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Rural Success Stories: Cather & Company
Cather & Company Booksellers and Coffeehouse is a unique gathering spot in Red Cloud
The earthy voice of Frank Sinatra, stylishly mismatched chairs arranged around well-used wooden tables, original art hanging on exposed brick walls, the luxurious smell of crushed coffee beans, and hundreds of books shelved on handmade wooden bookcases — along with two customer-oriented cats — identify Cather & Company as a genuine, L.A.-style coffee house and bookstore. more...
Rural Success Stories: Bar Ten Kennels
Cozad trainer proves a well-trained retriever is a beautiful thing
True communication between man and animals is a rare and wonderful thing to watch. Most of us are satisfied if we can teach Fido to come when called, fetch a ball and not pee in the house, but some people have a much deeper sense of what really communicating with another species means. more...
Rural Success Stories: Kaufman Trailers
Kaufman Trailer expansion is economic bright spot in Beaver City
In a town of 640 people in the middle of America and in the middle of the worst economic downturn in decades, a trailer manufacturing company is in the midst of a major expansion project, more than tripling the size of its production and storage facilities. more...
Rural Success Stories: South Central Diesel, Inc.
Keeping pace with diesel technology keeps Holdrege shop growing
Today's diesel engines provide 20-to-40-percent better fuel economy and offer more torque at lower rpm when compared to their gasoline counterparts. Diesel engines are cleaner than ever before, and in the next few years the diesel industry will virtually eliminate key emissions associated with on- and off-road diesel equipment... more...
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Articles & Essays: Nebraska's College of Technical Agriculture
NCTA: Why graduate with just a sheepskin, when you could have 100 cows? by Gene O. Morris
Upon arrival at the University of Nebraska's College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis in 2006, Dr. Weldon Sleight realized the farms, ranches and rural communities of America's heartland were facing a troubling future. more...
Articles & Essays: NCTA Housing
Transforming nursing home into residence hall is a challenge for ex-Texan
by Britini Freiboth
At first glance, I stick out like a sore thumb. Usually in stiletto heels and dressed for corporate America, I now stroll the streets of my new home in Curtis, Nebraska on an adventure of morphing a former nursing home and assisted living facility into a state-of-the-art student residence hall called Aggie West. more...
Articles & Essays: Vintage Staggerwings, Aeroncas, and Stinsons fly in to Minden Fly-in
28th Annual Antique Aircraft Association Fly-in at Minden
by Mike Gintzler
The runway had a slight rise in it, so from where I was standing I couldn’t see the aircraft that was starting. But I could certainly hear it; I knew it was one of the big radial-engine planes. The sound volume increased as the pilot advanced the throttle. The plane would be moving by now. more...
Articles & Essays: Nebraska Grape Harvest
Looking for a juicy job? Nebraska grape harvest is a real experience
by Pat Underwood
If you have found yourself intrigued by the help-wanted ads for temporary jobs picking grapes — appearing more frequently around Nebraska these days — my advice is to let your intrigue be your guide. Everyone should try this at least once in their life, because it really is interesting. It’s also fun. Truly... Well, okay, mostly. more...
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Rural Foodies: Minden Coffee House
There’s more to a coffeehouse than just a good cuppa joe
by Pam Soreide, Betty Sayers and Phil Soreide
When you get right down to it, a great coffeehouse is as much about the ambiance and atmosphere as it is about the coffee. It has to feel right. There needs to be some big easy chairs and a couch, a few high stools, and at least one geeky guy with a laptop, and a lady of a certain age with a romance novel and a mocha latte... more...
Rural Foodies: Cunningham's Feed
Cunningham’s Feed Grill, Bar and Bakery rivals big-city gourmet dining
by Pam Soreide, Betty Sayers, Phil Soreide
Sometimes, flipping though one of those glossy City magazines you find in hotel rooms, you come upon an ad for some rustic-themed restaurant that gushes about their antique pinewood floor or international beer selection or how Chef Antoine (or Philippe or Maurice) garnishes dishes with heirloom tomatoes and fresh herbs to create the “gourmet experience of a lifetime.” Oh, please... more...
Rural Foodies: Mac's Creek Vinyards
A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou beside me at Mac’s Creek Vineyards
by Pam Soreide, Betty Sayers & Phil Soreide
For many of us who, in our salad days, may have preferred Boone’s Farm, Annie Green Springs or Blue Nun to, say, a saucy little French Pinot Noir, enjoying wine requires a certain maturity. When I was a child, I drank as a child, but eventually I put aside childish wines and began to gradually appreciate the subtle differences between varieties of grape, as well as the climate and soil in which they are grown.more...
Rural Foodies: Trattoria Flippin' Sweet
Outside a big sign exhorts passers-by to “Try Our Pizza, We Knead the Dough”. Inside, the Flippin’ Sweet is positively theatrical in the decorations, boldly done in black, white and red, with art elements from nouveau to retro. It reminds one of classy little neighborhood bistros they may have encountered in San Francisco or Seattle or Key West or Cape Cod. The music on the stereo is Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole. The guy behind the counter sports a fedora. It’s hip and funky and homey all at once. And it smells great.more...
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Livable Small Towns: Red Cloud
Red Cloud is an Historic Treasure...and a Treat For The Eyes
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...
Livable Small Towns: Oxford
Village of Oxford Proves Good Things Come In Small Packages
Cruise into the small (pop. 900) Village of Oxford in south-central Nebraska, and you’re greeted by a main street broad enough to park cars in the middle as well as at the curbs. The first Oxford citizens designed a spacious community with room to expand. Clean, wide streets and sidewalks with big, shady trees welcome customers and visitors. Twenty-two businesses comprise the business district, first laid out and built in 1880 when the Republican Valley Railway Company (later to become the Chicago, Burlington and Quincey) crossed Harlan County and into the fledgling town.
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Livable Small Towns: 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...
Livable Small Towns: 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...
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
A visit to the library is a great — free — family outing
Libraries have changed a lot. Once exclusively about printed books and magazines, libraries today are where patrons go for Internet access or to find a movie to watch. In Holdrege, teens can play video games in the young adult room while pre-schoolers get their first exposure to computers at an early literacy station.more...
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Flowers From Mom
Writer Joy Richter likes to drive through the town where her parents once lived. On a recent visit, a colorful floral display in a shop window seemed to hold a special meaning just for her.more...
Minden sculptor never happier than with a pile of junk
With junk usually destined for a landfill, a petite woman wearing an oversized helmet and wielding a welding torch transforms rusted artifacts into artistic forms. Misty DeLashmutt’s profile of sculptor Sally Buss makes interesting reading.more...
Buy the Bank
Here’s an opportunity you don’t see every day. For $89,000, you can own a remodeled downtown bank building with new wiring, furnace and A/C and three office spaces, one rented, and one set up for a coffee shop or small cafe. It’s just one of the Business and Commercial Opportunities available this month on Nebraska Rural Living.more...
