Monday, August 20, 2007

Of Presidents and Season Premieres

News & Notes Season 3, Edition 4

It’s been an exciting and extremely busy couple of weeks. Our reporters and producers are back from assignments all across the Heartland, including Indiana, Illinois, Mississippi and New Jersey. As I write this, host Paul Ryan’s just back from North Dakota, and reporter Pat McConahay’s is in West Virginia. That means, by the end of next week we will have been to 49 states! Only our smallest state, Rhode Island, remains on our to-do list, and we’re researching stories right now for a September shoot.

Meantime, we’re putting the finishing touches this week on our eighth episode, and it’s a special one. Paul hosts the program from Monticello, the longtime home of our third president, Thomas Jefferson. There, we learn that Jefferson was much more than a statesman, scholar, president, and founding father: he was an avid farmer and gardener.

For more than a decade, he happily toiled in his thousand foot long “kitchen garden,” experimenting with over three hundred varieties of vegetables and more than 170 different kinds of fruit! It promises to be an episode rich in history and stunning images. As I’ve mentioned before, season 3 episodes will be available to PBS stations across the U.S. starting the week of September 3. Some stations will begin airing these new episodes right away; others may still be wrapping up their broadcasts of the season 2 programs. Our website is a good way to check your own station’s broadcast schedule. And, season 3 of America’s Heartland will also begin airing on the RFD-TV cable and satellite network about the same time. Some other stories to watch for this new season: Jason Shoultz discovers how lovable but determined beagles are providing the first line of defense to keep potentially destructive ag pests from entering the U.S.; Pat finds out how important bees are to many of our crops, and what beekeepers and scientists are doing to combat the decline of healthy hives; and Gabriela Zaragoza introduces us to the oldest agricultural experiment in America (hint: it’s part of an agricultural research project at the University of Illinois). Please keep sending us your story ideas, suggestions, and recipes! Please send recipes to Jennifer Iida at jiida@kvie.org for consideration. For questions and comments, go directly to the “Feedback” section.Thanks for all your support, and for watching America’s Heartland!

Seth Alspaugh

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I WAS JUST HERE THINKING ABOUT THE FARM LIFE AND WHAT WOULD MAKE IT BETTER FOR ALL!!! PLEASE POST YOUR COMMENT HERE AND I WILL TAKE A POLL AND SEE WHAT WE ALL CAN DO TOGETHER TOO MAKE THINGS BETTER FOR ALL!!

January 6, 2008 at 8:11 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am a North Dakotan living in Tucson, found the AH show on latenight TV. Was so heartwarming to watch the program with the Norby's near Amidon. I also am from western ND and do miss the rolling hills and farmland as far as you can see. Proves that you just can't take the "farm" out of people no matter where you go or how long you have been gone. KK

February 17, 2008 at 7:47 AM  

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