Where’s Home? Less than a mile from the place I call home lies another set of buildings, barely visible across the grass and just breaking the southern horizon line. This was always “the home place” for my dad who was born and raised there. It was the land that my grandparents homesteaded, the place that … [Read more…]
The seeds of inspiration never cease to amaze me. Those seeds are planted and grow in both our physical and spiritual landscapes. Although they may find expression in a wider world, it is our viewshed that sometimes yanks at and always tweaks our creativity, reminding us how creativity is a gift that we dare not … [Read more…]
Extreme could well describe my Montana — high peaks or wide prairies, temperatures above 110 degrees in the summer or a shivering -60 in the winter. Clouded in myth and mystery, Montana seems to elude national news except as a place of unbridled recreational opportunities or as the home of a Unabomber. Movies like Robert … [Read more…]
“When I speak of home, I speak of the place where — in default of a better — those I love are gathered together; and if that place were a gypsy’s tent, or a barn, I should call it by the same good name notwithstanding.” ~ Nicholas Nickleby, “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” … [Read more…]
As I sit with my five-month old grandson, I often wonder what the day-to-day world would be like if our society slid into some type of dystopian existence in which we lost our collective voices, a.k.a. our national and state agencies, for the arts and humanities…. What if new car designers were nonexistent? What if … [Read more…]
[Note: I wrote this piece in 2012…and it goes a long way to explaining why we decided to place our family ranch in a conservation easement. The land, like art and our cultural heritage, does more than produce a buck (pun intended). Its space feeds much more. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving…and the gratitude to my … [Read more…]
Today our herd bull is standing in sunlit snow, energetically rooting around in his little pile of hay and looking for the choicest morsels of grass, with maybe even a sprig of alfalfa. After a period of smelling and tossing, he simply stands chewing, relishing the flavor, and gazing out at the far pasture, with … [Read more…]
And what connection, you may ask, does our Highland herd bull have to artists diversifying their income? Start with the fact that 80.6 million beef cattle exist in the U.S., of which 75% are Angus. These hornless cattle with black coats are considered the answer to efficient and affordable beef production, creating a situation known as … [Read more…]
When we look at a cottonwood tree silhouetted against a stormy sky, the drama of the moment, the play of dark against light, may cause us to overlook something deeper. What is it that makes the aging cottonwood tree so special? Is it the gnarled limbs? The rough bark? Is it the thread-like nature of … [Read more…]
Creative process is a tricky discussion topic. It is easy to “get into the weeds” of the world of objectives, measurements, and arcane subjects likes intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. However, when most of us embark on a creative endeavor, there is an ingredient that often inserts itself into the stew of the process. It is … [Read more…]
