Toward lasting private land rural benefits with profit incentives.
Given these indications of widespread prescription opioid addiction in rural America, we investigated the possibility of opening a Suboxone clinic as one of the Rural System Groups. 
Suboxone is an evidence-based medication treatment known for reducing crime and illegal opioid use.
Here are basics about Suboxone: [Read more…]
So commonly we forget that humans are animals, part of an ecosystem just like any other life-form on the planet. Certainly you’ve noticed that when you step into your yard, you see squirrels hopping around and birds flitting from place to place, and really there is a whole menagerie of creatures you’ve grown used to seeing in your daily life. These are the animals that enjoy habitats quite similar to the landscapes we like to shape around our dwellings. In Ecology, we call them synanthropes. Unfortunately for us, some of these animals are so well-suited to our habitats that they become as (or more) populous as we are, and they can cause damages to property and structures if they aren’t managed.
Birds such as song sparrows can get trapped by our modern living. Licensed wildlife control professionals are hired to free them from stores and warehouses.
Lately my fiance has been nurturing the growth of a wildlife control business and it seems all of his attention and not an insignificant portion of mine has been sucked into the project. One business! The more I’ve read about Rural System the more I am amazed at the magnitude of its undertaking. Dr. Robert Giles has been working hard on Rural System as a start-up for over 20 years. How can such a vast project see its beginnings? Is Rural System too big?
Like with most things there is a very unsatisfying answer to this question: it depends. The launching of a project on the scale of Rural System is too complicated to reduce to a yes or no question. It is much more fruitful to imagine “yes!”
So as a writer seeking to chronicle this grand endeavor, I like to imagine answers to the first question… where does such a thing begin? What I come to are variations on two themes: building from the bottom-up and sculpting from the top-down.
Rural System and Kissito, a non-profit based in VA, bring biofilters to a community in Uganda. Aiding the growth of an existing community is a way parts of Rural System could be built from the bottom-up.
One of Rural System’s foundational principles is the idea that economies of scale must be achieved for a rural community to succeed. Small businesses struggle on their own in the present American economy. With Walmart and other massive corporations and franchises dominating the scene, the small business is finding it difficult to compete. Rural areas especially are suffering from poverty and unemployment. In such a climate, Rural System proposes developing many small businesses at once that can work together, and so creating the much needed economies of scale.
As a wheel with many spokes is well-supported and well-prepared to carry weight forth, so does an economy of scale carry small businesses forward into the future.
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The Gardens Group manages gardens on Rural System enterprise environments.
Say you own a forest and you want to make money off of it. Do you clear-cut the forest and call it a day? Some might say yes: exploit that resource while you have it and enjoy the money in the short-term. Others, like our team here at Rural System, ask if there are other ways to make a profit off a forest or other tract of land. Unsurprisingly we find our answer already playing out in natural systems. In ecosystems you find creatures living off of other creatures or even off of inorganic minerals in the most astonishing ways. No source of energy goes unused. Our answer?: Diversify! [Read more…]