Luverne's Prairie Spirit: Let it Grow!
Luverne's community efforts include a visionary plan, the involvement of energized citizens, and the promise of a hopeful, secure future.

Heritage Farm
Ridgeway, Pennsylvania · Take a young couple firmly rooted in their dream of a rural lifestyle, raising their family on a small farm in the mountains. Add hard work, constant learning and innovation, a diversified approach to growing, five active kids, twenty years and a continued faithful love for the land and each other. Welcome to Heritage Farm, the family business of Greg and Linda Burns, a living testament to idea that integrating family, farm, business and bliss results in a powerfully satisfying lifestyle and livelihood.

Harvesting Paddlefish Caviar to Support Conservation and Community
Glendive, Montana The small town of Glendive, Montana - divided by the Yellowstone River, the largest free-flowing river in North America - has attracted thousands of anglers from across the country for the challenge of catching the fifty to hundred-pound paddlefish that the ply the waters. The thriving populations of the ancient paddlefish - combined with an innovative approach to their conservation and improvement of the communities used as bases for those lured by the prospects of a big catch - led to the Glendive Paddlefish Caviar Project, a leading example of how conservation, scientific study and community development can be served through the sale of over $1 million worth of high quality caviar collected from the once-neglected and wasted fish eggs, or roe.

Earth Elements Farm
Lexington, Oklahoma · Sometimes personal adversity and limited funds foster an environment of innovation and creativity. For April Harrington, the sole proprietor-farmer of Earth Elements Farm in Lexington, Oklahoma, it's led to an agricultural operation that is practically 100 percent value-added. On 3/4-acre of her five acre farm, April organically grows the medicinal and culinary herbs she uses in her body care products as well as in her breads and homemade canned soups. Along with fifteen varieties of heirloom vegetables, she sells her food products, body care products, and herbs at a local farmers' market. She also retails her body care products by mail and through two area health food stores. Her sales have all resulted from word-of-mouth marketing.

Black Bridge Farm
Nicholasville, KY · The flock of sheep grazing on the pastures of Black Bridge Farm, located in the scenic rolling hills of central Kentucky about 30 miles south of Lexington, play an integral, strategic role in the diverse business mix of this operation. Providing fiber, meat and educational opportunities,co-owners Keith Erny and Sarah Cole aim to blend their agricultural and artistic passions with creating a profitable farm-based business.