The Prairie Homestead

I’ve never really belonged. Not in the dramatic, “nobody understands me” way. More in the quiet, lifelong way—like I’ve always been standing half a step outside of whatever circle I’m supposed to slide into. It started simply: I was a shy kid. Then I became the weird horse girl. (Still am…) Then I was the homeschooled weird horse girl, which is… a cringey niche within a niche. Then as a very young ...Continue Reading

It may be slightly rude to say this out loud right now… When half the country is worried about “the storm of the century” and people are posting about empty store shelves and fallen trees… But I’m craving winter. Not the travel delays. Not the busted pipes. Not the white-knuckle drives. I mean winter—the real kind. The kind that arrives with authority and says, “Enough. Go inside now.” (After water tanks are ...Continue Reading

I never planned to be a restaurateur.  But here I am—going on five years of owning a restaurant in one of the smallest towns in Wyoming (Chugwater Soda Fountain). It’s one of the most gratifying things I’ve ever done. It’s also one of the most exhausting. And those two things can be true at the same time—sometimes in the span of five minutes. I’m proud of what we’re building in our little corner of Wyoming. I’m proud of ...Continue Reading

Sometimes I feel like an orphan. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived away from my family since the tender age of eighteen. Maybe it’s because I live in a ranching community where “everyone else” lives on land homesteaded by their ancestors. Same last names on the mailboxes. Same brands on the cattle. Maybe it’s because so much of modern life is built around leaving—leaving for college, leaving for jobs, leaving for “more,” leaving ...Continue Reading

Something funny happens when you create online. You put bits and pieces of yourself out there—things you know are only bits and pieces. But over time, people start to assume those pieces are the whole story. It’s not their fault. It’s not your fault. It’s just the nature of the internet… and these weird little para-social relationships we create here. For a decade and a half, I’ve shared the homestead part of myself online. Not ...Continue Reading