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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


  • Porcine Excitement

    Porcine Excitement

    Poppy (the Hereford sow) has been re-located to the house of sinful pleasures also known as the West Barn. She leapt into the trailer without any enticement and the red truck towed her chariot around the corner.   If there had been a sunroof she would have popped her head through the top and smiled into the…

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  • My friend has come

    My friend has come

    We spent all day getting back home from the airport then threw our city clothes into the baskets and changed into farm gear and got to work. She was thrilled to see Geraldine and Naomi so big and strong. We talked and talked and talked. We only stopped talking when she fell asleep on the couch…

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  • Be a Dog

    Be a Dog

    Imagine if we were like a dog. Not an actual dog but Like a dog in that whenever we felt even a little tired we just lay down on the floor wherever we were and slept.  Angling our bottoms onto the boards with our bellies following suit, then paws sliding – flat out on the floor, head down, big…

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  • Good morning

    Good morning

    At the risk of being pedestrian. Or maybe a little ‘Tuesday’… MERRY CHRISTMAS. Though for the animals down here on the farm. Christmas Day is like any other day. And any other day is All About the Food. I wanted to say something deep and meaningful about Christmas. But when I look deeply I really…

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  • Warning

    Warning

    The power had gone off. The wind was howling, the rain spitting angrily at the windows,  the clouds low and heavy as roiling black seas, the day so dark I moved my work to the table by the window so I could see. So the first I even knew of a tornado warning (they call it…

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  • OOPS

    OOPS

    You will remember that I separated Tima ( the kunekune girl) from Tane (the kunekune boy)  so that they would not breed during this cycle. This would give Tima a break after her miscarriage and any piglets would be later in the spring. Anyway yesterday, I was walking into Tane’s field with buckets loaded with feed…

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