The Secret Sauce

Building The Agricultural City -An Argument for Regional Economies

Building The Agricultural City -An Argument for Regional Economies

Is there a means by which we can construct a society in which the human being is central, not peripheral, with an economy that serves us? One in which it is understood that Nature has tolerance limits and that by crossing them too often we will destroy the foundations of our existence? Can we construct a society in which work is meaningful? One in which our voices are heard?

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Island Housing Trust – How one small town addressed a crisis of affordable housing

Island Housing Trust – How one small town addressed a crisis of affordable housing

Island Housing Trust’s mission is to preserve the viability of the year-round community on Mount Desert Island (MDI) by encouraging and providing housing opportunities affordable to the island’s workforce. To ensure that the island communities remain viable year-round villages and towns, IHT seeks to create a stock of permanently affordable year-round housing that is available to those who work on MDI.

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Wait —Wisconsin? Where is that again?

Wait —Wisconsin? Where is that again?

Now when I hear someone say “flyover country,” I grimace at the term. How do I begin to tell my friends of all the interesting aspects of my community, even though I want to? How can I convince them that my town and all rural communities deserve more than a quick glance out of their plane as they fly from city to city?

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From Mining Gold to Farming Ice

From Mining Gold to Farming Ice

The resilient Ouray Ice Park tribe refuses to be daunted, and continues looking for innovative solutions to attack this latest challenge. Perhaps developing new water sources to augment the municipal water supply will allow them to build a thicker, more resilient base of ice, that will hold up better against warming temps. Perhaps more tweaks to the Ice Park’s plumbing system will allow them to farm that ice in even more effective and efficient and smarter and safer ways. There is hope. Even on thin ice.

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The Ways and Means: “Open the Doors”

The Ways and Means: “Open the Doors”

What if you could change the trajectory of someone’s life by giving them a huge financial gift, and it would cost you nothing?

What if you could plant a seed of economic justice and generosity right where you live, not waiting for national policy to make it happen?

What if you had the power to enrich your entire community just by sharing what you have, one person at a time?

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Changemaker: Euneika Rogers-Sipp and her resolute stewardship in the Black Belt South

Changemaker: Euneika Rogers-Sipp and her resolute stewardship in the Black Belt South

If nothing else, I realized that as a left-leaning, white, northerner, it has been easy for me to make assumptions about the deep south, all the while giving it little thoughtful attention. The time spent with Euneika and her friends in Montgomery, Selma, Gees Bend, and Camden Alabama was a welcome wake up call to the steady work that continues to be done, quietly, resolutely, often in the margins and often without great fanfare.

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Sharing the Sugars: Truth be Told —Toril Booker Fisher

Sharing the Sugars: Truth be Told —Toril Booker Fisher

I recently read that trees communicate with one another —scientists call it the “world wood web”— When trees know that there is a danger, disease, or threat, they will shed their stored sugars and share them with each other to spread their energy and love so that perhaps the other trees can benefit.

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