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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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Fear of Fire
Yesterday I solved the problem of the West Barn cows water by dragging the emergency water barrel, which was half filled with frozen water all the way round and through the open gate, then into the barn and into their inside barn area so I could run a cable and drop a water heater into it…
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Do you ever feel …
… like you are living the same thing each year? Over and over again. The same progression. I almost called this post Blowing Snow. I must have called twenty posts Blowing Snow in the last four or so years that we have been writing and reading this blog together. Snow falls then it blows. Often. …
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Cheap Frights
At any given time of any given day I can tell you with reasonable accuracy where any of my animals are and what they are doing. (Except Poppy who is sometimes where she should not be). I can be cleaning out a pen in a group of cows and there is little chance that an animal can sneak…
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Tucking in the piggies
And so it got colder. Cows always do the best in the cold. They carry a belly full of hay that behaves like a compost heap a hot compost heap. A healthy cow is warmed from the inside. Unlike my white truck that was encased in ice yesterday morning and I could not even open the door.…
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Anti-Climax
By afternoon the heavy rain turned to snow, coming down heavily. So I threw on my clown suit and big jacket and and hattie and trotted about getting everyone fed early in case we got snowed in. I put everyone to bed and shut all the big doors in preparation for the Blowing Snow. I Drove at speed…
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Off Farm Surprise
We have the promise of miserable weather on the way today. Snow with high winds and then they are forecasting a dizzying plummet in temperatures (the drop in temperatures is more of a worry than the snow which may not reach us though BLOWING snow can cause difficulties). So I worked in the rain yesterday to get all…
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