I have a confession. I’ve never really understood county fairs.
A couple weeks ago I introduced myself and asked for feedback on what people like about The Country Today and what they’d like to see done dif…
As the new editor for The Country Today, I have just one thing to say to our readers: Help!
The first rule of road trips is to never embark upon a road trip. At least not one like ours: 10 days and 2,500 miles of tent camping in the n…
Tonight we’re a party of five: Dad and daughters and our husbands. Dad’s been eager to try the fish fry at Irvine, the bar where he ate every …
On Sunday, June 23, Shopko’s two Chippewa Valley locations closed after almost three months of “everything must go” prices. In mid-January, Sh…
To the left of the stainless-steel elevator in Eau Claire’s Christ Church Cathedral hangs a plaque which reads: “The Frank and Miriam Carr Car…
Time is running out for our family-sized dairy farms. However, the Federal Milk Marketing Improvement Act is now resurfacing once again, and t…
A new year brings new hope, and there are plenty of reasons for hope in dairy as 2021 begins.
While 2021 is not 2009, it’s easy to see how some Americans — and, in fact, many farmers and ranchers — might get confused.
The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day was wonderfully different than every other week of the year on the southern Illinois dairy farm …
Winter is a season to celebrate, although some lifelong Wisconsinites may disagree because of the snow and freezing temperatures. The change o…
We live in challenging times, and these days it can feel like we disagree more often than not. There are, however, at least two things that mo…
The last column of the year usually features comments from readers whose views differ from those found here the previous 50 or so weeks. Most …
The trouble with being proficient at something, or even being perceived as proficient, is that people will inevitably come seeking your talent…
When I was dating the man who would become my husband, I asked his middle son if he was tired of me hanging out at their house so often. “I li…
On a Christmas morning 117 years ago the children of Eau Claire ran wide-eyed and full of wonder to their Christmas trees, anxious to see Sant…
About 10 years ago, I was seated in a well-lighted classroom at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop taking a course on the poetry of James Merrill. I w…
St. Patrick’s Day, 2020, was my first work-at-home day, and the day I realized I did not want to work from home for long. My favorite gel pen …
Had Jeff DeGrave simply seen a badger on Badger Avenue, it would’ve made a lot more sense. Yet what he saw on that November night was a creatu…
The woodstove is no longer roaring, so I step out onto our back porch for an armload of oak before shouldering my way back inside. After resto…
To the editor:
To the editor:
To the editor:
To the editor:
To the editor:
I want to draw attention to distress in the rural economy across the Grain Belt. States like Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Iowa are experienci…
As large corporate meatpacking plants close across the nation, the pandemic exposes deep cracks in the nation’s monopolistic meat supply. Allo…