Grace Olmstead grew up in a tiny Idaho farming community her family has called home for generations. But, as so many young people do, Olmstead decided to leave her rural town. She attended college on the other side of the country and now lives outside Washington, D.C., where she’s a journalist who focuses on farming, localism, and family. Olmstead’s writing has been published in The American Conservative, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Christianity Today, among many other publications. She’s also one of our favorite writers here at Strong Towns.
Olmstead has a new book coming out tomorrow: Uprooted: Recovering the Legacy of the Places We’ve Left Behind. It’s an important (and beautifully written) work about the places we come from and counting the costs of leaving them behind. Combining memoir and journalism, Olmstead explores her family’s deep roots in Emmett, Idaho, what it means to be transplanted elsewhere, and the pressures and opportunities facing many small towns like the one she grew up in.
This week, Grace Olmstead returns to the Strong Towns Podcast to talk with Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn. They discuss the new book and why we need to tell complicated rural stories. They talk about two archetypes of the American West—“Boomers” and “Stickers”—and about how the most successful western communities were built not on rugged individualism but on extreme neighborliness. Olmstead and Marohn also discuss how farming communities have come to resemble other kinds of extractive communities—and whether new approaches to farming, such as agritourism, can coexist alongside conventional agriculture.
Additional Show NotesUprooted: Recovering the Legacy of the Places We’ve Left Behind by Grace Olmstead
Grace Olmstead’s monthly newsletter
Midwest Futures, by Phil Christmans
“The efficiency curse,” by Michael Pollan
“This Is What Happens When Markets are Too Efficient” (Podcast)
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, by J.D. Vance
Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, by Sarah Smarsh
The Homecomers Podcast
Grace Olmstead (Twitter)
Charles Marohn (Twitter)
Strong Towns content related to this episode
“This Is Where the Work Begins,” by Grace Olmstead
“Gracy Olmstead: It Still Takes a Village” (Podcast)
“The Tragic Downside of Efficiency,” by Charles Marohn
“We’re in the Endgame Now for Small Towns,” by Charles Marohn
“A Plan for Building Strong Rural Communities,” by Charles Marohn
“It’s Time to Fix our Fragile Food Systems,” by Charles Marohn
“Tim Carney: ‘Alienated America’ and the Rise of Populism” (Podcast)
“Patrick Deneen: Big, Impersonal Institutions Are Failing Us. Loyalty to Our Communities Might Save Us.” (Podcast)
“Boomers, Stickers, and the Lifecycle of a Cool Neighborhood,” by John Pattison
Ask Strong Towns #8: April 2019
What to Expect From Strong Towns: the Book
Greatest Hits #11: Economic Gardening With Chris Gibbons (2013)
Strongest Town Contest: Championship Round
Strongest Town Semifinals: Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Strongest Town Semifinals: Guthrie, Oklahoma
Strongest Town Semifinals: Pensacola, Florida
Strongest Town Semifinals: Safety Harbor, Florida
Greatest Hits #10: John Dominic Crossan (2013)
Greatest Hits #9: Can You Be an Engineer and Speak Out for Reform? (2015)
Greatest Hits #8: Gross Negligence (2015)
Greatest Hits #7: Talking Debt and Self-Sufficiency With Mr. Money Mustache (2016)
Ask Strong Towns #7
Greatest Hits #6: Time to End the Routine Traffic Stop (2016)
Greatest Hits #5: Approaching a Divided America With Open Eyes (2017)
Greatest Hits #4: Lots of Small Earthquakes: How a Place Becomes Antifragile (2015)
Ask Strong Towns: Celebrity Edition with Stacy Mitchell
Greatest Hits #3: Is a City More Like a Washing Machine or a Cat? (2015)
Greatest Hits #2: Steven Shultis on "Bad" Urban Schools (2015)
Greatest Hits #1: America Answers Forum on Infrastructure (2015)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
City Manager Unfiltered
Potencial Americano
The ASIC Podcast
The Chris Plante Show
Red Eye Radio