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Featured Sponsor:
Look for these sponsors' logos throughout the various sections of this site.
Sustaining Sponsors:
This month's featured sponsors:
Our Latest Rural Business Opportunity:
Watson's Steakhouse & Saloon
Just Listed in Minden, NE
Our Latest Rural Housing Opportunity:
A Taste of Country
Just Listed in Indianola, NE
Rural Success Stories: Schwarz Farms
Making more dollars per acre is goal of Bertrand organic farm
Tom Schwarz believes that farming the organic way is definitely more of a challenge but may also be a bit more fun than conventional farming.
“As a conventional farmer, I just plant, spray, and harvest. But growing the organic way requires us to think more about every process, think through our choices. For example, we choose from many more plant varieties than a conventional farmer.” more...
Rural Success Stories: Hot Rocket Fireworks
Fascination with fireworks sparks an explosive business for Oxford family
Hot Rocket Fireworks Owner Craig Hamre describes himself as a fireworks fanatic. As a kid, he was the one saving money all year long to buy fireworks, and he sheepishly admits the police might have made a few house calls to kindly remind him of the legal times to shoot off those fireworks. more...
Rural Success Stories: Besler Industries
Quality is key to success for Cambridge ag products manufacturer
by Gene O. Morris
Whether it's a cotton farmer in Georgia, a rancher in Montana or a corn farmer just down the road in Nebraska, the products of Besler Industries, Inc. of Cambridge are making a difference in American agriculture. Since starting in a tiny building behind the Cambridge bowling alley in 1973, the business founded by Herb Besler has become known for flawless quality and cutting edge craftsmanship.more...
Rural Success Stories: Turkey Creek Game Farm
Hunting resort owner turns what he loves into what he does
by Pat Underwood
With the spring Turkey season well underway, Bob Barr wants to make sure other people — especially kids — have access to what he remembers from his own youth as "some of the best of the good life Nebraska has offer."
For him, that has always meant hunting. Now it means hunting in fine style, with an ever-increasing number of customers and friends. more...
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Articles & Essays: Concerts on the Creek
Concerts on the Creek series is pure delight for chamber music lovers
Chamber music is, by definition, intimate. And no matter how much you spent on your home sound system, there’s no recording in your collection that can match the experience of a live concert. more...
Articles & Essays: Summer Honors Program
Summer Honors program brings world-class education to rural studentsby Jennifer Chick
Some might think that students in larger cities always get the best education. After all, urban students have diverse museums, expansive libraries, and large universities practically next door; they simply have more opportunities at their fingertips. more...
Articles & Essays: 50 editions later, Nebraska Rural Living is going strong
by Phil Soreide
This is the 50th edition of Nebraska Rural Living. And while, granted, it’s not our 50th anniversary, it’s still a milestone worthy of reflection. We’ve covered a lot of ground. more...
Articles & Essays: Mike Sughroue
Businessman-farmer finds solace, relaxation, release in producing art
by Jennifer Chick
As a child, Mike Sughroue used art as a way to retreat, to stay out of trouble and to deal with emotions.
“I’ve been painting or drawing probably my whole life,” Sughroue, 57, of Holdrege said. “It was just something to keep busy and keep me out of trouble. Mom would get tired of me and say, ‘Go color something besides the walls.’” more...
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Rural Foodies: Bonfire Grill
Chef‘s influence evident at Broken Bow‘s Bonfire Grill
by Pam Soreide, Betty Sayers and Phil Soreide
One of the least profound insights the Rural Foodies have gained from a year or two of seeking out the best dining experiences to be had in rural Nebraska is that who’s in charge in the kitchen makes a huge difference as to what ends up on your plate. more...
Rural Foodies: Palace Steakhouse
Nebraska beef is focal point of Red Cloud's Palace Steakhouse
by Phil Soreide, Betty Sayers and Pam Soreide
We have come to poke around Red Cloud a bit before trying out dinner at the Palace Steakhouse, which we’ve been told is a venerable landmark in downtown. Venerable it certainly is, and so what if decorating isn’t their longest suit? We understand they make it a point to serve Nebraska beef, and that’s what we’ve come for...or at least what some of us have come for.more...
Rural Foodies: Back Alley Bakery
Artisan breads are just the beginning for the Back Alley Bakery
by Phil Soreide, Betty Sayers & Pam Soreide
Technologically speaking, retained-heat brick ovens are way dark ages, in use by ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans thousands of years B.C. So why, in an age of microwave Hot Pockets and dough-in-a-can, do people still make bread this way? Oh, you poor creature. If you have to ask, for the sake of your culinary soul, schedule a trip immediately if not sooner to the Back Alley Bakery in Hastings. more...
Rural Foodies: Tub's Pub
Mountain Oyster Night brings the oyster-lovers out to Tub's Pub
Rocky Mountain oysters are what is left over when you turn a young bull into a steer. Also known as calf fries, prairie oysters, cowboy caviar, or Montana tendergroin, they are usually peeled, breaded, pounded flat and grilled or deep fried. Although they undoubtedly evoke the “eeeeww” factor in some, they are considered a great delicacy by many, and are undeniably a huge draw on Mountain Oyster Night at Tub's Pub. more...
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Dynamic Towns & Cities: Alma
No one remains a stranger for long in Alma
If you want to get to know the town of Alma and learn about its people, start with a visit to any one of the venues where residents gather for morning coffee and a daily update on local happenings. Chances are you will meet enough friendly folks during your first visit to any one of them that you'll go the rest of the day bumping into one or more of your new friends, ready with a now-familiar smile and probably another round of introductions. more...
Dynamic Towns & Cities: 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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Dynamic Towns & Cities: 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...
Dynamic Towns & Cities: 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
Stockcar racing is a full sensory experience – including your sense of thrill
Watching a car race on TV is nothing like the real thing. The cars thunder around the track doing warm up laps, but that doesn’t prepare you for the race. When you’re sitting in the stands and that green light kicks on, the engines reach a fever pitch, the vibrations echo in your chest, and your pulse begins racing along with the cars!more...
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Also Featured This Month
Vintage Staggerwings, Aeroncas, and Stinsons fly in to Minden Fly-in
Once a year, beautifully painted and polished, rare and remarkable aircraft touch down, one after another on the long runway at the Minden Antique Aircraft Association fly-in.more...
At Gourmet House, Japanese-style dining is a ritual, a mood, and a sensual delight
A Japanese dining experience is a symphony for the senses. The atmosphere is cool and relaxing, the service quiet and decorous, the food arranged like tiny works of art.more...
Resources for Rural Living
If you’re interested in living rural, check out our collection of links to the best resources for business startups and transfers, communities, housing, job opportunities and things to do.
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