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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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The wide shot, work in progress
The North Chef’s Garden is coming along nicely. In fact I am feeling quite proud of what we have accomplished in there. Let’s hope the produce sells! Lots more to be done yet though. In the next few days we will plant 60 lavender plants, 60 thyme plants, 60 rosemary plants and 50 oregano plants.…
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A quiet life
At last we are settling down into a summer farm rhythm. Start the waters, milk the cow, feed the animals, have second breakfast, weed and plant and pick. This is the morning. A simple morning. I am leaving the grass long down the back so the cows can lie down into it out of the…
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Slip, Slop, Slap
Suntan Lotion for pigs. Yes, it’s a thing! Pigs get sunburnt. Most especially on their ears, an area that is hard to cover in mud from their wallows. Summer is here so the suntan lotion goes wherever I go now. Better probably to stay inside where the sun cannot reach us. But the pigs and…
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Asparagus Butter
Most of gardening is an amiable battle -we fight to get the plants growing, we fight to keep the weeds down, then we fight to get the plants growing into the direction we want them growing in. Then we haul hoses and sprinklers from garden to garden keeping them alive. We feed them so they…
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Hot Chooks
The last two days have risen up into the 90’s here. Hot summer days. For me the weather is lovely, for the animals and birds hot weather is a trial. The cows headed for the back paddock and lay into the long grass down there to get away from the heat and the flies but…
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Poppy’s Sweet Nine
Aren’t they sweet. They are still a little shy but doing well. The North Garden is still not pretty and the plants are still in the early stages .. .. but there are literally hundreds of plants in there (and behind the image and to the left of the image) for the restaurants and farmers…
The Kitchen's Garden
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Letters To My Mother
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The Kitchen's Garden 