The Mountrail County Courthouse in Stanley, North Dakota. This picture hangs in my Mom's living room--of the dedication of the new courthouse on July 14, 1915. Stanley was founded in 1902 by George Wilson. The town grew quickly from a bare prairie to a thriving town within years due to the homesteading era. It was a part of Ward County, which was huge. Its size prevented the average homesteader good access to government. The closest sheriff was in Minot, which in horse-and-bu

I admit I miss washing clothes with a wringer washer. Growing up on a North Dakota farm with four hard-working men, plus three of us ladies, we had plenty of dirty clothes. Laundry was always my favorite job. There was something terribly satisfying about watching them swish in the hot sudsy water, then wringing them out into a separate set of rinse tubs. The wringer pivoted between the washer and rinse tubs. Mom taught me to sort the clothes into piles of light to dark. The f

One of my best summer memories was riding on the dump rake! I don't remember driving the tractor for it. I think one of my brothers usually was on the tractor. I'd sit on the seat, turning back to watch how much hay accumulated in the teeth. When it looked pretty bulging full, I'd stomp on the pedal to trip the lever of the dump. The teeth, or tines, would spring up and dump the hay in a pile. I loved it! Later, Dad or my brothers would pick these piles up with the "Farmhand

This outhouse belonged to both Grandpa and Grandma (Arthur and Annie LaBrant), but I only thought of it as hers. If she needed to use it, she'd say, "I'm going west." The outhouse is west of the house, but as a kid, I never understood why she said that. Not a deep analyzer, I never asked why. I just knew that's what Grandma called going to the bathroom. This is a recent picture, taken in June. Grandpa and Grandma had a cistern and a bathroom put in the house in (I think) 1967

In June I attended a Pow Wow in Parshall, North Dakota with our daughter Jana and our granddaughter Anwen. Although I was raised in the area, I'd only been to two, and Jana and Anwen had never seen one, although Jana had been to potlatches, similar celebrations in Alaska. (She was even one of the honorees at a potlatch put on for the new teachers in the Yup'ik village of Alalanuk.) A large circular area was surrounded by covered seating. The dancers circle "sun-wise" or clock

North Dakota sunsets have always fascinated me. Never repeating themselves, each one brings a new heavenly show.The aching beauty as the day slips behind the horizon in the still and quiet evening brings me inner peace. George Beverly Shea's hymn says, "There's the wonder of sunset at evening, The wonder of sunrise I see; But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul, Is the wonder that God loves me." I took these one evening near Carl and Shell's farmyard. All is well. Good

At the Earth Lodge Village near New Town, North Dakota, we found two local women working in the garden. One said it was designed after the garden that a Hidatsa woman, Buffalo Bird Woman, or Maxidiwiac, had. She was born in 1839, and lived in Dakota Territory near the Missouri River. The garden, which I thought was quite large, was one-tenth of what Buffalo Bird Woman grew. The "Three Sisters Garden" concept was used by earlier Native Americans of other tribes, also. In the 1

I was excited this week to visit the earth lodge village west of New Town, North Dakota. These are replicas of earth lodges--"awahte"-- built by the Three Affiliated Tribes, the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara people. My cousin Bonnie, who has toured similar lodges near Mandan, North Dakota, and granddaughter went with me. A closeup of the steps built of half-logs. These circular dwellings were quite perfect for the weather of North Dakota. The sod insulated the house from the s

This photograph belonged to my grandfather Arthur LaBrant, who was a homesteader, but I'm not sure who it is. I love this picture though! The overturned sod in the forefront, the solid strength of the oxen, and the ambition of the homesteader as he turned over the sod foot by foot while the prairie stretched out for miles in every direction. It had to be so daunting, but they were determined. Some homesteaders used teams of horses and others used oxen. Some used mules. Horses

Although I've never seen a beaver on Mom's farm, I'm fascinated with them. The damage we saw in recent years was something we never saw as kids. My brothers hunted and trapped in these coulees a lot, and my brother Carl said he's only seen beaver dams in the last few years. He said beavers have built a huge dam recently in the area pictured below. I'm excited to go back and see it next month, and I'll update this with a picture of it. A neighbor killed two beavers, trying to