Open Writing

“A Prairie Home Companion” is a much loved and long running radio program in America, on which a movie was based in 2006. Started and hosted by writer and broadcaster Garrison Keillor in 1974, the program now is heard by what amounts to a cult following of over 4 million listeners each week on over 580 public radio stations. The show is a gentle satire of an old time radio station, set in a fictitious, remote town in Minnesota called Lake Wobegone.

The station is “sponsored” by imaginary products such as “Powder Milk Biscuits,” whose slogan is "Made from whole wheat raised in the rich bottomlands of the Lake Wobegon river valley by Norwegian bachelor farmers; so you know they're not only good for you, but pure . . . mostly. Buy them ready-made in the big blue box with the picture of the biscuit on the cover, or in the brown bag with the dark stains that indicate freshness. Whole wheat that gives shy persons the strength to get up and do what needs to be done. Heavens they're tasty, and expeditious!"

Other “sponsors” are businesses like the local bar “The Side Track Tap,” “Ralph’s Pretty Good Grocery,” and “Bertha’s Kitty Boutique,” the commercials for which are woven into the program script in a style that was popular in America in the 30’s and 40’s. Like many small towns in the real Minnesota, Lake Wobegone is populated predominantly by immigrants from Scandinavia, many of whom are dairy farmers. A standing joke on the show are the “Norwegian Bachelor Farmers,” who are trapped in their celibacy by the demands and remoteness of the farm, and by their native reserve.

Well, according to information I just received, they need to be celibate no more. All they have to do is log on to an on-line dating service, FarmersOnly.com. Launched just over a year ago, the web page has quickly become THE place for farmers, ranchers, and down to earth people to meet their match. In the last year, membership went from 2,000 to close to 50,000 members.

According to Jerry Miller, Founder, there have been thousands of successful matches made on FarmersOnly.com. “In fact, there have been at least 20 marriages since [it] began," he said. "There have likely been many more. Just the other day I spoke to one of our newlyweds who mentioned two of his friends who also got married because of the site, but didn't notify us yet."

Of course, all dating websites have their success stories, but the FarmersOnly.com stories are probably unique. Their first recorded marriage is a great example. Barbara, who raised horses in Texas, began corresponding with James, a former bronco rider in Arkansas. A few months later, the couple had a beautiful wedding at Barbara's sister's farm.

Just after they said "I do," they decided to check on a mare, due to give birth any day. They realized the mare was in distress and stayed in the barn until the foal was born, missing their honeymoon! The couple can now laugh at what they refer to as their "Honeymoon in the horse barn.”

FarmersOnly.com is the brainchild of Jerry Miller, partner in a public relations firm that works with over 4,000 farms and ranches across the country. While talking to one farmer, Jerry made quite a discovery. "Recently divorced, she expressed her frustration at how difficult it was to meet someone new," Jerry recalled.

"I'm ready to give up!" she said. "How am I going to meet someone when I’m working on a farm all day? I already know everybody who lives around here, which isn't that many people! Maybe I'll try online dating."

A month later, Jerry asked her how her luck was with online dating. She replied, with even more frustration, "The men who have been contacting me don't understand the lifestyle of a farmer. They don't have a clue!" Thus came the site's slogan, "City Folks Just Don't Get It!"

Now curious, Jerry started doing some Internet searches and couldn't find one national dating site truly designed for farmers. Being in marketing, he wanted to see if there was a need. "I talked to farmers and ranchers all over the country and discovered they all had the same problems. They already knew everybody in their immediate areas.

They generally didn't have enough time to socialize, and when they did find time, they didn't want to hang out at a bar. They wanted to find someone who understood their lifestyle," he said. “The need for this new online dating service became very clear, and six months later I launched FarmersOnly.com."

Rural Ohioan Margaret heard about the web page, and decided this might be exactly what she needed to find her Mr. Right. Her first night on the site she called Jerry and asked him how to sign up. Jerry talked her through the process and soon Margaret had a profile. Margaret called him three more times, once to ask how to add a photo to her profile, then to ask how to send an email through the site.

The third call came three weeks later. Anticipating helping her through another step on the site, Jerry was shocked by her reason for calling. "I just called to say thanks, Jerry, I got married." Sixty five year old Margaret had found her match on FarmersOnly.com in 76 year old Al, a rancher in South Dakota! So come on you Norwegian bachelor farmers, stop shuffling your feet in the dirt and get on line.

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