WELCOME!
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.
Join Us!
LATEST POSTS
-
The Long Awaited Day!!
The ducklings have found the pond. They went in three times yesterday and are back this morning – I can hear them splashing about as I write. They are sticking close to the sides. Not yet ready for deep water! And it is deep, the pond, the middle is almost 10 foot deep. The fish…
-
I sat Down for a Minute
I cleared out some old dead(ish) bushes from the front of the house and so Tima has shifted camp to under the hydrangea (which is a disaster for the hydrangea) but Mayes for a cute picture! Happy Fourth of July for those who observe. I was chatting to one of my junior farm hands yesterday.…
-
Sad Seed Germination
It looked like rain would come in the night and it smelt like rain this morning but no rain came so today will be a watering day. With hoses. But I can’t water the pig garden. It is too big. Probably a third of an acre. And. Miserably it looks like our flowering pigs field…
-
A summer Day on the Farm
I am cleaning in the barn and the yards twice a day now to keep the flies down. And out of my cattle’s eyes. It is good work. Strong work. Scooping the pens and carrying the manure and wet straw out to the pile. Cleaning up the last corners. I take no shortcuts – preferring…
-
Japanese Beetles Return
Forget the cicadas. Forget the grasshoppers. Ignore the flies for a moment. The most destructive insect in our organic gardens and in the fields is the Japanese Beetle. And they have arrived. They hatch out of the ground in late June and for six weeks voraciously skeletonize the leaves on our trees and in the…
-
Compost for the Win
After a month I turn the compost pile and add more water. This was my main task yesterday. In these compost piles there is manure, straw bedding (containing urine), matured compost and water. But there is way more straw than manure so when I turn the compost I add more water. To turn it I…
The Kitchen's Garden
Sustainable. Self Sufficient. Loving the Land. Join Us!
Site Navigation
Letters To My Mother
Want more?
Join me on Substack where I tell stories of growing up in a different time, a simpler time, a time when all those sustainable tips we are relearning now were normal and ordinary.
Join us at The Sustainable Home:
Sign up to our monthly newsletter for tips on managing a sustainable home.
The Kitchen's Garden 