Kurt Goetzinger

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Omaha, NE
Kurt Goetzinger

Curious Kurt
Gen X Midwesterner with a quirky curiosity. Exploring small towns, big cities, and my own backyard. No hype. 💚🌎☮️
Where should I explore next?

Always chasing good food, hidden gems, and old stories. Tell me! I’m a curious, community-minded storyteller based in Omaha, Nebraska. I’ve spent decades using creativity to bring people together, whether that’s through neighborhood projects, gardens, or simple conversations on a bike ride. I’m the founder of the Benson Community Garden, a space where neighbors grow food, share knowledge, and reco

nnect with the land right in the middle of the city. I’m also developing Villa Terra, a small sustainability project exploring practical ways to live more lightly on the planet through gardening, off grid thinking, and everyday eco friendly choices. When I visit new places, I like to see them at street level, usually by bicycle. I’m drawn to dive bars, local food, murals, and the stories of the people who keep a community going. Those experiences feed everything I do back home in Benson. I still take on select clients and creative projects through my studio (Omaha Advertising), especially when they connect to community, education, or the environment. But more and more, my work is about sharing what I’m learning in real time: urban agriculture, sustainable living, and ways ordinary people can shape their neighborhoods for the better. At heart, I’m a lifelong learner. I don’t claim to have all the answers. I experiment, listen, and try things out in public so others can see what works and what doesn’t. If you’re interested in community gardening, sustainable living, or using creativity to make your corner of the world a little better, you’re in the right place.

08/13/2026

“You can grow peaches in Nebraska?”
That was my reaction about 18 years ago when I first found out that not only can certain varieties grow here, but they are some of the most delicious peaches I have ever eaten.
This week my son told me his peach trees are absolutely loaded, so he invited me over to pick. I came home with a few dozen of the sweetest, juiciest peaches you can imagine.
Peaches don’t last long on the counter, so here is how I preserve them. I wash them, cut out any blemishes, lay them on a cookie sheet, and flash freeze them in the deep freezer downstairs.
Once they are frozen solid, I bag them up. That way we have summer peaches ready to go for months, whether we’re eating them straight or cooking with them.
And the cooking is the best part. My wife makes a peach crisp that could get a blue ribbon at the State Fair! ❤️

Have you ever bought or picked local peaches? And what’s your favorite variety?

08/09/2026

I still have my $11.25 Men at Work ticket stub from Sept 1983!
I was a sophomore in high school the last time I saw Men at Work, and I hung onto that little stub and the button all these years like they were treasure. This week, I finally got to see them again. Only took me about four decades.
We caught them at Stir Concert Cove over in Council Bluffs, and what a night. Shonen Knife opened (an all-girl punk band out of Japan) who are, let’s be honest, older women like the rest of us now, and let me tell you, those ladies still bring it. Then Toad the Wet Sprocket played an amazing set. And then Men at Work took the stage, and 40+ years just melted away.
I wanted to dance so badly. Trouble is, I was surrounded by a crowd of fellow 50-somethings who were, let’s say, “conserving their energy”. Ha! But everybody had a grand time, and hearing Colin Hay’s voice live again, the one original member still out there carrying the torch, was worth every one of those 43 years I waited.
Here’s the funny thing about that ticket stub. Eleven dollars felt like a fortune to a sophomore in 1983. This time around, the ticket cost a good deal more, and I’d have paid triple. Some things only get more valuable with time… ❤️

08/07/2026

Ever notice how everybody in the US is starting to sound the same?
I have, and it's been nagging at me. You travel to a city that once had a voice all its own, and more and more, the folks there sound like they could be from just about anywhere in America. I always figured television did it. But this piece from PBS makes a compelling case that social media is speeding the whole thing up, flattening our accents faster than TV ever could.
And I'll admit it. I miss local accents.
There was a real zest to it. You'd land in a new city, and the accent alone told you that you weren't home anymore. Or you'd bump into a stranger two thousand miles from anywhere, they'd open their mouth, and just like that, you knew: Boston, New York, Fargo... A regional accent was a little piece of home someone carried with them wherever they went.
Maybe it's the optimist in me hoping a few of these voices hang on. I'd sure hate for us all to end up sounding like the same newscaster.
Does your hometown still have an accent?

08/02/2026

We’re going to Argentina! And we could use your help. 🇺🇸❤️🇦🇷

My wife and I are planning a trip to Argentina soon, and it all begins in Buenos Aires. We have read and heard amazing things, but don’t know that city yet. The neighborhoods, museums, the must-see corners, the little cafe locals love. We’re starting close to a blank slate, and that’s half the fun.

So I’m asking the people who know. Where should we stay in Buenos Aires? What do we absolutely have to see, eat, and experience before we leave? The famous stuff, sure, but especially the places only a local or a seasoned traveler would think to mention.

Drop your recommendations in the comments. Every tip, big or small, helps us build this adventure, and I promise to bring you along for the ride.

08/01/2026

Hitting the farmers market first thing in the morning to beat the crowds and get the best selection! My buddy Justin and I are downtown to shop the Omaha farmers market. Omaha Farmers Market

07/31/2026

Big week at the garden. KMTV 3 News chief meteorologist Tim Schmidt came out to the Benson Community Garden to shoot a segment on something every gardener knows in their bones: how much the weather forecast shapes what we plant, when we plant it, and how we plan the whole season.

We had a blast. We got to talk shop about gardening, sure, but also about the thing that matters most to us out here, building community one shared patch of dirt at a time. A real honor to have our local CBS affiliate stop by and take an interest in what we’re growing.

The timing feels just right, too. I started this garden back in 2011 on the empty lot next to my house, and this year we’re celebrating 15 years as an organization. Fifteen years in, and it keeps growing in every sense of the word.

The segment airs soon. Follow along so you don’t miss it, and we’ll share it the moment it drops.

KMTV 3 News Now

07/27/2026

Last Tuesday I was working at my desk when the room went foggy and my hands started to shake. I checked my blood pressure. It had crashed. Within hours I was in a hospital bed being treated for what the doctors suspected was sepsis. The same thing that took my father. I spent three days admitted, and I am one of the lucky ones.

Here is what I keep thinking about. For years I have treated myself like I was indestructible. Push through the heat. Push through the tired. Handle it, don't complain, get back to work. A lot of us were raised on that, and we wear it like a badge. But it is not toughness. It is a slow way of telling the people who love us that we will gamble with the one body we get.

That shaking hand holding the phone changed my mind. There is nothing strong about ignoring your health until it drops you. The strong move is to check the blood pressure, make the appointment, drink the water, sit in the shade, say out loud that something feels off. Your wife, your kids, your friends, they do not need you to be a hero. They need you here.

So I am slowing down, on purpose, and I am not one bit ashamed of it.

Now the good part. Gratitude.

To Jenny, who got me to the ER and has carried more than I can say. To the ER and cardiac teams at Methodist, who treated me with skill and real compassion when I was scared. To my daughters, my brother, my friends, and the neighbors who called. And to my clients, who sent kind words and understanding while I stepped away to heal, thank you. Your grace meant more than you know, and it reminded me I have built my work around good people.

If you take one thing from a guy who just got a wake-up call, take this. Seek joy every single day. Count your blessings out loud. Treasure the people in your life, and let them treasure you back. And fellas, please, take care of yourselves out there. The people who love you are counting on it.

Methodist Health System

07/26/2026

This is Omaha… ☀️🔥🌎🥵
Feels like 116 (aka “hell on earth”).
Stay in if you can, friends. This heat ain’t messin’ ‘round…

07/20/2026

This week, do something productive, creative, or fun that takes you out of your comfort zone.
🧡

07/17/2026

This morning I got to reconnect with Patrick Wheeler, who runs Environmental Health and Safety for the university here in Omaha. In plain terms, his team keeps students, staff, and faculty safe, manages hazardous waste, and makes sure the campus meets every environmental regulation on the books. He is among the very best at what he does.

Patrick and I go back years, to my days as communications director for Repower America, when we worked on clean energy environmental initiatives.

What most people don’t know about him: he is a Navy veteran who served nine years, including long missions beneath the ocean aboard submarines. These days he is deeply passionate about how a healthy environment shapes human health, in our homes, our workplaces, and on this planet we all share. I walked away inspired, and a little smarter about clean, healthy buildings than I was an hour earlier.

Here is something I keep noticing since I moved my office back home. Almost everyone I sit down with turns out to be connected to someone already in my circle. The world is smaller (and warmer) than it looks.

So here is my open invitation: If you would enjoy a before-work coffee, tea, or whatever you’re drinking, reach out and let’s set it up. Here in Omaha we’ll meet in the garden. Anywhere else, we’ll hop on a video call. Either way, I love connecting, and reconnecting, with people doing good for their communities.

Who should I have coffee with next? Tag someone I ought to meet.

Address

1302 N 60th St
Omaha, NE
68132

Website

http://www.KurtGoetzinger.com/

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