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By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson Photo: flickr / The Classic Farmhouse Here’s a cool way to learn more about food and nutrition. It’s Fooducate, a blog whose name says it all.  Its purpose is to educate eaters about the food they take into their bodies.  I’m impressed. I haven’t hung out on the site long enough […]

Posted on July 31st, 2009 by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Filed under: Food, Nutrition, Uncategorized | 9 Comments »

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by Debra Kozikowski We really have been talking about health care reform for a very long time. All eyes are on the House and Senate as the twists and turns of health care reform legislation keeps some of us up nights.  The talking heads on both sides of the issue blab away, the legislative action slowly […]

Posted on July 30th, 2009 by Debby
Filed under: Election 2010, Healthcare Reform | No Comments »

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by Debra Kozikowski From Lewiston, Maine and the Great Falls Farmers and Artisans Market’s Eat Local Week that begins on Aug. 4 to the 1st annual Missouri Local Foods Cooking Demonstration at the 2009 Missouri State Fair August 13th-23rd, cooking and eating local foods is all the rage. Finding your area’s local harvest hot spots is trendy and […]

Posted on July 29th, 2009 by Debby
Filed under: Agriculture, Buy Local, Farms & Farmers, Food, Food Safety, Rural Life, Rural Urban Partnerships, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

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by Debra Kozikowski Finally, the politics of food has given way to the actual harvest of great tasting locally grown produce. From the White House to my house, cooking the bounty from our gardens is a daily occupation this time of year. As much as we love our daily haul of yellow beans, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries soon to […]

Posted on July 28th, 2009 by Debby
Filed under: Agriculture, Buy Local, Farms & Farmers, Food, Rural Life, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

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by Debra Kozikowski The Obama administration’s” Rural Tour” is in full swing and rural advocates hope for more listening than lecturing when it comes to addressing the needs of America’s small towns and rural communities. In a piece titled Searching for Hamlet: To be or not to be for rural education, Marty Strange and Robin […]

Posted on July 27th, 2009 by Debby
Filed under: Cabinet, Government Agencies, Obama, Rural Issues, Rural Life, Uncategorized, USDA | 2 Comments »

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By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson Photo: dogman!/flickr DebbyKoz thought it might be a good idea if I told those who wonder where I am and why I’m not posting.  I’m touched that people have written to her, asking.  Here’s the scoop. I’m not hiding.  I didn’t go away.  I’m not on strike.  I’m writing a book […]

Posted on July 24th, 2009 by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Filed under: Nutrition | 2 Comments »

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by Al Cross Author-farmer Wendell Berry, right, geneticist Wes Jackson, center, and sustainable-agriculture advocate Fred Kirschenmann, left, lobbied the Obama administration and senators this week “for a new kind of food policy,” The Washington Post reports. The trio wants “a 50-year-farm bill, a proposal for gradual, systemic change in American farming. The plan asks for […]

Posted on July 23rd, 2009 by Debby
Filed under: Agriculture, Farms & Farmers, Food, Food Safety, Rural Issues, Rural Life, Rural Urban Partnerships, USDA | 3 Comments »

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by Debra Kozikowski “Neither urban nor rural alone has the ability to take up a change agenda for all Americans. Rural and urban joined together, however, can take up a new opportunity agenda that stands for everyone.”  Source: Our Shared Fate: Bridging the rural-urban divide creates new opportunities for prosperity and equity in America, June 2008 […]

Posted on July 22nd, 2009 by Debby
Filed under: Health Care, Healthcare Reform, Rural Issues, Rural Life, Rural Urban Partnerships, Uncategorized | No Comments »

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By Erik Peterson Back to school season is just around the corner, and with it the worry of the afterschool hours.  In communities nationwide, 14.3 million children head out the school door each afternoon, to spend the afterschool hours alone and unsupervised.  The effect?  Parents worry, and with good reason – juvenile crime soars from […]

Posted on July 20th, 2009 by Debby
Filed under: Education, Rural Issues, Rural Life | 4 Comments »

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By Al Cross A woman who established a rural health clinic in a fishing community on the Alabama coast, then rebuilt it twice after hurricanes, is President Obama’s nominee for surgeon general of the United States. Regina Benjamin (right) is founder and CEO of Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic. She won a “genius grant” from […]

Posted on July 14th, 2009 by Debby
Filed under: Government Agencies, Health Care, Obama, POTUS, Poverty in America, Rural Issues | 2 Comments »