ThreshingHarvesting in 1906 meant hiring a threshing crew to come to your homestead. Different crews traveled over the area, some coming to the...
The Hartstrom HouseGrowing up, the farm next to ours--the only one in view from my family's home--was the Hartstrom farm. To me, the house had a grandness...
Prairie WildflowersThis past July, our daughter Jana and I went on a search for wild tiger lilies, my very favorite prairie flower. They are becoming more...
The Belden CemeteryPeter Korhonen donated land for the Belden cemetery which was started in 1907. Over the years, many buried there no longer had families...
The Chimney Rock PileThis whimsical rock pile was built by Billy Hartstrom, who homesteaded in Sikes Township in 1905. The prairie had a lot of rocks to...
What's a Coulee?I grew up on a farmstead roughly bordered half by coulees and half by flat fields. Coulees (pronounced koo'-lee, the o's sounding like...
Free Land!My Grandma came to northwestern North Dakota when she was nine years old. Her foster family had left a two-story painted home with a yard...
Humble BeginningsThis is a picture of my grandfather after he'd finished (except for the door) his homestead shack. He used washers around his...