2015

No More Empty Cups In May of this year, No More Empty Cups took over an operational coffee shop at the CO2 building on 10th Street in Downtown Omaha and converted the business into a nonprofit organization. Nancy Williams, board president and CEO for No More Empty Pots (the group that runs No More Empty … Read moreCoffee, Community and Culture

Ensuring a Permanent Place for Sustainable Agriculture By Matt Low Those of us living in the Greater Omaha stretch of the Missouri River Valley are fortunate to be in close proximity to the Loess Hills, a geologically and ecologically unique landform similar to few places on the planet. For millennia the hills offered diverse habitat … Read moreAt Loess Hills Young People’s Farm

Metropolitan Community College’s Institute for Culinary Arts “In competition, we work very hard to highlight the foods that are important to us here in Nebraska. Every decision on our menu considers seasonality and provenance,” says Brian O’Malley, interim executive director of the Institute for Culinary Arts at Metropolitan Community College (MCC). That decision served his … Read moreAspiring Chefs Bring Home their first gold

By Amy Sand Photography by Alison Bickel Meet Colleen Christensen, a young professional and new mother whose container garden is less work and more happy-routine. When I arrive at Colleen’s home, I ring the doorbell and she waves me in. She’s standing at the top of the stairs with her almost-one-year-old, Eva, shyly sitting on … Read moreThe Chore-less Garden

Last year, I was blessed to meet Scott Dinsmore, a young, vibrant and incredibly passionate and inspiring man who believed “that the world would be an altogether different place if we all did work that actually mattered to us. Because when we focus our time and talents on the work that means something to us, … Read moreFood for Thought

“We serve breakfast and lunch with a focus on local and often seasonal items,” says Hans Walsh, manager and cook for Milk & Honey. Walsh’s sister and brother-in-law, Ellen Walsh-Rosmann and Daniel Rosmann, own Milk & Honey. They also run Rosmann Family Farms with Daniel’s parents, brother and sister-in-law, where the restaurant gets its organic … Read moreA Family Affair: From Farm to Table

Dutch Girl Creamery Charuth Van Beuzekom put her Nebraska-made goat cheese on the red carpet this summer, at what can only be described as the Academy Awards of Cheese, officially known as the American Cheese Society (ACS) competition. Charuth is the cheesemaker behind Dutch Girl Creamery, a Lincoln-based goat dairy that is part of Shadowbrook … Read moreBig Win at American Cheese Society Competition

Betsy Goodman and the Nebraska Seed Law Story and Photography by Emily Beck In the United States, it’s illegal for a citizen to walk across the street, ring a neighbor’s doorbell and empty a cupped handful of seeds into that neighbor’s hand. Everywhere except Minnesota and Nebraska. It wasn’t always this way—for centuries, seed sharing … Read moreA Law that Saves Us All