Be a Good Neighbor

This post was written as part of the Our Rural Roots column for Progressive Farmer. It was late one evening as we were driving home from checking cows. Everyone was tired. That’s when we saw our neighbors’ cows were out on the road. We immediately started to help gather them. It’s what neighbors do. It

This Life Is Part of Us

Sharing my column I wrote for Progressive Farmer’s February issue. Here is a photo of the big closing day!

Harvesting Life Lessons

I wrote the following article as part of Progressive Farmer’s Our Rural Roots.   Fall is my favorite time of year, and I am fairly sure I have passed that on to my two farm kids. Every day on our way to day care, they excitedly watch and report on everything they see in the fields

Death on the Family Farm

“Mama, why is that sheep laying like that?” My three-year-old and I were checking ewe lambs in a field and he spotted the same thing I did. A ewe lamb laying bloated, feet up in the air. Then, we spotted another. In the end, we lost three ewe lambs that day. And my little boy

I Like Grandad’s

My dad’s combine was built in 1975. She’s seen better days. Paint is rusted. Levers are stiff. The soft, yellow seat is long gone. Every year before harvest we all say a little prayer that she doesn’t fall apart and quit us in the middle of the field. She falls somewhere between “antique” and “but

The People in Rural America

This is out first in the Best of 2016 series. This post was originally published on Figuring Out the Plot and was subsequently published in several newspapers. It is my most-read post ever. I grew up in rural America. And my husband and I have chosen to raise our family here. In town without stoplights