Reframing Rural

Megan Torgerson has some big life news to share and is working with collaborators on the creative direction of the fourth season!

In this final installment of Season 3 “Groundwork,” Reframing Rural founder, host and producer, Megan Torgerson speaks with the podcast's audio engineer, Aaron Spieldenner and story editor, Mary Auld about the inspiration behind the season and all the work that goes into producing the show's long-form narrative episodes.

Grace Olmstead is the West's preeminent author on place. In her book "Uprooted: Recovering the Legacy of the Places We've Left Behind” and in this interview, she speaks to rural outmigration, connection to place, the history of how agriculture was industrialized and the future of agriculture in the West amid suburban sprawl and a call to build more just and resilient regional food systems.

At 21 John Wicks was faced with the decision to stay in college or come home and save his family's farm. Today he is a leader in Montana's organic and regenerative farming movement and an advocate for family farms across the state, serving as the associate director of Montana Farmers Union. Together with his friends Peyton Cole and Paul Neubauer, John is helping further the understanding that the health of our agricultural lands impacts the health of our communities.

Dr. Alison Brennan, MSU Extension's designated mental health specialist, Courtney Brown Kibblewhite with Northern Ag Network and Beyond the Weather, and wellness coach and rancher Lisa Williams discuss mental health resources and stigma around mental health in Montana's rural and agricultural communities. This episode spans data on farm stress, free counseling services for Montana producers and actionable tips for restoring balance and wellbeing to our lives.

In Winnett, the only town in the least populated county in Montana, out-of-state absentee land ownership poses a threat to the future of ranching and the preservation of the region's intact prairie ecosystem. To keep people on the land and build a vibrant future for Winnett's main street, the rancher-led nonprofit Winnett ACES is furthering economic and environmental sustainability for Petroleum Co. through local grassroots organizing.

This bonus episode features a webinar recorded for the Women's Foundation of Montana, June 2022. “Developing Leaders for Montana's Future” was a virtual conversation about the landscape of women's leadership in the state featuring leaders who've advanced opportunities for young rural women, Montana women business owners and students privileged to experience the perspective-shifting adventure of an international exchange. This panel featured Deena Mansour, the executive director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center at the University of Montana, Suzi Berget White, the former business development director of Prospera Business Network and Shannon Stober, the lead facilitator of the Red Ants Pants Foundation's Girls Leadership Program. 

The convergence of mountain and prairie ecosystems along the Rocky Mountain Front is the awe-inspiring backdrop of the Blackfeet Nation, home of the Amskapi Piikani, or Blackfeet, for time immemorial. Latrice Tatsey, a rancher and cultural land ecologist with Piikani Lodge Health Institute, and Danielle Antelope, a teacher of wild plant medicines and the executive director of FAST Blackfeet, have long braided their lives into the cycles of this wild and tender land. This episode explores their respective food sovereignty initiatives, how they're helping people regain comfortability on the land, thrive in the face of climate change and restore balance to the plant, animal, land and human communities on the Blackfeet Nation. 

In this bonus episode from Working Wild U, a podcast by Montana State University Extension and Western Landowners Alliance, hosts Jared Beaver and Alex Few explore how people's values impact how they think about wolves and land use in the West.

The small North Idaho town of Dover has seen the extraction of timber, cheap labor and the natural amenities that draw tourists and second home owners with high-incomes and high-expectations for the luxuries they're accustomed to. What happens to the natural environment and community cohesion when developers build with higher-income-earners and with profits in mind? What happens to locals when they are priced out or culturally displaced? In this immersive episode, host Megan Torgerson brings listeners to the shores of the Pend Oreille River, the center of Kalispel's homeland for 10,000 years, where she interviews longtime residents, local historians and Dr. Ryanne Pilgeram whose book “Pushed Out: Contested Development and Rural Gentrification in the US West” uses Dover as a case study for how corporations cause destruction in order to profit from spaces with abundant natural beauty.

Montana has long held a distinctive place within the mythos of America. Today, it's becoming an ever-more attractive destination for those in search of a stronger sense of community, or an escape, in response to a dizzying and hyper-digital world. In this honest conversation with award-winning, Butte-based journalist, Kathleen McLaughlin, Reframing Rural explores what an influx of wealthy newcomers means for housing access and affordability, open spaces and community cohesion, and how new and established residents of all class backgrounds can work together to create a place where all Montanans can thrive.

In this bonus episode Stories for Action podcast host Lara Tomov explores how the pressures of rapid growth and development are affecting Montanans, and how community groups like Trust Montana, Successful Gardiner and Reimagining Rural are working to maintain vibrant communities where all Montanans can thrive.

After a lifetime farming wheat on the Northern Great Plains, the time has come for Russ Torgerson to retire. In this narrative episode, Reframing Rural producer Megan Torgerson shares the intimate journey of her family's farm succession, giving listeners an inside look into the emotional, legal and financial factors at play with succession planning. Curious what the next generation of farmers are facing, Megan also interviews the Jorgensens, another farm family from NE Montana who is transferring the management of their farm to their son Tanner. What happens in the transitional space between a farms' present caretaker and the next? What becomes of a community when, voluntarily or not, a farmer surrenders their plow. And what does the next generation need in order to keep their families' multigenerational farms going are all questions this episode seeks to explore.

The “farmer's lawyer” Sarah Vogel is a hero to farmers across the country. In the 1980s she saved 240,000 family farmers facing foreclosure. In the 2000s she pursued justice for thousands of Native American farmers and ranchers who suffered decades of credit discrimination from the USDA. Sarah continues her fight to save the family farm today, and her new book “The Farmer's Lawyer,” is inspiring others to join her.

Reframing Rural's third season will transport listeners to Golden Triangle wheat fields, farmhouse kitchen tables and small mountain town main streets. Combining sound-rich narrative non-fiction episodes with in-depth interviews, season three will shine light on the state of family farming, the resurgence of regenerative techniques in agriculture and the realities of rural gentrification. 

Our friends at The Modern West have a new season out, and we're excited to share part one with you! Like Reframing Rural, The Modern West shares surprising stories from often overlooked rural places, helping to reframe how we think about the West as it is today. In “The Rolling Stone,” the first episode in their “The Great Individualist” series, they break down myths about what it means to be a “real” cowboy. Be sure to catch up on the rest of "The Great Individualist" season and follow The Modern West wherever you get your podcasts.

In part two of Megan's conversation with journalists Emily Stifler Wolfe and Jason Thompson of the “Common Ground Series” published by Montana Free Press, they discuss the threat of desertification, succession planning challenges family farms face and the sixth soil health principle of context.

Combining profiles of farmers from the Golden Triangle with soil science, history, policy research and transportive imagery, the award-winning “Common Ground” series is sowing hope in the future for farmers across the West. Written by Emily Stifler Wolfe with transportive photography from photo journalist Jason Thompson, “Common Ground,” illuminates the role of regenerative agriculture in fostering resilient rural economies and communities.

Randi Lynn Tanglen, PhD grew up in the small NE Montana town of Sidney and turned an early love of literature into a career in education. Randi developed a specialty in hidden voices of 19th century Western American Literature including women, Indigenous and Black authors – a niche that has helped her uncover her family's storied history on the Great Plains. Today Randi leads the statewide humanities council, Humanities Montana, ensuring the public humanities are stewarded in Montana's rural and Tribal communities.

Jeanie Alderson comes from a storied legacy of ranchers in Southeast Montana. In the 1970s, her parents were among the rural organizers to form Northern Plains Resource Council. Today, Jeanie and her husband Terry are continuing their work standing up for family farms and ranches by fighting against the "Big Four" meatpacking monopoly that's extinguishing competition and dictating prices, forcing some ranches to go out of business.

Ashley Hanson is the director of PlaceBase Productions, a site-specific theater company working with nontraditional actors to create stories specific to small towns, and the founder and executive director of Department of Public Transformation, an artist-led nonprofit that's fostering community connection, civic pride and equitable participation in rural places. This episode explores the role of the arts in facilitating community cohesion and rural community development, and the challenges and opportunities of leading an art nonprofit.

Benya Kraus is the co-founder of Lead for America, a national nonprofit nurturing the next generation of rural leaders. Benya embodies the virtue of getting proximate to issues most affecting her rural home, while striving to restore solidarity between disconnected cultures and a divided nation.

For an event hosted by the Rural Radio Collective Megan Torgerson sits down with Ed Roberson, the founder and producer of the acclaimed podcast Mountain & Prairie, to hear what he's learned over the past six years producing intelligent and thoughtful conversations that illuminate the unfolding Zeitgeist of the modern American West.

Ben Winchester is a rural sociologist whose research into the rural “brain gain” has illuminated the trend of 30- to 49-year-olds migrating to rural America. A purveyor of good news that small towns are not dying, Ben is on a mission to elevate a positive narrative on rural America through the use of applied research and data. This episode spans the history behind the negative rural narrative, how small towns can be more welcoming to newcomers and the positive work happening in the rural development industry.

Miranda Moen is a rural architectural designer studying the architecture and cultural history of her ancestors through a Fulbright fellowship in Norway. This stirring conversation covers Miranda's mission to uplift the importance of rural and working class buildings, and how she has come to better understand her cultural identity through study of the built environment.

Jake Bullinger is a Wyoming native, freelance journalist and new father who covers the politics, culture, economy and environment of the West. In “Sowing Possibility: Episode 2” host Megan Torgerson and Jake discuss red state-blue state binaries, the history of mobility in the west and the potential for climate resilience in resource economies.

Following Reframing Rural's interview with Red Ants Pants Founder, Sarah Calhoun, Megan Torgerson heads to Red Ants Pants Music Festival in White Sulphur Springs, Montana where she records powerful performances and speaks with musicians, festival attendees and Red Ants Pants Foundation timber skills workshop facilitators.

Sarah Calhoun has long been venerated as a champion of rural causes in Montana and beyond. In the first episode of our Sowing Possibility series, Calhoun explores how her childhood in rural New Brunswick and New England informed her decision to move to the small agricultural town of White Sulphur Springs, Montana. She'll share exciting plans for the future of the Red Ants Pants Foundation and key takeaways on rural resiliency she's gleaned from her years running the Red Ants Pants workwear company and Red Ants Pants Music Festival.

Reframing Rural's second season "Sowing Possibility" shares conversations with rural advocates from across the Heartland and West. Guided by host Megan Torgerson, this ten episode season leans into intimate and expansive questions about the past and future of rural America while provoking inspired possibilities for a shared future.

In the final episode of Reframing Rural's inaugural season, founder Megan Torgerson recounts her experience leaving rural Montana to attend college in Missoula, her journey encountering and dismantling rural stereotypes, and why she is working to reframe the narrative on rural America. Offering a glimpse into Megan's childhood, this narrated essay explores how her rural roots informs her work today.

Looking for another podcast set in the American West that weaves family stories, personal inquiry and cultural analysis to uncover issues affecting beloved rural places? Look no further than The Modern West’s Ghost Town(ing) series! In this episode you’ll hear from host Melodie Edwards who will transport you to Walden, Colorado where she interviews her parents about their enduring love for their small town and what compels them to stay.

This special Mother's Day episode features Kay Brinkman and Renny Torgerson two old friends and rural Montana farm women who have lived in the Scandinavian farming community of Dagmar, since the 1970s. From braving a whiteout with a herd of cattle, to teaching in a two-room school house, these matriarchs are an example of the integral role women play in small towns and rural communities across the country.

The Torgersons have farmed for as far back as the family has record of, at least the 1500s, but likely much longer. Beginning with the onset of industrialization, this episode tracks the story of a family who left Norway for the promise of a better life in America nearly 150 years ago, and how this family continues to preserve its farming legacy in Northeastern Montana despite a dwindling population, unpredictable weather and an unfavorable commodity market.

Ralph Summers is a mailman, bus driver, taxidermist and preacher living in Dagmar, Montana. In this episode, we explore the history of rural mail delivery, the value of neighbors, and what it means to have faith.

Eddie Hentges grew up and later taught history on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Northeast Montana. A descendant of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, he discusses the politics behind looking Native, the history of the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes and how he approaches teaching U.S. high school history through a multicultural and decolonial lens.

Margaret Hoven and David Anderson moved to Plentywood, Montana from Washington D.C. 15 years ago. Northeastern Montana culture, political memory, change and the power of music are themes explored in this episode named after Margaret's original song "The Scary Prairie Will Not Get the Best of Me" from a play the couple co-wrote, "Dead Thing On the Wall."

Reframing Rural interrupts its lineup of season one stories from residents of Northeastern Montana to reflect on the coronavirus and rural life lessons that can help us get through self-quarantining.          

Kim Rudnigen is a mother of four, working as an environmental compliance officer in the oil and gas industry in Northeast Montana. In Reframing Rural's first episode, we'll learn from Kim what it is like to raise a family in a county where there are two people per square mile and how the Rudnigens are helping to reinvigorate the community surrounding Dagmar, MT.

Reframing Rural's mission it to cultivate curiosity and conversation across the urban rural divide. The first season, Coming Home, is set in Sheridan County, Montana, which borders Canada, North Dakota, and the most rural county in the United States. Coming Home reflects on geography's role in our understanding of home and features stories of hope and resilience from the Northern Great Plains. Hosted and produced by Megan Torgerson, this narrative nonfiction podcast reframes the narrative on rural America.