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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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How to start a new business at 63 years old.
When we think of the granny character we think of Security. Softness. Simplicity. Maybe quiet. Cardigans possibly. Granny knitting and cooking. Grandma with a kitchen bursting with good food and warm fragrant loaves. I can be those things. Maybe we think of Nan and her recipes, and picnics in an old established garden and books…
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Are you the sum of your parts? Or a blossom of unpredictable wildness.
Do you have more than one iron in the fire. Or just a whole bunch of different parts spinning independently. Why do we always try to pigeon-hole people when the edges are so often blurred. Why do we have to be one kind of person. Because I am passionate about sustainability an living lightly on…
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No politics here. Just life. Just farming. Just me.
This is a politics free zone. Isn’t that a relief. The frenzy driven, spurious, destructive, puerile, gossipy politics that keeps bleeding into our lives makes me want to run and hide. I need to stand witness, but not here. Not on our farm blog. Even saying this is a politics free zone is a statement…
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FreeBee and Big Jude on The Move
Summer is on its way (so they say) and Big Jude and FreeBee the huge mature rescue hogs have been moved through the fields and into the cool airy barn with access to the pig yard for the summer season. The black metal stock trailer they just left is in a smaller pen with full…
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Dawn and Dusk: We keep watch
Mink normally hunt in the predawn and dusk periods. Though this mink does not follow the rules. Also mink should hunt close to their watery homes. In this case The Ditch that was a Creek. This mink has ranged right down to the house and into the barn. We are missing ducks. The American mink…
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Sorrowful News from the Farmy This Morning.
The mink has killed Nelson the rabbit. Every summer Nelson lives outside in a shabby old chicken tractor under the big tree but this year I deemed the chicken tractor with its broken door; unsafe. So I brought her into the chicken hospital which is built like Fort Knox – specifically to keep animals safe…
The Kitchen's Garden
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Letters To My Mother
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