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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
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Never Enough Flowers
I cannot get enough of this field of wild flowers. It is so rare to get such a perfect stand. I have a feeling it will be one of a kind. And this year will be its best year. A little gift for us to wander in when life gets tough. I know Sheila is…
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Fitness for wounded bodies
My sister wrote to me again yesterday – she is a nurse and like you is following Wai’s recovery closely. She trained to be a nurse in a period before modern computer based diagnostics and many of their procedures were based on common sense coupled with sound medical knowledge learned in the lecture hall and…
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How to make Iced Tea
Iced tea is (to my mind anyway) quintessentially American. So having a New Zealander tell you how she makes her iced tea is like teaching your grandmother to suck eggs, though my grandmother NEVER sucked eggs. Anyway making cold tea from hot water has always left a bitterness in the tea that I do not…
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Super Pig
I almost took my husbands eyes out with my dirty farmers fingernails yesterday when he said to me there is no way that potbelly pig can survive with all those open wounds. The skin is coming off in huge clumps now exposing pretty rugged raw areas underneath. Some as big as a child’s hand. But…
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New fields
Yesterday after another big farm to table lunch I shifted the cows to a new field, scooping the naughty baby bobby into the barn for the night as they went past. They all put their heads down and began munching on all that clover. I am fairly sure now that neither Alex nor Aunty Anna…
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Baby Crying
Holding back milk is something I never thought Lady Astor would do. But over the last week she has been letting less and less down for me on our once a day milking. And as you can imagine this has resulted in an udder with a wee problem. I increased her milkings to twice then three…
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