Welcome to the Pinke Post, a prairie perspective from the heart of rural North Dakota. I am Katie Pinke. I have been blogging since 2007 about family, food, farming, faith and the chaos of being a working mom on the rural prairie. Professionally, I am the publisher of AGWEEK, which produces a weekly magazine and television show and am also a keynote speaker across North America. I remained rooted in my passions as a fifth-generation North Dakotan, farm girl, mom, wife and small business owner. In 2016, I was elected to a four-year term to the Wishek City Council and am a passionate advocate for rural life and small towns.
Rural for our family means 97 miles from Starbuck’s, in a county without a stop light. I am a working from home mother to three kids and a wife to Nathan.
I met my husband on a July day on an airplane to Kansas City. I was the single mom, not looking for a relationship, focused on my son and my marketing career. But God had another plan. It was a fairytale romance that I’ve been told could be a Hallmark movie. We married 15 months later. In a flurry, my husband traded in corporate America for small-town life on the North Dakota prairie. We moved, built a house and had two babies in the first two and half years of our marriage.
Today my husband works alongside his father in a family-owned business. I no longer go to an office every day but work seamlessly with modern technology from our house on the prairie. It may surprise you but indeed there is broadband internet on the prairie.
I used to travel frequently as I worked for ten years across North America with agribusinesses, non-profit agriculture organizations and with farmers and ranchers. It fueled my passion I have from my fifth-generation North Dakota farming family. Then I worked in a state government role as the Marketing and Information Division Director for the North Dakota Department of Agriculture. After 14 months of a 98-mile one-way commute, I quit starting a new chapter. I worked solely as a keynote speaker, writer, marketing consultant and most importantly, a more at-home mom and wife until I was given an opportunity with AGWEEK. First I wrote a weekly column and then was named publisher in August 2016. I remain at home, a more present wife and mom than I was earlier in my career. While I haven’t found “balance”, I love this chapter of life.
We really do live 97 miles from a Starbucks or any form of pop culture. While I once thought this lack of exposure to pop culture would be a disadvantage in raising a family, I now absolutely love our North Dakota remote living. Not having a stop light in our county or any adjacent county makes our life peaceful.
The advantages of our rural life are everyday things we take for granted now. Our son graduated with a high school class of 18 in 2016 and now attends the University of North Dakota. We know our neighbors who are also our friends, business patrons, local farmers, owners of local businesses and attend church with us. Despite our remote location, our little town and region are economically strong. Other young families have moved to our area.
Choosing to raise our family on the prairie makes life simple for our kids where they are immersed in a rural life that doesn’t have many of the hassles of the urban life. But our life is hectic our kid’s schedules, business life, and community involvement. For that reason, I justify that our house is not always clean!
Used with permission. Copyright ND FFA Foundation.
I started this blog in late 2007. We had moved to the prairie, were building a home in a hay-field and I was days away from having a baby. I thought I would post a few pictures to keep in touch with my family.
The blog has evolved since that time but remains an outlet, a journal and a place I go to connect with family and friends. Some of you I have known for decades met via social media and some are my dear blogger friends. I share my passions here, food, farming, family, and faith. Not everyone will agree with my thoughts but at least you’ll know where I stand and I hope to hear where you stand on issues when I share about them.
Thank you for reading, commenting and sharing.