Prairie Roots Re-Routed: A Real South Dakota Blog

Mrs. Madville Times has relocated Prairie Roots, her erudite yet earthy blog, from Blogger to Wordpress. She is taking advantage of Wordpress's page features to create some new resources. (We are wrestling, amusedly, with the metaphorical consequences of moving a blog about roots.)

If you want something different in the South Dakota blogosphere, read Prairie Roots. Much of what appears on the virtual pages of South Dakota's blogs consists of one-liners, ephemeral political scuttlebutt, muckraking, regurgitation of conservative radio talking points, and the search for Shawn Cable. Prairie Roots does none of that. Prairie Roots puts her theology and philosophy together to focus on issues of lasting significance: promoting sustainable small-town economic development; saving small and genuine family farms; and creating a rich, vibrant, and thriving South Dakota culture. There's no single-issue voting or personal grudge matches from Prairie Roots; she takes a comprehensive look, bigger than my meager summary can justly describe, at all the factors involved in making our unique state even greater.

Achieving such a comprehensive view requires a very thoughtful approach to blogging. Prairie Roots does not generate as many posts as other bloggers, but she's aiming for quality, not quantity. She spends much more time than the typical blogger composing her posts and pages, because she wants all of her posts to fit into an overall worldview. Prairie Roots is very local, but her thinking is very global. Prairie Roots is about posting lasting information and ideas. Long after most posts on South Dakota's prominent blogs (and even my own!) have become dated and irrelevant, much of what Prairie Roots writes will still pertain to the issues facing every South Dakota community.

Prairie Roots is also developing a really cool library of resources at her relocated and updated blog, including the following:

1. "South Dakota Green Directory" -- a compendium of information on farming, building, and living sustainably in South Dakota.
   
2. "Main Street" -- a discussion of and information on promote the revitalization of downtown business and activity in South Dakota.
3. "Norwegian Boulevard" -- think of it as "Beyond Main Street," with information on preserving and promoting farms and the countryside right alongside boosting the Main Streets where country folks come to shop. (Prairie Roots can explain the name... which I helped come up with! :-) )

I promote Prairie Roots not only because she bakes me brownies (yum!), but because she loves South Dakota as much as I do and has some great ideas for making this state better. Citizens who want to create positive change for South Dakota's future should put Prairie Roots at the top of their reading list. Enjoy!