Cross-posted from the White House Blog

Tomorrow I will travel to Hillsboro, Missouri to host the Obama Administration’s National Summit of Rural America: A Dialogue for Renewing Promise. The event will feature a broad conversation with key policymakers and community leaders to explore the priorities and policies necessary to strengthen America’s rural communities. Read more »

Do you live in a rural community without a tornado warning siren?

“Right now we have money. We can help as many [communities] as come to us,” said Phil Lehmkuhler, Indiana’s rural development state director for the United States Department of Agriculture. Read more »

For working parents in isolated rural communities, quality child care is a lifeline that allows them an opportunity to obtain employment so they can provide for their families. Read more »

Today, the People’s Garden hosted a workshop about composting. Pat Millner, who has done a lot of research on composting and utilizing compost at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service’s Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland, taught it. It was fantastically fun and informative, and Pat brought in several examples of composters for us to see. Read more »

Darlene Barnes, Regional Administrator for the FNS Mountain Plains Regional Office

Taking the time to meet the people who use FNS programs and services is the best way to understand what works.  It also helps build important relationships and gets the word out to those who most need FNS support.

FNS Administrator Julie Paradis spent the week of May 24 doing just that – on the move in Montana gathering great feedback about nutrition issues and programs across the state.  A CNR Roundtable at Lolo Elementary in Lolo, Montana brought more than 30 school lunch workers, administrators, interested parents and news media to discuss nutrition needs for Montana’s underserved children.

On the Flathead Reservation in Pablo, Montana, Paradis met with leadership of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and toured several Food Distribution Nutrition Education grant demonstration gardens designed to teach the roots of good food all the way through to learning delicious recipes for preparing home grown and commodity foods.

In Bozeman, Montana, Paradis presented a HealthierUS  Schools Gold Award to Morning Star Elementary for their excellent work in promoting exercise and healthy eating habits.

FNS Administrator Julie Paradis discusses FNS programs with Tonka Howard, host of Good Medicine, at the KSKC Public TV station on the Flathead Reservation.

FNS Administrator Julie Paradis hits the track with a Lolo Elementary student as part of the school’s Mileage Club.

FNS Administrator Julie Paradis and Ron Rotzahn, Program Specialist, Helena, Montana Field Office, discuss food distribution challenges at the St. Ignatius Food Distribution center on the Flathead Reservation.

When you think of locally produced food, you often think of vegetables but in Washington State, Native “farmers of the sea” are developing a thriving aquaculture industry.  Like traditional farmers, these “sea” farmers sew and reap, but in this case the harvest is shellfish: oysters and clams. Read more »