Canoeing Citizen Journalist Highlights Prairie du Chien, Iowa Farms
By Dan Moris • Sep 8th, 2009 • Category: PdCToday Life
Neal Moore is canoeing the Mississippi River by himself seeking positive stories in Middle America. His canoe and camera found the Prairie du Chien area last week. “I can really appreciate a town – and area – like this,” says Moore, “and that’s highlighted in the videos.”
Many of Moore’s videos can be found on CNN as iReports, including the video featuring Prairie du Chien titled “A Community That Feeds Itself”. In the video, Moore interviewed people like Opportunities Center Director Pam Ritchie, councilwoman Kathleen Hein, and artist Jake Stephens about what makes a community like Prairie du Chien flourish.
A Community That Feeds Itself
Much of Moore’s time was spent on the other side of the Mississippi River. “When I started this trip,” he says, “I put my finger on Iowa – and really wanted to tell the story of sustainable agriculture”. He was able to witness that firsthand while staying with the Greg Koether family and their 600-acre ranch in Giard, Iowa.
A Field Day with the Practical Farmers of Iowa
Moore has spent twenty years traveling the world to places like Africa and Asia, but says he has been more excited about this trip that anything else he’s ever done. “On this trip,” he says, “you’re walking into the real America.” He continues, “It’s the perfect place to raise a family.”
While many of his reports have been used by CNN, he has no real plans to create a full documentary other than what is currently on the web. “Certainly a possibility, but I’m not angling for that,” he says, “The basic game plan was to put myself on the river and open up myself completely – take myself out of my comfort zone.”
Neal Moore will continue his journey down the Mississippi River on a canoe by himself until he reaches New Orleans in December.
- You can follow Neal’s journey at his website: http://flashriversafari.com/
- Access more of Neal’s iReports for CNN: http://www.ireport.com/people/nealmoore
- Follow Neal on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mooreneal
PdCToday.com will feature more of Dan Moris’ interview with Neal Moore in a future Radio Show podcast.
Dan Moris is a co-founder of PdCToday.com. He contributes by writing articles, producing feature videos, and hosting a weekly radio podcast.
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