Old Ones Dream

The LIttle Missouri National Grassland and Hay Camp

When I met Kim Schade in January 2012 he told me about how he harvests several hundred acres of hay the old fashion way using 60 year old tractors and horse teams. That brought back memories so I invited myself to hire on the haying crew at Schade Ranch. In the spring and summer of 2012 there was no rain and no grass so no hay. I have Medora, ND set up as a location on my weather app so I watched as the snows came all winter and the rains came all spring and, sure enough, I got the call from Kim several weeks ago to come to "hay camp". He says the grass is so green that the badlands look like Ireland. Read more →

The Best Things Can't Be Told

That is not to say that what happens in North Dakota stays in North Dakota. Zimmer referred to the "best things" as being those things that transcend understanding. My recent time on the Little Missouri Grasslands and Shade Ranch was colored by some of those things, and so my writing will be colored as well, and so there will not be a start to finish travelogue in one season. It will come as it will. Read more →

A Good Slow Rain On the Great American Outback

I once heard a cowboy poet, in this case a gal named Jerry Brooks, say that "there has never been an inauguration as important as a good slow two inch rain" and that is probably a little known fact everywhere in the world but they really appreciate it in the western United States. Read more →