LETTER

Thank you so much for the awesome coverage of the 4-H Recognition Event that you published in last week’s Topic. The two-page coverage was unbelievable and so appreciated! Once again, your work is outstanding, and it does not go unnoticed by me. Have a wonderful Christmas season!

Caregiver

Last year my family lost a wonderful dog named Bear. We got Bear initially so that our small children could grow up with a pet and learn what it is like to care for something outside of themselves… to learn that other things have needs and it is good to learn to help them.

School officials applaud Governor and Legislature

The Executive Board of the South Dakota School Superintendents Association (SDSSA) and the Associated School Boards of South Dakota (ASBSD) issued the following statement in response to Governor Noem’s budget address and her leadership in response to the financial needs of our public schools and...

Little Pasture on the Prairie

I went to college in the nineties when “Grunge” was the height of fashion. Epitomized by baggie jeans and oversized plaid shirts, these items made it appear you were wearing someone else’s clothes, which often you were – thrifting was a mainstay of this style.

Falling Apart

Every living system encounters entropy, which is a gradual change marked by disorder and incremental collapse of the healthy state.

Little Pasture on the Prairie

The following is an excerpt from my book, “Accidental Rancher,” and documents my introduction to a western Dakota tradition: Lefse making. Lefse will always be special to our family because it is so special to my husband.

Medicare Advantage

TV is flooded these days with commercials encouraging everyone to sign up for Medicare Advantage(MA). What is MA and why are they doing this? First of all, a bit of history.

Family Traditions

Every Thanksgiving, my family hauls out box after box of Christmas decorations and assembles the artificial tree together. We don’t use real trees, as removing a new tree from nature for just a few weeks seems wasteful, so our tradition is not to do that.

Ambu

A friend of mine and I went to visit Theresa, her sister, who was a nurse in a big city hospital. In an era long before COVID, at the height of the HIV epidemic, Theresa was surrounded daily by death.

Little Pasture on the Prairie

December is date month on our ranch —as least as far as the sheep are concerned. After a few years of trials and a whole bunch of errors, we finally decided to try lambing during the month of May. December 1st the bucks went in with the ladies, and then we waited.