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Barn Raiser
@barnraiser.bsky.social
3.8K followers 270 following 680 posts
Your independent source for rural and small town news
https://barnraisingmedia.com/
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · Nov 11
Welcome to the Barn Raiser bluesky! Subscribe to our newsletter to receive regular updates on the issues facing rural communities and small towns! barnraisingmedia.com/newsletter/
Newsletter
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Recent changes to student loans by Congress will not only eliminate $300 billion in higher education funding over the next decade, but curtail the opportunity for social mobility that rural and low-income Americans have long depended on. barnraisingmedia.com/changes-to-f...
Changes to Federal Loans Leave Rural Students Behind
Changes to student loans by Congress will create more financial hardships for low-income and rural students struggling to repay their loans.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 19, 2026 at 5:15 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
Virginia tree farmers reintroduce an iconic tree that was decimated by blight

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Can a Family Resurrect the American Chestnut Tree in Appalachia?
Virginia family farmers have planted American chestnut seedlings that come from an old grove that survived the 20th century blight. Will the trees survive?
barnraisingmedia.com
January 17, 2026 at 7:01 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
Farms without farmers are likely coming to a county near you

barnraisingmedia.com/robot-farms-...
Robotics: The Last Nail in Rural America’s Coffin?
John Deere has announced its plans to go 100% robotic by 2030. What does that mean for rural America?
barnraisingmedia.com
January 17, 2026 at 3:03 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
Life in your 90s means coming to terms with how much the world has changed

barnraisingmedia.com/from-the-old...
From the Old Country: ‘Alive to Tell the Tale’
Everyone who has ever lived into their 90s has found the world they still inhabit confusing and at times unknowable.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 16, 2026 at 7:01 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
Public property. No trespassing? Man hopes his $313 ticket will reshape Lake Michigan shoreline access

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Who Does Lake Michigan’s Shoreline Belong To?
Public property. No trespassing? Man hopes his $313 ticket will reshape Lake Michigan shoreline access.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 16, 2026 at 3:03 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
A Wisconsin man hopes his $313 ticket for trespassing will reshape Lake Michigan shoreline access. barnraisingmedia.com/who-does-lak...
Who Does Lake Michigan’s Shoreline Belong To?
Public property. No trespassing? Man hopes his $313 ticket will reshape Lake Michigan shoreline access.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 15, 2026 at 7:00 PM
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Introducing “From the Old Country,” a Barn Raiser column by Jane Miller about politics and aging. Miller, an English writer who turned 93 in December, is the author of the critically acclaimed Crazy Age: Thoughts on Being Old. barnraisingmedia.com/from-the-old...
From the Old Country: ‘Alive to Tell the Tale’
Everyone who has ever lived into their 90s has found the world they still inhabit confusing and at times unknowable.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 15, 2026 at 3:30 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
By protecting endangered wolves, conservationists support a healthy environment

barnraisingmedia.com/welcoming-th...
Welcoming the Wolf at the Door
By protecting endangered wolves, conservationists support a healthy environment. Yet the federal government now has wolves in its sights.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 14, 2026 at 7:01 PM
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“If we could just get rid of these broads, we’d have it made,” said an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer

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Barbara Kingsolver on the Women of the Great Arizona Mine Strike
In 1983, Barbara Kingsolver was a freelance journalist assigned to report on strike-gripped Arizona mining towns. Her reporting resonates today.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 14, 2026 at 3:02 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
When formal systems fail, mutual aid sustains rural life

barnraisingmedia.com/networks-of-...
Networks of Care: How Rural Immigrants Build Community
In today’s climate of intensified immigration enforcement, mutual aid networks take on new urgency for rural immigrant communities.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 13, 2026 at 7:01 PM
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"I would argue that if we eat, if we drink water, if we breathe air, and if we clothe ourselves in fibers and other things, then we should care about agriculture. We should care about food systems." barnraisingmedia.com/homesick-for...
‘Homesick for the Land Itself’
Author, farmer and land advocate Brooks Lamb discusses the future of agriculture but also the land and ecosystems upon which we depend.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 13, 2026 at 3:02 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
The Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art has put David City on the map

barnraisingmedia.com/how-a-small-...
How a Small Nebraska Town Became an Arts Destination
The Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art has made David City an arts destination as the home of the nation’s only agrarian art museum
barnraisingmedia.com
January 12, 2026 at 7:02 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
In today’s climate of intensified immigration enforcement, mutual aid networks take on new urgency for rural immigrant communities. barnraisingmedia.com/networks-of-...
Networks of Care: How Rural Immigrants Build Community
In today’s climate of intensified immigration enforcement, mutual aid networks take on new urgency for rural immigrant communities.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 12, 2026 at 3:15 PM
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We are witnessing the ‘Putinization’ of U.S. foreign policy barnraisingmedia.com/donald-trump...
Donald ‘Vladimirovich’ Trump’s ‘Limited Military Operation’ in Venezuela
With Donald Trump's incursion into Venezuala and seizure of its oil resources, we are witnessing the ‘Putinization’ of U.S. foreign policy
barnraisingmedia.com
January 9, 2026 at 7:00 PM
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The books—old and new—that our readers and staff enjoyed last year

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Our Readers’ Favorite Books of 2025
I loved it for its beautiful language and the story of a dull life with no escape, a near dead experience and being conned by a crazy visitor which in the end opened doors to possibilities that were…
barnraisingmedia.com
January 9, 2026 at 3:02 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
For 150 years, a family of Gullah Geechee descent has preserved their story through family land

barnraisingmedia.com/at-gilliard-...
At Gilliard Farms, Food, Healing and Heritage Grow Together
For 150 years, a family of Gullah Geechee descent has preserved their story through Gilliard Farms and organic practices.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 8, 2026 at 7:02 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
Trump's kidnapping of Maduro, writes Slavoj Žižek, “brings back the darkest criminal past of Western colonialism, and, to add insult to injury, it does this under the guise of supporting democracy.” barnraisingmedia.com/donald-trump...
Donald ‘Vladimirovich’ Trump’s ‘Limited Military Operation’ in Venezuela
With Donald Trump's incursion into Venezuala and seizure of its oil resources, we are witnessing the ‘Putinization’ of U.S. foreign policy
barnraisingmedia.com
January 8, 2026 at 3:15 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
New Rural Policy Action Report highlights 26 legislative solutions that would benefit rural communities

barnraisingmedia.com/forty-organi...
Forty Organizations Offer a Plan to Revitalize Rural America
A new policy roadmap offers rural-led common-sense policy solutions to combat corporate greed, protect resources and help rural communities thrive.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 7, 2026 at 10:34 PM
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My father wanted others to know his story

barnraisingmedia.com/how-we-lost-...
How We Lost the Family Dairy
Since 2003, the United States has lost more than half of its dairy farms. Author Ryan Dennis has witnessed this loss firsthand.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 7, 2026 at 7:01 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
By protecting endangered wolves, conservationists support a healthy environment

barnraisingmedia.com/welcoming-th...
Welcoming the Wolf at the Door
By protecting endangered wolves, conservationists support a healthy environment. Yet the federal government now has wolves in its sights.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 7, 2026 at 3:02 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
The former speaker of the Montana House and Missoula mayor reflects on working together across differences

barnraisingmedia.com/how-neighbor...
Common Ground is Found at a Montana Barn Raising
Daniel Kemmis, the former speaker of the Montana House and Missoula's former mayor, remembers a family barn raising.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 6, 2026 at 7:02 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
Pastor and author Angela Denker discusses what’s happening to white men and boys in Trump’s America

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‘Disciples of White Jesus,’ Disciples of Trump
For her new book Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood (Broadleaf Books, 2025), Denker again traversed the country. This time she was investigating the radicalization of…
barnraisingmedia.com
January 6, 2026 at 3:01 PM
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In this midterm election year as tensions run high, Daniel Kemmis reminds us that Thomas Jefferson envisioned a nation of citizens deeply involved in public life. barnraisingmedia.com/how-neighbor...
Common Ground is Found at a Montana Barn Raising
Daniel Kemmis, the former speaker of the Montana House and Missoula's former mayor, remembers a family barn raising.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 5, 2026 at 3:15 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
An Iowa teacher looks back on a lost job and at the current movement to defend rural schools

barnraisingmedia.com/iowa-rural-s...
I Taught My Students Slavery Was Wrong. Then MAGA Came After Me
I found myself at the center of the nation’s culture wars over education. The real casualty is rural public schools.
barnraisingmedia.com
January 2, 2026 at 7:03 PM
barnraiser.bsky.social
John Deere has announced its plans to go 100% robotic by 2030. What does that mean for rural America? barnraisingmedia.com/robot-farms-...
Robotics: The Last Nail in Rural America’s Coffin?
John Deere has announced its plans to go 100% robotic by 2030. What does that mean for rural America?
barnraisingmedia.com
January 2, 2026 at 3:15 PM