The subjects of this series include organic farming and local foods, the farm crisis, work on the Mississippi River (tow boating and commercial fishing), and small town life. The stories are read by farmers, residents of rural towns and villages, commercial fishermen, towboat captains, organic farming pioneers, CSA operators, and rural youth.

This is both a record of vanishing folkways and a look at the emergent people-centered agriculture that is helping reinvigorate communities. Interviews with the writers occasionally supplement their readings. The writings were developed in workshops that were conducted in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa from 1991 to 2009 and issued by Free River Press in Heartland Portrait: Stories from the Rural Midwest.

Episodes from this category include: Farm Crisis I & II, Icons & Emblems, Simple Times, Commercial Fishing on the Mississippi, Mississippi River Hazards, Stories from Clermont, and Rural & Village Youth.