Fertile, MN

On Monday, October 29, 2007, approximately 100 members of the Fertile community met at the high school to hear David Beurle. David is from Australia and speaks in his country as well as the United States and Europe, guiding rural communities through the process of creating a vision for themselves. Discussions of how the community views itself and where they would like to see themselves go are facilitated by Mr. Beurle.
Everyone who attended was treated to a scrumptious meatball supper catered by Linda and Wes Olson, owners of Eats and Antiques. Some Fertile-Beltrami students volunteered as servers and assisted the Olsons.
After the meal, David began by sharing his views and experiences of rural communities and what that means for its members. All the attendees then participated in sharing ideas of our strengths and weaknesses, what kind of economy we would all like for Fertile, as well as the kind of values we hold in high esteem. The end result was a vision created for Fertile by Fertile of where we would like to see ourselves in 10-15 years. The following is the vision:

Fertile prides itself in being a welcoming community, reflected by businesses and community services being available to meet the needs of community members. We have unique packaging of events and festivals that support and build a family focused enviroment. Collaboration and a strong ethic of volunteerism create an inclusive enviroment where everyone plays a role in contributing to the well being of the community.
Fertile is known in the region for the variety of recreational opportunities that are complimented by a vibrant downtown; a combination that encourages people to stay a little bit longer. Fertile provides a small town experience that is renowned for its good food. The community adapts and constantly explores future economic opportunities by encouraging and supporting entreprneurs of all ages.

LET”S GET TO WORK! Join us on November 5, 2007, 6 PM at the Enviromental Learning Center (Nature Center) to begin the process of discussing and enacting the vision. Free dinner will be served and stipends for childcare are available. We hope you will participate in this very important process of forming the Fertile we all want to see bloom!

Kathy Black, Senora Pederson, Jeannie Erickson, and Jennifer Sobin met yesterday with Lori from the U of M’s extension office at the Lake Aggasiz Public Library. Lori taught us basic blogging skills. She added us to the administrative adjunct to the site so that we can post blogs about the Fertile Horizons program. We hope the site gets more people involved at best and informed at least about the unfolding Horizons program in Fertile and related events. When we surpass the basic skills we hope to add photos, links to other areas of the community, a community calendar, and possibly even some video. Keep watching for updated information and thank you for supporting and showing interest in the Fertile Horizons program.