• Garden - Life&Land

    Dreaming a little of Spring

    February 16, 2026 - By 

    Like everywhere else in the Rocky Mountain region of the northwest, the winter of 2026 has been extremely mild in our neighborhood. To a point of concern. There have been many prayers for moisture, particularly in the higher elevations. Prayers that we will have enough moisture to offer green grass on dryland areas, and enough water to fill reservoirs for irrigation later on in the year. As a born and raised farm girl, I understand the significance of water, especially in the western United States. “Water is King in the West,” my dad always says. And boy, is that certainly…

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  • Life&Land

    Feeling Settled, one step at a time

    January 18, 2026 - By 

    About a year ago, our family made a big move to a different state. Since binding our lives together, my husband and I have moved plenty of times, but moving our family of five seemed like a much bigger ordeal than our previous move with our little family of three. It was a quick move just before Christmas and –  phew – life seemed a little jumbled for a bit. About three to six months after the move, I had a lot of friends, family members, and neighbors ask if I felt settled in my new home. I honestly didn’t…

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  • Life&Land

    Extending the Holiday Season

    January 1, 2026 - By 

    Those few days following Christmas can often seem almost empty. Sure, there is some excitement about the new year and the New Year holiday. And I even think there is something a little relieving about getting one’s living room back to its usual way once the tree is gone and the decorations boxed and stored away. But there is an edge to the refresh. Christmas is over. The cheerful season full of holiday tunes and merriment – gone until next year. The month of December flew by, and now it is time to haul out the Christmas tree, wind up…

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  • Life&Land

    Life Changes with the Weather

    December 7, 2025 - By 

    We woke up to our first blanket of snow this morning. The wonderful world of white bringing an insulation not only to the ground, but also to the air. The sound of everything somehow seems softer when there’s snow on the ground. I love the first snow. There is something utterly peaceful about the wet white stuff that I cling to all winter long. That first snowfall there is peace, but there is also excitement crested with an adequate layer of chaos. That early morning squeal from my littles when they first look out the window, followed by an hour…

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  • Life&Land

    To Write a Blog

    November 28, 2025 - By 

    As I sit down to write each week – sometimes at my kitchen table, other times on the couch or at our home office desk – I often find myself almost frozen with doubts. I feel a dramatic scene from a B rated film where past voices from friends and family drawl in slow motion commenting over the fact I blog. If written words could better give tone to the words said … I’ll simply say the reactions I have received have been less than encouraging. Those comments, those doubtful tones and sneer remarks lock in my brain as I…

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  • Garden - Life&Land

    Growing Food and Babies

    October 13, 2025 - By 

    We had our first frost last Monday. Though this is our first autumn season in our current area — and everything is new — the first frost still came as a bit of a surprise. I had fully expected to have another two weeks before that first layer of frost coated my garden, and the weather report indicated five degrees above freezing. I suppose the weather had other plans because frost it did. The frost was light, and within a few hours of daylight, my favorite crew of littles had helped me dig up all the potatoes, pick all the…

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  • Life&Land

    August is Here, now Summer is Over

    August 8, 2025 - By 

    At the close of every July, I find myself almost uncontrollably feeling the sad sense that summer is over. As a born and raised Idaho farm girl, I know that isn’t true. There is still plenty of farm work to do. Where I’m from, wheat harvest is just wrapping up. Neighbors will begin third cutting hay within a couple weeks, and fourth cutting won’t come until mid-September. The fields still need irrigated, and there’s plenty to do outside. I know this, yet I still find myself engulfed by that feeling. Summer is over. Reflections of Youth Likely, this feeling stems…

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  • Life&Land

    This is the Life

    July 21, 2025 - By 

    The other day I found myself in the kitchen prepping lunch after a morning outside doing all the things – feeding the animals, weeding the garden, scouring the garden for any ripe produce (which was limited to a handful of sweet peas), and doing yet more sanding on a table build I have going in my garage. It was hot outside and a relief to come inside where the house remained a few degrees cooler. As I stood there in the kitchen, I could hear my three littles in the next room fully engaged in The Land of Make Believe.…

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  • Life&Land

    15 Minutes to Change My Life

    May 18, 2025 - By 

    Two weeks ago found me reading an article on writing. Though my efforts are not always shown here, due to my lack of posts and apparent inconsistency in posting, I spend a great deal of my week reading, writing, capturing photos, and planning for this here blog. But this last week, my reading of how to better write was related to a different writing medium. My goal to someday publish a children’s book. I know, I know. I’m all over the place. And whether I’m good at anyplace is still up for deliberation. But there it is, my small yet…

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  • Life&Land

    Feeling Like Fall

    October 18, 2024 - By 

    Our latest weather report shows the first frost of the season descending on our little town in southcentral Idaho tonight. Some weather reports I raise an eyebrow at, questioning if the prediction will prove true or not. Despite the summer-like days weather we have been experiencing, warm days and warmer nights, I do not question the weatherman’s claim for tonight’s frost. Yes, I think it will freeze. I can feel it in the air. The cold breeze. The harvest sky. The sudden drop in temperature. And just the unmistakable feeling of fall. Loving Fall I have always loved this time…

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