Recently I attended the first Rural Policy Institute Summit held in Stevens Point, hosted by the Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology at the UW-Stevens Point. More than 100 people from rural partners around the state gathered to engage and collaborate in small group discussions.
Biannually I am somewhat miffed that it feels like an hour of my life has been arbitrarily changed by a political rule where we want to mess with the natural rhythm of nature.
My farming days are over but a recent story made me realize that I clearly left a lot of money on the table.
My muse told me a couple of weeks ago that I should share the story about my mother’s dementia and her joy when we gave her a doll for Christmas. It was the last conversation that we shared. Mom died Jan. 29 just eight days short of what would have been her 88th birthday.
I still have a wood-burning stove, but it’s purely for decoration and fired up for some supplemental heat on frigid days or for additional ambiance.
As we enter a new year, I will once again confess – as I have before – that I am a weather nerd.
Holiday memories are sometimes like looking through a frosty window on a cold December morning.
Inside Box No. 52: Some documents that detailed some of the history of the Hardie farm and some of the unlucky financial investments made by my father.
I will simply state that the opening weekend of the 2025 Wisconsin gun deer hunting season sucked.