Stories
Hearing the Rattle
There was some disturbing news on our local radio station this morning. A couple herpetologists were on NPR explaining that some rattlesnakes in our area seem to be losing their ability to rattle.
Sustainable Practices?
I am sometimes astounded by how little people know about agriculture. But when I stop to think about the immense demographic changes in the United States since its founding, I begin to see how such a tragic loss of human knowledge could come about.
A Case for the Limping Metaphor
The trip back from a grazing seminar took me right through the center of the Black Hills. Jill was in the seat beside me, but we didn’t talk much.
Bluebird Days
My Sibley’s Field Guide to the Blue Bird says that there are three kinds of bluebirds in North America: Eastern, Western, and Mountain. The first bluebird that I remember seeing had to have been an eastern.
The Case For Selling Bison Meat
The Great Plains are enormous – about 32 million acres – but they are not limitless.
Seven Mile Point
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Almost fifty years ago I was a freshman at Michigan Technological University. I did not go to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for academic reasons – not interested in philosophy, mathematics, or engineering like almost everyone else.
Eighteen Years
We are having a wonderful autumn on the Northern Great Plains. The temperature has dipped below freezing only a couple nights and the days have been balmy with light southerly winds.
The Tragedy of Phiney Flat
The north end of our ranch is part of a many thousand acre, level piece of ground known as Phiney Flat. By the county soil maps I know that the Flat is a fertile place for this part of the world and, in the places where the native, perennial grass still grows, it does extremely well.
One More Afternoon Of Love
There is a tiny adobe cabin nestled in the sand dunes of far eastern New Mexico. No real road leads to it, just two faint tracks among the mesquite, love grass, blue stem, and cholla cactus.
