Family is important to Johnny Murdaugh. When raising his own in Orangeburg, South Carolina, he had to travel outside of his community to enjoy fun activities with his children. Frustrated with the lack of access to entertainment centers and amusement parks, he decided to do something about it. 

“The most important thing for our children is for them to have something to do,” he said. “Children and parents need something to do, and this built a family structure that was not there in a long time.” 

The workers at Backyard Farms in Vado, New Mexico have barely begun another day of freeze-drying produce when another truck carrying hundreds of pounds of apples arrives to deliver its load.

Since Backyard Farms began freeze drying food it’s become a beehive of activity. All year long the business freeze dries all types of raw fruits, and vegetables including New Mexico’s famous green chile.

Backyard Farms has become a network for small farms producing healthy local food using the freeze-drying method.

Vikki Shoulders has lived on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation her entire life. At 46, she always dreamed of owning her own home, but on the reservation, there weren’t many options. While renting offered many benefits, she knew she was paying for something she would never own.

“I had a good credit score, so I took homeownership and financial literacy classes at Thunder Valley,” said Vikki.

Those classes helped propel her dream of homeownership into reality. She began applying for loans, but said the process was taking too long and she wanted things to move faster.

While the clear blue skies and tidy farm fields on the prairie may seem limitless in Wright County, Iowa, access to housing there can be challenging to see. To find a suitable place to live, Kate Foote confronted a limited supply of affordable homes and ever-changing market forces.

It was June 1, 2018, a severe storm had battered Hardy County in eastern West Virginia causing flooding, mudslides, and landslides. The storms brought heavy rain and caused significant damage to private property and public infrastructure in Hardy County. The Hardy County Public Service District (PSD) was hit particularly hard by flooding and General Manager Logan Moyers was just getting appraised of the damage to PSD property.

In November, USDA Rural Development and Rural Community Action Program helped