I keep telling my husband in the evenings that, “you know, it’s actually an hour earlier; we just haven’t changed the clocks yet.” This morning however, I’m sticking with DST & reprocessing unsealed jars in the pressure canner at SEVEN A.M. (not six!) (I am making his coffee! 😁)

Majority Leader John Thune is also making the decision to allow South Dakotans to go hungry. Just back from a meeting of community groups organizing to fill some of the need that SHOULD BE FILLED WITH THE BENEFITS OUR TAX DOLLARS ALREADY PAID FOR.

“And in Pennington County, where Rapid City is located, roughly 9,990 people, including American Indian and Alaska Native people, use SNAP.” We’re meeting this eve at COUP Council office to talk through strategy. See link for details.

SQUEEEEE! I’ve been collecting water quality samples long enough (3yrs) that NOW at least one of those water bodies I monitor is being newly added to the state’s Integrated Report! Yes, I’m a nerd! But I’m an ecstatic water quality nerd!

Left the canyon this morning for an upper-elevation firewood-water sample-camper winterization run, and spotted this crew of Bighorns roadside. End-of-the-day shot leaving the ranch had me thinking I won’t need to buy ice (will pack w/ snow) for the water sample cooler for the next 6 months.

Why yes, I did do a full-on ass plant into the cilantro while broadforking an adjacent bed. I’m unharmed save my ego, and the cilantro will also likely recover!

This story, from the @startribune.com rural columnist, is one of many who've used SNAP to get by. "Except for saints, nobody wants to be poor. It’s grueling. Exhausting. Frequently humiliating. And often, it has nothing to do with someone’s willingness to work" www.startribune.com/tolkkinen-le...

Suddenly discovering your town is essentially going to be destroyed is a pretty crappy way to find out that county zoning is a REALLY helpful tool to deal with lax state regulations.

Good news from southwestern #SouthDakota this week! Oglala Lakota & Fall River Counties are now joined by the City of Hot Springs in requesting a venue change to Hot Springs for the Craven Canyon #uranium project bit.ly/4qlmn3i #publicparticipation #transparency

I’m downright fascinated by this community and the unfolding drama.

Of course women don’t like the Cybertruck. Women only want one thing, and it’s an LMC Snowcat

When your org suddenly realizes they need to give away the annual meeting autumnal display, it’s great to be a grower who knows…

I had to do something with the leftovers of a pizza sauce canning project! With chunks of braised kabocha squash & roasted garlic, leftover pot roast, sautéed onions & mushrooms deglazed w/ super-umami pot roast juices, a sprinkle of feta and cilantro

Look, I just think it’s bullsh*t how few years I got between being a grown-ass adult who could eat an entire box of mac n cheese anytime I wanted and when my own body started refusing to allow me that primal joy 🤨

The traditional scraping-on-my-windshield to memorialize the END (Except for the kale, daikon, beets, cilantro, scallions, etc.) (Oh, and that one summer squash plant that took so long to produce & is now going bonkers, so we covered it)

Duluth! I have summited your Rock Knob! I have claimed my free-w/-admission pint glass at the Apple Bash! And I have seen people dear to my 💜 But there is frost projected on my gardens tomorrow night, so homeward to other dear ones I go

Still no frost on the home front. Escaped (after roasting & freezing all the ripe ‘n ready tomatoes) to the Northwoods for a spell.

Uranium mining in the Black Hills threatens water, people's health, wildlife & the tourism industry. It doesn't belong here.

Mostly cloudy, low of 40 my a$$ when it’s already dropped to 43 by 7:30pm, that moon is coming up with skimpy mist, & it smells for the first time this season like actual SN*W. I got the covers out for peppers & squash. Husband helped, & at one point asked, “wait, are these OUR sheets?” 😅

My best mood all day thinning pines while the pups chewed on an old found deer skull. Before the oil cap popped open & drained out on this 🤬 Dewalt saw & I was suddenly dead in the water (well, technically dead in the pines) & had to hike out hours earlier than planned. Fix your leak issue Dewalt!

These two were SO happy to get up into the Hills yesterday. The dude hunted mice & contemplated Hat Mountain while the Floof suggested there was still time for more Fat Bear Week treats.

Haven’t been feeling great or sleeping well lately, but it did me (& the woodshed inventory) good to do a firewood run & stroll in the woods today. This right here is all the Black Hills gold I ever need. 💛

Yes, WHY do our farmers have no place to go with it, Senator Thune?

I planted a rose today! This rugosa hybrid “Blanc Double de Coubert” is going to need to be pretty tough to handle this spot (burning up morning to early afternoon, then shade), but my experience with rugosas is that they’re up to challenges. 🤞🏼

That particular kind of late September day when it’s 92 degrees, dry, and windy AF. Looks pretty out there, but ugh, my sinuses 😣

Officially in the “JFC, Hold on a Minute” time of tomato season, which will shortly be followed by the, “Oh, Crap, Here Comes the Frost” time in a week or two (three?). Made an interesting tomato ferment today (YT link below)…another 5lbs down and SO many more to go

Well don't I feel stupid

Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I’m gonna grow fewer tomatoes next year. Get more into squash & beans, probably Maybe get some corn going again.

In the super-painful process of having an old, unloved shoulder tattoo removed, I’ve been learning/teaching the nurses some tricks. Provide a stress ball to channel pain. Use light gauze wrap over Telfa rather than taping a patchwork of Telfa. No discount, but lots of free med supplies!

It started with a damaged set of REI half dome poles. And now, since I found this amazing company www.tentpoletech.com, I’m getting all our tent poles repaired or replaced (& will do some rain fly patching myself), even for this old boy that’s still functional (well, it will be with new poles):

I’m mildly obsessed with this bouquet of Evergreen Hardy White scallions I harvested today sitting on the windowsill.

💯

Sobering news about Rapid City's food deserts from SD Public Broadcasting. Lack of grocery stores & food pantries compounded by limited public transportation www.sdpb.org/healthcare/2... #southdakota #hunger #fooddesert

Heard in the wild: there are so many lies about everything that I don’t believe anything anymore. If you know they are lies, then you know the truth. Believe in that. I can only speak for myself, but truth is my bedrock and no one can take it from me, no matter how much airtime they get.

US mines are literally throwing away critical minerals. There’s enough lithium in one year of U.S. mine waste to power 10 million electric vehicles. grist.org/science/us-m... #Mines #Mining #Climate #Lithium #EV #Cars #Minerals #Policy #Politics

The thing about even a mild TBI is you can feel all better & then you go for a car ride to a party w/ a couple dozen people all talking & then a confetti balloon pops & triggers the motion-detector owl screech to scare pigeons & you barely make it out before bursting into tears because guess what?

Golden northern bumblebee (Bombus fervidus)

“Splendid hike” aside, have you ever led w/ the side of your head full-force into a log? Left out of previous post a detail that landed me in the ER at 4am Thursday. Back at Wilderness First Responder training a little after 8, but the TBI won out. Incredible training; will complete in Spring!

First day of five day in-person segment Wilderness First Responder training in the books. Only 2/8 of us are camping at the training grounds, and we two had a splendid hike at day’s end. Earlier rain held off, but now there’s a rumbling & radar suggests some fun stuff coming

Heck yeah, love me a good, deep yellowbark Ponderosa sniff ❤️

September full immersion—shorter days mean a colder creek! Air temp 88 Water temp 58 Definitely cooled me off in short order!

Currently embroiled in the online portion of Wilderness First Responder training ahead of the five-day in-person portion. It’s intense, but I got through the lacerations, impalements, and amputations part without passing out. 😬

Of course they were #wildlandfirefighters - they're on a Type II crew & have red cards. It's no coincidence that they were sent to cut firewood that day so that DHS knew where to scoop them up - that was a shameful coordination by incident command stateline.org/2025/09/04/w...

I don’t think 37 degrees should be allowed when the bulk of the garden tomatoes are still green!

Top tier organizing and messaging from NLG, Peoples Law Office, About Face: Veterans Against the War in Chicago. As one would expect, but WOW this is worth watching, learning and taking heart from.

Check out this absolute unit of a Bombus bimaculatus #Bumblebees

I can not stop laughing at this.

Trump gets a mention, but not that former state governor…what’s her name? DHS Barbie?

Tis the (Short! Sweet!) season for Woonsocket—yes, and Forestburg—melons Do it, fellow Dakotans. You won’t be sorry.

I always miss my husband when he travels, but it’s kinda nice to not have him ask, “what should we have for dinner?” when I’m elbows-deep in a big canning project 😬 (To be fair, he’s often the one cooking, but I’m terrible at sharing the kitchen)