Author Archives: Heather Bilden

As spring marches into Montana, there is a surprise awaiting me every time I step out the door. Day by day the spring migrants are returning from their warm winter locales. The first harbinger of spring is the Sandhill crane. This year they arrived on March 15th to a world still blanketed in snow. TheirContinue reading “The world comes alive”

Intense smoke from western wildfires has settled upon us, and made it nearly impossible to see the horizon. It is time to focus on the world immediately underfoot! I took a short walk in the woods along the coulee cliffs and found some interesting things to look at up close, such as this pine cone,Continue reading “When smoke gets in your eyes…”

Oh sweet, cool August! You have provided such soothing relief after the searing heat of July. Already we have had two evening rainstorms to freshen and moisten the parched earth. The daytime highs are merely in the mid-80s, far closer to a bearable average. I have actually been able to work comfortable outside in theContinue reading “Midsummer”

Late June strawberry harvest – one of the simple delights in life! July 1, 2017 We’ve been spending long evenings on the porch, watching the world go by while the house cools down. Nighthawks high above, blackbird flocks dancing on the ridge, and the messy pigeon swooping in to roost in our barn. A dragonflyContinue reading “Tidbits from July”

The plane launches through the cloud bank over Syracuse into the evening sky. The auburn-tinted horizon is aglow with the light of the setting sun. A waxing crescent moon floats with its companion star above us. I wonder to myself if this star always lingers so close to the moon. Is it always such aContinue reading “Grandma’s Gift”

While caught up in daily chores, listening to the endless chatter of my mind, I am stopped in my tracks. I wake from the trance of “getting things done” and become acutely aware of the moment. Usually it is nature that provides the reason to pause, admire, and be inspired. I live in close proximityContinue reading “A Moment on Coulee Creek”

Why not take the team out to feed the cows when it is 1 degree above zero? At least the air is still, even if clouds are completely blocking the sun and a gentle mist of snow is falling from above. We’ve only fed with the team once, and that was before we had theContinue reading “Feeding the old fashioned way”

July 2016 – Toadlet. I am not sure if this is correct scientific nomenclature for the wee toads I’ve been seeing, but I certainly like the ring of it. It perfectly fits the thumb-sized creatures that are spitting images of fully grown palm-sized adults. For a week now, whenever I’ve detected movement in the grassContinue reading “Better Late Than Never”

Abundant rain has fallen in May and June. We received close to an inch in one storm Wednesday evening, the very day we cut the first dryland sainfoin field. On the bright side, it was also just a couple of days after we seeded a new field, which greedily sucked up the moisture. The hayContinue reading “An Evening on the Porch”