Realgoodfood

by Heidi Holtan

This week is the debut of the audio documentary I put together in the last few months as part of the class some of the staff at KAXE participated in put on by Milt and Jamie Lee. I was honored to participate in this workshop and learned some amazing things about telling a story through radio.  Thanks to the MN Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund as well as the Blandin Foundation for making this possible.

So what is Realgoodfood all about then?  Sometime last year, I started thinking more about food....finding interesting, good food when you live in a rural, northern place.  Food coops have been expanding throughout northern Minnesota - farmer's markets are growing in popularity -more and more people are subscribing to CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture).  All of this interested me, but I didn't know what story I wanted to tell.

So I grabbed the recording kit and got in my car and visited a farm in Bovey, Virginia (Natural Harvest Food Coop), Bemidji (Harmony Natural Food Coop)  and Brainerd (Crow Wing Food Coop) in search of people making and selling good food.  Hope you enjoy my audio story!

Compelling Radio Coming to a Speaker Near You

by Doug MacRostie

When my wife saw this picture she said, "I can see the fear in your eyes..". And yeah, I'm facing off with Butterscotch Bitch, one of the Iron Range Maidens; also known as KAXE Producer Heidi Holtan. I walked into work today proudly wearing my Babe City Rollers t-shirt and as soon as I saw her Maidens shirt I knew there would be trouble... but things settled down. That's one of the amazing things about derby, such a sense of friendly community.

I have been working on a radio documentary, "The Women of Roller Derby," for months now; driving to homes, sitting on the floor, and chatting with people about Derby. I'm doing it as part of Documentary Production Training class for Northern Community Radio by Milt & Jamie Lee along with a few other staff members. It has been an amazing experience. We all have been doing interviews for years, but to make a documentary is an entirely higher level of production and commitment - and we are making some very compelling pieces to share.

Other topics include a hand bell choir, finding good food, and young golfers.

We plan to have a listening session on The KAXE Morning Show on Friday, Dec. 3rd and we are all racing to have our pieces ready for their debut. Milt and Jamie will join us in-studio to present the documentaries. This will be a morning of radio you won't want to miss as we bring local voices and stories onto the airwaves.