Latest Rural Housing Opportunity:
A Taste of Country
Just Listed in Indianola, NE
Rural Success Stories:
Wauneta Roller Mill
Wauneta Roller Mill's new young owners will retain old-time milling methods
Prospective buyers from many parts of the United States came to look at the last small flour mill still in operation in Nebraska, so it was a big surprise when the eventual purchasers of the mill turned out to be a young couple from Wauneta, Nebraska, the very town where the mill is located.
Rogan Einspahr, who was born and raised in the Wauneta area, and his wife, Ashley, have purchased the 87-year-old Wauneta Roller Mill from the Maxfield family. more...
Nebraska Star Beef
Nebraska Star Beef is a 'cut above' in the beef market
Rare, medium or well-done? How do you prefer your steak? Beyond the temperature of the meat on the grill, what other information is important to you?
Nebraska Star Beef, a central Nebraska family-owned company, wagers that you, like most patrons of fine-dining restaurants prefer beef that is a “cut above” the average and are willing to pay more for source-verified beef, beef raised initially on grass and fed an all vegetarian diet especially designed for cattle and free from antibiotics, hormones, and growth stimulants.
Downtown McCook
Resurgence in McCook's downtown points to new vibrancy for rural America
Writer Gene Morris says that on Saturday nights or around special occasions like a show at the Fox Theatre or a concert at the Bieroc Cafe, it's hard to find a place to park McCook's main business thoroughfare. For some, the vibrancy in McCook’s downtown — and McCook is just one of many — is beginning to call to mind the salad days for rural Nebraska towns when the shops were filled with merchants and the streets thronged with customers. In addition to major renovations of the historic Fox Theater and McCook National Bank, and remodeling and repurposing of the Keystone Hotel into office and retail space, the city has attracted a number of new eating and drinking establishments. The Loop Brewing Company, TJ's Fun Center, Madison's in the Keystone, and three new Mexican restaurants are recent new restaurant options for residents.
One Good Adguy
Big ideas for wide, open spaces
Phil Soreide has found rejuvenation and inspiration in small-town Nebraska where he incorporates big-town experience and ideas into his one-man ad agency.
Soreide started One Good Adguy in 2002 after seven years as a partner in an ad agency. At that time, he was living in Loveland, Colo. Before that, he spent 17 years working in ad agencies in California.
view all success stories
Articles & Essays:
The Gardener's Gamble
A lot of rural Nebraskans who are trying to figure out just when the threat of frost has passed and it’s really safe to start planting.
by Michelle McCormick
“As everyone in Nebraska knows, our weather turns on a dime,” she writes. “The 80 degrees you enjoy on Monday can plummet to 30 on Tuesday. Our rural gardening experts tell us we’re safe if we wait until after Mother’s Day to buy plants, but gardening is like garage saleing…. the best stuff goes fast! So once more I, along with my fellow gardening gamblers, roll the dice and tempt fate.”
Once in the store, she finds kindred spirits — other gardeners willing to risk the vicissitudes of the weather to be the first on their block to have something blooming a few weeks from now — and undaunted makes her purchase. But she learns a lesson in the deep of the night that being first in the garden is not without its suffering.
Rural Health Education Network
Rural Health Education Network aids rural residents
by Patrik Johansson, M.D.
With minimal fanfare, the Rural Health Education Network (RHEN) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) has been one of the most effective programs in Nebraska.
RHEN is one of three centers in the UNMC College of Public Health that emphasize rural health. (The others are the Center for Rural Health Policy and the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health.) This year marks the 20th anniversary of the RHEN program and provides an opportunity to reflect on its accomplishments and how it is making a difference for Nebraskans.
Only in Curtis...
Only in Curtis...
When Mitzi Michelsen and her husband and eight children moved to rural Nebraska, not everyone was thrilled.
“My son had told me how mad he was that we were moving to a tiny town in Nebraska,” she writes. “He said that it would be so horrible and they wouldn’t even have wrestling T-shirts. As he met the coach that day in April, he was not only taken to the high school and given a tour, he was also given numerous wrestling T-shirts…. Only in Curtis!”
The X Factor
Rural Nebraska health - the X Factor
by Michelle McCormick
In rural Nebraska, we enjoy a level of health which, if put to the test, would rival that of the healthiest cities/states/nations in the world. Fact or proud boast? We'll let you decide.
Figuring it was high time to introduce a little action to the staid pages of Nebraska Rural Living, this month we bring you an interactive look at the X Factor in rural health. According to writer Michelle McCormick, real health consists of “physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." And, as she points out, we in rural Nebraska have more than ample opportunity to benefit greatly from each.
view all articles & essays
Rural Foodies:
Pink Poodle Restaurant
North Platte's Pink Poodle is a trip back in time
by Pam Soreide, Betty Sayers, and Phil Soreide
This month, our visit to North Platte includes a stop at the Golden Spike, a tower and visitors center overlooking Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard and the world’s largest train sorting facility. Although we aren’t what you’d call train buffs, we encountered a few people who were while we were at the Golden Spike and got some worthwhile insight into this massive, complex freight-handling system.
But it’s not about the trains we came, it’s about the food, and our visit to the Pink Poodle was an experience we won’t soon forget.Taste of Texas
McCook’s Taste of Texas BBQ does the state proud
by Pam Soreide and Phil Soreide
Loyal readers of the Rural Foodies have figured out by now that the three of us live in Holdrege, a town of about 5,000 set among the cornfields of south central Nebraska.
Even in places bigger than Holdrege, a new restaurant coming to town is the kind of topic that starts conversations. For weeks, the tension had been building. It started as a whisper that “some people” had been looking at Holdrege as a place to open a restaurant. The Chamber of Commerce was being tight-lipped in the name of business privacy, but the rumors persisted for weeks and the speculation about who or at least what kind of restaurant reached a fever pitch.
Lakeshore Marina
Special occasions get special attention at the LakeShore Marina Restaurant
Back when the Rural Foodies were coming up, going out to dinner was for special occasions only. It was an excursion undertaken in celebration of important events or significant accomplishments, and it always meant you had to wear your good clothes and act like an adult. If it was your birthday or graduation, being taken out to dinner was part of your gift.
Nowadays, when going out to dinner has become so relatively commonplace, just how are you supposed to celebrate special occasions? Well, first, if you can find a restaurant that’s willing to push beyond their regular menu, that’s a good start. But if you can find someone like Karen Finken, a chef for whom holidays and birthdays is what it’s all about, you just might be on the way to a magical evening.
Flashbacks
Flashbacks loves Ravenna, Ravenna loves Flashbacks
by Betty Sayers, Phil Soreide and Pam Soreide
We’ve had the pleasure of visiting a number of restaurants that had to be completely renovated before the first order could be taken. Flashbacks in Ravenna was taken down to the bare walls and rebuilt as a charming and cozy space with exposed brick walls, lots of wood and antique details, and a striking black-and-white ceramic tile floor. It took two years, but Craig Loeffelholz and his wife Stacie teamed up with their relatives and friends to repurpose an old warehouse in the Ravenna city center with a 12-foot hand-rubbed cherry wood bar and six spacious wood booths, set off by nice tables and an antique sideboard for the salad bar.
view all rural foodies
Dynamic Towns & Cities:
Bertrand
Indomitable spirit keeps Bertrand vibrant and dynamic
“To make a small community thrive, you work together.”
Bertrand is thriving in great part because this solidarity message is spoken in many different ways and by people of all ages and occupations in Bertrand. The town is bustling with committees planning the Bertrand Rodeo, the famous Bertrand craft show, a talent show, theater, music and sports activities, and fund raising events for families in need. Businesses also thrive in Bertrand. Over 72 businesses handle most wants and needs in the community, including a medical clinic and a weekly newspaper, the Bertrand Herald, which was recently sold to new owners.
Red Cloud
Red Cloud is an Historic Treasure...and a Treat For The Eyes
Gracious homes, buildings and more remind visitors of Nebraska heritage. Red Cloud’s place is unique in American and Nebraska history. Celebrated author, Willa Cather’s best-known work, My Antonia, was inspired by the town, the land and the hardy pioneers in Webster County. Cather lived in rural Webster County and the town of Red Cloud until she left in 1890 to attend the University of Nebraska. Red Cloud’s strong literary heritage is juxtaposed with a hunting and farming culture, a theme woven into many of her stories. more...
Curtis, Maywood
Curtis, Maywood are beautiful spots to live the Nebraska good life
Nestled in the beautiful Medicine Creek Valley, Curtis and Maywood are roughly equidistant between McCook, Lexington and North Platte. Separated by only seven miles, both communities proudly proclaim excellent school systems and today, as it has been for millennia, the primary business in Frontier County is farming and ranching. Archaeological evidence suggests the population of the valley is roughly the same now as when it was occupied by Native Americans 1300 years ago.
Today, Medicine Creek Valley is home to the progressive Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, a new community center, an abundance of community spirit and an indomitable drive to thrive.more...
Minden
If the perfect small town exists, it just might be Minden
If you could sit down at a drawing board to design the perfect small town, you’d start with a superb education system, then add in gracious and affordable homes. You’d want to make sure you had a prosperous manufacturing sector so there would be good jobs and a sound economy, then perhaps you’d want to add some interesting retail enterprises on wide, safe streets. You’d want to make sure to design in a strong sense of community, with a lot of citizen participation in community decisions, quality healthcare facilities and nearby opportunities for camping, hunting and fishing. Put down your pencil. You’re describing Minden.more...
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Welcome to Nebraska Rural Living
Nebraska Rural Living is the brainchild of two sisters who returned to their small town roots after a life pursuing their dreams in big cities. Nebraska Rural Living's mission is to market the very real benefits of a rural lifestyle by highlighting the amenities of rural communities and spotlighting successful entrepreneurs, who make good livings, free of the stress of urban environments. We offer links to a wide variety of sources and resources.
If you miss the safe, quiet streets, the wide-open sky, the sense of knowing – and caring about – your neighbors, we urge you to register and be a part of our community. And perhaps after you join us in spirit, you’ll join us in fact. more...
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What's Going On in Rural Nebraska
May is a great time to get outdoors and take a hike
Walking outdoors is one of life’s underrated pleasures. For one thing, it makes you feel fully alive and an integral part of the world. For another, it’s an activity that takes place at a human pace. Even if your goal is to get your heart going, you’re still traveling through the world slow enough to appreciate the sun on your face, the scent on the breeze, and the chirp of birds. And if you slow down a little, you can start to appreciate things in more detail: you can stop to admire the buds on the trees or the new growth – practically chartreuse – on wakening shrubs; you can spot the robin’s nest and watch as the industrious parents build or forage for food; if you find some kids, you can watch them play and try to remember what it feels like to be lithe and carefree and unencumbered.
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Also Featured This Month
‘At first sight, I fell in love with goats’ says Overton entrepreneur
A herd of goats, a dairy and a cheese-making business were never in Chane Bidwell’s career plans. Chane is a builder by trade, and for twenty years, his company built luxury custom homes and even custom furniture around Fort Collins, Colorado. But life sometimes leads you down unexpected paths.more...
Simple Beauties
What do you remember about growing up in Nebraska? Just because Taylor Lutz is a high school junior doesn’t mean she doesn’t have deeply personal memories associated with her childhood and adolescence. Her short essay, almost a prose poem, is a paean to growing up in rural Nebraska. more...
El Rinconcito
We had come to El Rinconcito – the “little corner” of El Salvador in Lexington. Recommended by one of our readers, we were warned it wouldn’t be fancy, but we were promised a food experience that would be interesting, unique and delicious. more...
