What do Dems need to do to win the rural vote
I look at these red/blue voter maps, and across the country, state by state, large urban cities are mostly blue, and rural counties are red. So what do we need to do to get more rural votes to go our way?
= new reply since forum marked as read
Right wing hate radio, Fox, megachurches - it's all a big right wing circle jerk. 
It's a strength and it's a counterbalance to what passes as discourse these days 
It seems funny to me that there are so many people posting and being angry at the "Karens". It seems to me that most of them come from urban and suburban areas. Most rural people don't go out a lot during any time of the year and when they do they are in bars or other gathering places where there is often only one mind set. There is the big part problem, a community mindset. I wonder, knowing so many of them, if they would ever say anything like what we have heard from the "Karens". *I hate that term but,,,,,
We may be rubes, Democratic rubes trying to make things better, but at least we are trying to help people understand. It was the church in my family growing up and I refused to be a part of that. I also refuse to be a part of a party that acts as bad and often worse than the people they are going after. It is just me but I can see no help in that way. I had to learn calmness and oh that was hard. I wish I lived farther out from the seat of government here and then I would have a really good feeling for the pulse out there. From here it looks much like you said and what I have said.
Love the bumper sticker, I do not remember that one.
Keep talking to your people and I will mine when I get the chance. It will take a better and much younger person than I am to get this done but I do have a big mouth when I need one.....
And I mean completely. No Fox, no AM talk radio, no internet conspiracy theory podcasts. That's about the only way we can convince these people that they are being lied to 24 hours a day. 
These are people who till or work with the earth, have a deep belief in God, pull your self up out of a hole, if not, your neighbors will help you (and they do). And at the same time, they have no understanding what urban areas have to go through, but see it on TV and it shocks them.
Thus they think, if the urban areas adopted their ethic, they would do better. But, we are also talking about people who skipped a sub standard school at times to farm fields while the truant officer looked the other way. So critical and long term thinking isn't developed (if that was possible in the first place)
But sadly some on the left, mock their religion in a militant way, their intelligence, etc. So, they are turned off and/or don't trust. Can't blame them.
For example, myself, I came up from nothing....and when I mean nothing, I actually opened the fridge and wondered why it was even on because there was nothing in it (parents would not take "government hand outs"
I got the grades to get the College Prep courses, went to "College Night"...by my self, and while there, saw I was the only solo student without their parents. But, I did manage to get into a University that was known to be difficult. None in my family and extended family even acknowledged it...my own father didn't realize I was in a University until I was two years into it. And while there, extended family tried to get me to quit and I quote one uncle "You are there because you're lazy, you see a bunch of guys working on a road with one guy watching them and say I want to be that guy"...fyi, he didn't graduate from HS, got a GED and walked away.
After that, got a good paying job, married, etc. Yet, there were relatives who said I would "turn away from God" eventually. Instead, became a respected member of the church (lets just say I'm refusing some leadership roles). And those who dismissed me? Had sons and daughters that went downhill. And still, dismiss me.
So all in all, I guess what I'm saying is, you can't reach all rural residents with logical thinking, even if you invoke God. And its sad because they are part of the economy and if they let there bias, prejudices, etc. by the way side, they could be more successful. But its going to be a tough nut to crack when they are willing to scorn one of their own for seeking a better life, while some mock them. This is not something than can be accomplished in a generation. And given the short term goals of leadership, there is no incentive to do so as of yet.
There is no easy fix here...and the GOP like it.
They go but the media focuses on the clown shows from the GOP circus and it can't be relegated to just that one.
That's great!
I know I have debated doing drip tubes on my outdoor potted plants but trying to get the water source there consistently has been a challenge. I have a pile of those "plant-gators" irrigation "donuts" that I bought but have procrastinated throwing them on my bigger pots in any case. 
I was born and raised and still live in Philly and it's a "thing" here too, but goes through phases of whether it gets featured or not. We have an agricultural high school here - "W.B. Saul High School"
They have a farm property not far from where I live with horses and livestock, poultry, and produce.
USDA used to have an extension office in every County in the U.S. (I believe started as a result of the dust bowl under FDR) but over the years, they have consolidated them - particularly if you have a few very rural counties with only few thousand residents in the entire County, so the Agent would be responsible for a couple such Counties.
I am an alumni of UMASS, which was such a university. Going up Rt. 9 towards Amherst was nothing but farms, moo moos, and baa baas. And then up popped the "weeds" of the University library and dorm towers of the SW Residential area.
Not necessarily. Philly isn't just all stereotypical citified "nutrition programs". There is the full range of ag including things like apiaries/bee-keeping and backyard farming. The Master Gardeners here are the opposite of "very Republican" in this dark blue city. Plus this city, with its gardening heritage including the oldest indoor Flower Show in the country - the Philadelphia Flower Show run by the PA Horticultural Society, makes horticulture in general all the stronger, as they are deeply involved here in this city.
We need to do more "leisure" activities with them. There is a tendency to go in swinging a political hammer and immediately start bringing up "politics" and "policies" -- much of which the average person doesn't focus on 24/7. Doing that immediately puts up the wall and they shut down. And if they bring it up, then wave it away.
I had 2 co-workers who could have been considered Limpballs-listening RW loons but we shared a love of other subjects so we just tip-toed around politics and focused on what we had in common.
If people see that you enjoy some of the same activities that they do, then the politics thing can come MUCH MUCH later.
