BISON WORLD ESSAY Official Publication of the National Bison Association – I’m a small player in the bison industry yet it is an integral part of my life. I am a leather smith by trade, I contract tan perhaps thirty five to fifty thousand square feet of bison hides each year and market it to …

CORN IS OUR CURRENCY and SOYBEANS REPRESENT THE SECOND SISTER, THEY REPLACE THE LOST NITROGEN IN OUR FIELDS. Corn as a religious totem is exemplified in this simple but exceedingly effective logo-DeKalb Seed Corn. We are agrarians , our society has grown, our population is expanding because of mass produced food. There was a time …

I search my library and realize I have more than a few books that reference the plagues of history. The “Ghost Map of London” stands out because it is the most recent. It is a recounting of the cholera plague of 1854. It was a pitiful time but it was also enlightening because it was …

Many Grandparents knew the word, even great grand parents often knew the word. The word was “Omar”, little do most people know that it wasn’t just country slang or a colloquial but it is the shortened version of Omarolluk. If your great grandparents were midwestern farmers they spent many days cleaning and picking fieldstone out …

I’m in Covid 19 lock down and I wander around my home. The good news is I am not yet infected and I have enough space to continue to wander, both inside and out. This time in our lives has given me time to slow down and squint at what I’ve gathered over the decades….maybe …

It just happened without me thinking about it. I traveled 584 million miles and now people are wishing me good cheer and birthday greetings. It all has to do with the SUN. THE SUN WE HARVEST BY IT. THE SUN WE BASK IN IT THE SUN WE WAIT FOR IT THE SUN WE AVOID IT …

THE DAY THAT DECENCY DIED I remember my parents discussing the “concern” at the “handicapped school”. My uncle was a pioneer in child development and he was explaining to the special education teachers that the child in question was fully capable of understanding everything they said and did. This child in question had cerebral palsy …

Materials and Architecture. During Medieval times the woods of Europe were filled with European Oak Trees. The wild forests were expansive and unbeknownst to many people…..they were tended by many people. When an oak reached a certain diameter it would often be “copiced”. This means cutting it off around ten feet above the ground. What …

Week Seven on the Road We blink and we realize that we spend a great deal of time on the road. We survive desert dust storms, we dodge blown out tires on the interstate, we negotiate towing fees when something goes bad. An epic 3,200 mile stretch has found us headed to Scottsdale to the …

I think best when I mow the yard, I mow, therefore, I am. Streaming consciousness while appreciating the whirl of a blade and a combustion engine. (Below, My random thoughts while mowing are they yours too?) I’m Irish and German, my DNA results say the same, I’m Northern European through and through with perhaps a …