Thirteen years ago, almost exactly, I got the idea to start writing this column. I imagined it would be entertaining to the folks who lived in and around my tiny town, and it would give me a creative …
Growing up in Michigan, Easter almost always arrived during the first full blush of spring. Our side garden would be alive with daffodils and pastel tulips; our Easter outfits were worn with light …
There is perhaps no greater sign of spring in these parts than the arrival of baby chicks to the local feed store. I say this because some years spring brings blizzards, some years dry wind and dust, …
I don’t remember which story about seed saving I heard first, but there are two that stick in my mind as the most memorable. One is about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the world’s largest …
I enjoyed hearing from quite a few of you about my column a few weeks back concerning the “fog calendar,” and its predictive abilities! Apparently, this knowledge has also proven useful to some …
Last year, our Jersey cow, Pumpkin, came up “open,” meaning she didn’t get pregnant after being with the bulls. She’s been a great mom and milk producer for us, so we decided her body needed …
New Year’s Eve day 2023, the fog was so thick we could barely see the red barn behind the house. New Year’s Day dawned bright and warm, but by the next day the fog was back. And the next day, and …
Tomorrow is my birthday! I’m holed up in the bedroom working on this very column while also eating the early birthday present of Girl Scout cookies I secretly stashed under the bed for exactly this …
Winter on the Northern Plains often includes a phenomenon called “false spring.” Because it represents a brief respite from the relentlessness of frigid winter temperatures, false spring is a …
In loving memory of our good friend, Pat Dinkins 11/11/39-1/31/26 Sometimes, when you are a little over a month away from giving birth, you wake up in the night, unable to sleep. You get up, let the dogs out, get a drink of water, let the dogs in, and climb back into bed. When you are lucky, you fall asleep again...
This morning, driving to his birthday lunch, my husband and I were talking about how, despite the fact that time does seem to be going faster and faster the older we get, January 2026 was somehow 10 …
In December, I made a short trip to Minneapolis to play a few shows and pick up my mom for a Christmas visit. The voyage was bookended by blizzards, but we had one glorious, clear morning in the …
The wind this week has been epic. Perhaps not as epic as in December when we had gusts blast through our yard at 90+ miles an hour, but still pretty darn epic. Anything that was loosened up by those …
I’ve been thinking a lot about motherhood this week. It will still be a few more months before we start seeing the motherhood rituals of the prairie on display: Robins piecing together their …
We made it, my friends—our passage from one calendar year to another is complete! Our celebrations were merry indeed. Nachos and bingo at the legion, late night pizza made in my new outdoor pizza …
With a weekend of rain and temperatures forecast to dip into the 30s, a somewhat official final harvest of the com munity garden seemed in order. A date was set to dig potatoes, beets, carrots, and …
This weekend, I drove south to the Black Hills for the annual South Dakota Festival of the Book. We are enjoying an indulgently beautiful fall, the weather some how luxuriously warm and cool at the …
Yesterday, we at tended the wedding of my husband’s niece. For some reason the topic of how old we’ve all gotten kept coming up. We hugged Uncles who are now Great-Great Uncles, Moms who …
My fall lambing is done! Consisting of exactly two ewes, this part of my shepherding “program” is the most fun. These two ewes will be able to provide milk for us during the winter, which …
When I signed on to take over the community garden plot on the edge of town, I had a pretty good idea that I was bit ing off more than I could chew. And I mean that literally–I knew it would be …
