llzranch

Finding Motivation

“We go through life. We shed our skins. We become ourselves.” Patti Smith Why write at all: Motivation during Covid In the past I’ve looked to nature and animals for writing motivation. Spring flowers and emerging life are Mother Nature’s invitation to go outside, hear the birds sing, smell fresh air, dip fingers in warmingContinue reading “Finding Motivation”

A Farmer’s Daughter’s look at Ag

I grew up on a family farm. There were always chores to do. I was more interested in reading than farming. I devoured every book and magazine I could find. We didn’t have books at home or at the little country school. I borrowed books from anyone willing to loan them. My rural schoolteacher borrowedContinue reading “A Farmer’s Daughter’s look at Ag”

WIND: A Personal Perspective

I’ve been thinking about wind lately. I grew up on a farm near a village of four-hundred people. My parents lived north of this village until I was ten. Their next rented farm was south of that same berg. These places were the kind of farms that don’t exist anymore. My folks rented their smallContinue reading “WIND: A Personal Perspective”

Lighting the Dark

It’s been an autumn of gatherings after eighteen months of isolation. The season began with a niece’s wedding in Sioux Falls, SD. It was a lovely wedding and urban weekend. The next event was my daughter’s wedding in my back yard. I’ve written about the planning process for hosting a home wedding in another blog.Continue reading “Lighting the Dark”

How to Host an Outdoor Wedding

Plan ahead. Double check everything.

Generosity of Strangers

“You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quilt World

“To be of the Landscape is not to possess it, but to be part of it, an extension, an offspring …” William Kloefkorn

Spring into Summer

It felt great to have a few warm March days after a very cold February. It was warm enough to finally bring in the Christmas lights that I strung around the yard during the last warm days in November. All the electric cords were buried under inches of snow and ice for months. John GreenleafContinue reading “Spring into Summer”