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I am Cecilia. A New Zealander who farms in Illinois.

My farms are organic and regenerative and full of stories. I have been writing here about environmentally sustainable farming and food and travel since 2011.

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LATEST POSTS


  • Thank You

    Thank You

    Thank You. Once again you hauled me back from the brink – by 10am. So thank you – For yesterday’s outpouring of support and kindness. I thought I had lost so many of you but you are still here and for this I thank you a thousand times. (They say if you do a thing…

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  • The air itself was loud yesterday

    The air itself was loud yesterday

    With big machines racing through the fields and a high, hot Southerly wind, yesterday was loud. The dust from the harvest was whipping around me as I worked. The rain in the forecast came to nothing. I feel disconsolate today. While my engagement numbers continue to rise on Substack with one newsletter a week, and…

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  • Dawn Corn Harvest

    Dawn Corn Harvest

    At dawn. Probably figuring we were already awake anyway. And they were right. The combine harvesters began to strip our fields of the organic corn. Organic or not it is still a monster machine. I was not ready for him to start that early so the shots were taken on the fly. Very soon –…

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  • But It is my Duty to Escape! 🐖

    But It is my Duty to Escape! 🐖

    This is not Colditz. Yet these piggies feel duty bound to attempt an escape at every moment. Today I will work on their backyard. They are very forceful and use their bodies as battering rams to get where they want to be which is OUT then just as forcefully back IN. Anywhere that there is…

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  • Are our phones staging an insidious silent coup?

    Are our phones staging an insidious silent coup?

    I am working on uncoupling from my phone. Not the whole phone but when did these features start replacing stuff in my life. The convenience of it is so seductive. is this a take-over of the chosen kind. In that I have chosen it? The flashlight, the camera, the notes, the photo file, the calendar,…

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  • Friends with Coffee

    Friends with Coffee

    At least once a year my friends from Georgia come up to Chicago to see their family and stop off for a day on the farm. K always brings preserves and coffee. She likes good coffee! They have done this every year for eight years so they know their way around the kitchen and the…

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