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Mike Teegarden

Beaverton

Editorial Director, Electric Magazines at Pioneer Utility Resources

Articles

  • Feb 1, 2025 | ruralite.com | Mike Teegarden

    The distinctive ring of fiddle music fills the small, one-room 1888 schoolhouse near Junction City, Oregon, as musicians tune up and prepare to jam. But before an outburst of jigs and reels gets toes tapping, a few preliminary instructions from organizer Amy Burrow are in order because this is a jam session lesson. Amy, a music teacher and fiddler from nearby Eugene, used grants to fund a quarterly jam session for students ages 8 to 18.

  • Dec 17, 2024 | pioneerutilityresources.com | Mike Teegarden

    Magic medicine, strength, horses, loggers and trash hunters were the themes of my favorite stories from 2024. Each of the five I chose to highlight inspires readers in different ways. I hope you enjoy these stories as much as our readers have, and they inspire ideas for features you can share in 2025. 1. Saddle Up: Junior Rodeo Keeps Florida Youth Coming backBy Drew Woolley | Florida CurrentsI’ve read a lot of rodeo stories through the years, but this one hit me differently.

  • Jul 9, 2024 | pioneerutilityresources.com | Mike Teegarden

    Pioneer Editorial Director Mike Teegarden led a session on mobile photography at NRECA’s 2024 CONNECT Conference in Baltimore. His picture, “International Teamwork,” won a silver award in the Spotlight on Excellence Awards. We asked him to share his big picture ideas here for Utility Pioneers who couldn’t catch his session. Before heading out to shoot, let’s outline when a cellphone is a good choice.

  • Jun 4, 2024 | pioneerutilityresources.com | Mike Teegarden

    In the 1950s, managers at rural electric cooperatives in the Northwest faced a dilemma:How could they provide the information consumers needed to make sound decisions about their utility in a cost-effective manner? The solution lay in the cooperative spirit: pool resources. Ruralite, a magazine title with 46 zoned editions covering communities in Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, marks 70 years of community storytelling in June.

  • May 4, 2024 | ruralite.com | Mike Teegarden

    When I was a child I lived out in the country on 50 acres. Opportunities to earn money were few and far between. I did earn 50 cents a day for feeding the sheep occupying our leased pasture. I also picked strawberries and boysenberries in the summer. My best days were when my mom came out and picked with me. To this day, I don’t know how she filled those containers so fast. Later, we moved to a more populated area and I was able to mow lawns. I think I was getting $5 a lawn at my peak.