Cooperative Living January 2019 - 3

InsideStory
January 2019
I'm a big fan of
Joni Mitchell's music,
especially from the 1970s.
A couple of lines
from her song, " Big
Yellow Taxi, " have stuck
with me (apologies for
the grammar):
" Don't it always
seem to go, that you
don't know what you've got till it's gone.
They paved paradise and put up a
parking lot. "
There's still plenty of paradise in
Virginia - wide-open country, clear-water
rivers and fresh air. I got to enjoy some
of it late last year working on this issue's
cover story about the Southern Virginia
Higher Education Center in South Boston.
The region's rolling landscape, farmland
vistas and miles of uncrowded highway
combine for the perfect prescription to
relieve the stress of daily life in densely
populated areas of the Old Dominion.
But for parts of rural Virginia, times have
been tough in recent years. Some small
towns and country communities have
been hard-hit by diminished economic
opportunity. If successive generations of
young people have to leave town to find
work, a community withers.
One of the best things about rural
Virginia is the people who inhabit it.
Rural people are practical and can usually
figure out sensible solutions to problems.
That's how electric cooperatives began.
The Southern Virginia Higher
Education Center is another good
example of this brand of practical
ingenuity. The center came about as a
very specific response to the region's
fading economic opportunity. The idea?
Improve and increase educational and
training opportunities, and economic
opportunity will expand, too.
The center reflects the amazing
creativity of southern Virginians. It
comes back to that quintessential rural
knack for solving problems and making
life better using what you have. It's
simple self-reliance.
And that's something we can never
have too much of. 
- Bill Sherrod, Editor
co-opliving.com
OUR MISSION
To inform you about your cooperative and its efforts to serve your energy needs;
how to use electricity safely and efficiently; and the people who define and enhance
the quality of life in communities served by electric co-ops.
CONTENTS
14 Kids' Korner
From tying shoelaces to caring for the family pet, life's little lessons are ongoing works in
progress for youngsters. Kids' Korner columnist Anne Dellinger shows that can-do moments
happen wherever can-do kids are growing up.
16 Cover Story
The Southern Virginia Higher Education Center in
South Boston is quietly but effectively improving
economic prospects and changing life for the
better in a region of Virginia rich in tradition and
human resources. On the cover: A student practices
the finer points of shielded metal arc welding
technique at the Southern Virginia Higher Education
Center. (Drew Morrs photo, courtesy SVHEC)
30 Crossroads
Off the beaten path between Richmond and Fredericksburg, the tiny Caroline County
community of Milford was established in 1792 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly
and is today described by its residents as a quiet, peaceful place to live.
DEPARTMENTS
10
2 Viewpoint
4 Mailbag
4 WhatzIt?
5 History Mystery
5 PunToons!
7 Young Farmers
8 Say Cheese
Visit us online at:
co-opliving.com
Reader Photo: Martin Thorn
Happenings
12 Garden Muse
22
Your Co-op News
34 Energy Sense
36 Commonwealth Kitchen
38 Classifieds
40 Rural Living
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AAM audited
January 2019 | Cooperative Living | 1
PHOTO COURTESY OF SVHEC
Check out
the 2019
Legislative
Guide in
this issue!

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Cooperative Living January 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living January 2019