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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


  • Not from today

    Not from today

    I have been going through my old photographs.  Looking for the TWELVE for the calendar. And when I went out with Camera House to take some shots in the last of the light, as the Cadet and I worked through the chores, I discovered  I had run out of a battery in the camera and then…

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  • When you feel Sad – WORK

    When you feel Sad – WORK

    Work hard. So I worked hard and felt much better. The cows are now in their winter quarters. And their feeder has been carried by the tractor from one farm to the next  and set up for the cows feed this winter.  You will remember this feeder, John made it for me from a photograph…

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  • Filthy Weather

    Filthy Weather

    Yesterday was spent driving through the filthy weather to the airport to deliver Hugo to the plane. Then driving back through filthy weather home again. Filthy can be beautiful though. It just depends how you look at it. And who you look at it with. On the way up I had two young men and on…

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  • Pacing

    Pacing

    Yesterday I swung from one task to the next, achieving nothing, starting stuff and then wandering in another direction and finding myself doing something completely different. Trying to restart the first one again then discovering task number three or four. I left the water running into the sink and forgot to put the water on…

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  • A Jigsaw Farm with a Plan

    A Jigsaw Farm with a Plan

    At this time of year all farmers in this hemisphere are shuffling animals into their winter pens, arranging their outside access. Dragging out the heated water bowls, stopping up drafts, creating an extra feed pile in case we get snowed in, checking the generator and finding the heating lamps. We always prepare for the most extreme weather.…

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  • The winter barn

    The winter barn

    John has been working hard to get the winter barn, our other barn across the creek that is really a ditch, up to code  for the winter. We prefer this barn for the animals in the winter as it has a dirt floor. The concrete floor in the home barn, like our temperatures,  gets SO…

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