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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


  • The Sky has no Secrets

    The Sky has no Secrets

    All day, yesterday, the clouds promised change. The skies are huge with information out here on the Midwest prairies. There is just SO MUCH sky. The sky has no secrets. The sky is sending us stories all day long. When I see these cirrus clouds breezing past I look for a change in the weather.…

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  • Labor Day Cooking

    Labor Day Cooking

    The thistle fields baling is complete. Today when I am not cooking for the Labor Day gathering I will take the tractor and lift the bales where they have fallen and stack them into the two piles. This will be todays workout! Haymaking is great for the body. One of these bale castles will be…

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  • Tips for a Deluxe Tomato Paste

    Tips for a Deluxe Tomato Paste

    Tomato Conserva is a sauce rendered to the very essence of a sun ripened tomato. It is next level tomato paste and super easy to make. (Just choose a cool day because the oven will be on (low) for a few hours). Tomato Conserva is so special that I freeze it in jars so it…

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  • Raking Thistle Hay

    Raking Thistle Hay

    If you grow a kitchen’s garden – a garden for your kitchen – you will know that this part of the year is busy. Your garden might be a raised bed in the backyard or a tiny corner out the front or in pot or on a windowsill. Or several gardens like here at The…

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  • Making Wild Plum Brandy

    Making Wild Plum Brandy

    But that’s not all. Oh no, that is not all! The farm is up and running and dragging the kitchen along with it and I have not even begin on the gardens. How many words do you like to read in a blog. Especially a farm lifestyle blog. Because that is what this is! A…

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  • Late Summer is NOT Early Fall

    Late Summer is NOT Early Fall

    Boo and I are not falling for the marketing trickery that races us right past the beautiful fecund late days of summer, when there is piles of food in the garden and we are planting the late summer garden, and into Autumnal purchasing. Already I see posts and advertisements for Fall. Soon the Hideous Halloween…

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