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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


  • Found my house

    Found my house

    The perfect house. A tiny walk back down this river which meets the beach I see the perfect little house for me!! 😂 It is about twenty minutes on foot from the beach! Maybe the farmer will sell me a little bit of garden. And we are good to go. My little off grid house.…

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  • Fishing with Drones

    Fishing with Drones

    The locals! Not me. I don’t have the patience for fishing. You can tell a local on the beach because they are in shorts, wooly jerseys and their gumboots. Like me! I always wear my gumboots on the beach. This is not a beach for skimpy clothing. I just popped this onto Instagram. Have a…

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  • Dual Personalities

    Dual Personalities

    Marsh and Sea. The clash of sea, stones, driftwood and flowing river and tributaries makes this area super interesting. Looking from land across a river across another spit of land out to sea then over to Kapiti Island makes our brains work to make sense of it. In my mind – swans don’t belong so…

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  • New Beach. New Vibe

    New Beach. New Vibe

    This new beach is stoney and wild and wicked. The waves and the wind are heaving. The undertow is a shocker! We love it. There are two parts to the Otaki beach experience. Coming soon to a screen near you! 😂 The Beach: Things are not calm here. The wind was howly huge. Blowing up…

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  • Relocation Day: To another Beach! SURPRISE! 😂

    Relocation Day: To another Beach! SURPRISE! 😂

    Today a couple of kids and I are going to drive up the beach to another little beach house! The blue dot is where I am this morning – and this afternoon we will be toddling up to Ōtaki Beach. There we will be joined by more family and old friends. Yesterday morning after our…

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  • Last of the Summer Wine

    Last of the Summer Wine

    Do you remember that TV program? When we had TV – not viewing platforms. One screen per household. The last of the summer wine. It was British. From years ago. I remember the scene in the late summer meadow just the sheer relief of watching that family sitting back and relaxing into the moment. We…

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