I write and edit with expertise in small business, education (of non-neurotypical kids), and end-of-life care. Previously, I grew and sold a nationally known grass-fed beef brand.
Flavors of the Ozark | The Heritage Farm Companion
The acclaimed St. Louis restaurant Bulrush commissions heritage crops to define Ozark cuisine
Community Builders: Neil & Lara Martinsen-Burrell | Inspire(d) Summer 2021
The Martinsen-Burrells (M-B's, as they're known around these parts) chose the Driftless community for their family pretty intentionally. Here's what they're doing to pay community forward.
Love Pets, Will Travel.
Here's a primer on international pet-sitting as a means to see the world -- from the perspective of both 'sitters' and pet-owners.
Comfort + Choice: Reimagining End-of-Life Care | Inspire(d) Holiday + Winter 2020-21
End-of-life care is a passion project of mine, as I trained in 2020 as a "death doula" with the International End of Life Doula Association (INELDA) and am interested in creative legacy projects, oral histories and storytelling.
Banking on a Clean Energy Future | Inspire(d) Spring 2021
GreenPenny, a virtual and carbon-neutral bank affiliated with Decorah Bank & Trust, specializes in financial commercial and residential solar installations. Read more!
Coming home, giving back | Luther College Magazine
Follow these five '20 grads as they return to Decorah as Green Iowa AmeriCorps volunteers.
Seed Savers Exchange 2021 Catalog
For a few years now, I've had the privilege of editing the annual catalog for Seed Savers Exchange, a cherished publication that only gets better each year as it highlights the plants and preservation work of members across the country. If ever you need a reason to be excited about gardening and biodiversity in the dead of winter (in the Midwest), get yourself a copy!
Mail Cheer and Services for Seniors | Inspire(d) Summer/Fall 2020
This quick survey of programs serving our community's seniors, mid-COVID-19. And it highlights a favorite medium of mine -- handwritten letters!
Planting in Isolation, Together: How COVID-19 changed the way I garden
This feature story for The Heritage Farm Companion, quarterly magazine of Seed Savers Exchange, explores how gardening proved a sanity-saving ritual for me and for many others nationwide under COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders.
4 Best Ski Resorts for Families in the Midwest
If your littles are ready to hit the slopes, give these Midwestern ski resorts a try. Whether you’re looking for diverse activities to busy their bodies or ski-in/out lodging that’s on budget, you’ll find the perfect place to make ski memories here in the Midwest.
Goodwin House at Home Blog
I'm a regular contributor the the Goodwin House at Home blog, highlighting senior living options and concerns, including aging in place.
Minding the Gap | Inspire(d) Spring 2020
This feature follows community members who took a "gap" year between high school and college, or between degrees, or between careers. The short story? One definition of "success" does not fit all.
Contours - A Literary Landscape
The Driftless Writing Center’s 10th anniversary collection, Contours: A Literary Landscape. Featuring fiction, poetry, nonfiction, artwork, and hybrid forms from sixty-four contributors, this anthology presents diverse and engaging work rooted in the Driftless Region, and purchase will help support the mission of the DWC to foster excellence in writing at all levels and provide opportunities for our community to engage with authors and their books.
My pieces include the essay, "Sex, with dogs," and the prose poem, "Exposed."
Meditation for Kids: A Beginner's Guide
Meditation can help kids read and respond to internal signals of stress before their developing brains and bodies give in to a full-blown tantrum. The key is intuiting what your child needs to come back into balance and giving him or her the tools to practice.