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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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What frog sounds like this?
Or is it a toad? It can’t all be beautiful pictures. Though let us stop for a moment to admire the chickens in the weeds. Every now and then we have to listen! And you know I love recording sounds. I was out on my deck late last night recording these frog sounds. Or are…
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Leave it up to the Cows
The flies have arrived with the heat. Though you would not know it from this idyllic image of wheat in the sunset. Flies are hell for cows so this beastie got under an old jacket I had hung in the tree. I re-purpose sacks and old hoodies, the pigs winter blankets, (pretty much anything) and…
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Last Duck Standing
The last duck on the property is sitting on her chickens eggs with lazer focus. When I pass by her sitting on her nest in the blue plastic tote tipped sideways she ducks super low, camouflaging herself into the old straw. She is actually very hard to see too, in the barns gloom, this chameleon…
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Plant the trees and they will come
The kitchens garden is all about planting and growing. Trees, bushes, all of it. Wild fairy gardens. No Mow Lawns. Wilding fields. We are 17 years in and already this little property has become a kingdom of movement and sounds and rustlings in and around and under the trees. (When I arrived here there were…
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Can a Monarch Change the Law?
There is milk weed in the fields and milkweed down by the ditch that was a creek and milkweed in the kitchens garden even milkweed growing with the asparagus. But until 2017 many regions of Illinois had outlawed this plant. The poor monarch butterflies just had to miss out and consequently have run into deep…
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The most natural air freshener ever
Other than opening the windows and doors? The most natural air freshener in the world is 179 bales of freshly cut hay stacked into the barn. Hay has this newly mowed grass crossed with bright notes of sunshine kind of scent. If we could bottle this scent it would be a best seller. Of course…
The Kitchen's Garden
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Letters To My Mother
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