Authors /
Terra Brockman
Terra Brockman is the author of The Seasons on Henry's Farm (Agate Surrey). She farms with her brother and family in the Mackinaw River Valley of central Illinois.
A church returns land to American Indians
“This is decolonized land,” a young woman said. “This is a liberated zone.”
March 3, 2020
Why we wassail
Each winter, my family goes to our orchard to carry out an ancient tradition.
December 14, 2018
A separated family's long road to reunification
A Guatemalan asylum seeker has an attorney and a team of supporters. It was still hard to get her children back.
July 12, 2018
The springtime gift of sorrel
The perennial plant's tightly furled leaves emerge in March, pushing aside wintry desolation.
March 7, 2018
A trash-to-table feast at Slow Food Nations
At the conference, chefs cooked for 100 of us using ingredients that were headed for the landfill.
January 2, 2018
The wonder of homegrown potatoes
Underneath layers of mulch, the German Butterball and Rose Gold flourish.
August 3, 2017
Planting garlic at the cusp of the seasons
All hands join in to get 40,000 pungent cloves into the ground.
December 9, 2016
Watermelons, watermelons everywhere
How does the blazing sun produce so much refreshing fruit?
September 16, 2016
Wrist-deep in the earth: Notes from the farm
We invest each seed and young plant with the exuberant yet completely rational hope of compounded returns.
August 18, 2016
Field of greens: Notes from the farm
By summer, the plants are working overtime. It's a wonder we don't have as many words for green as the Inuit have for snow.
July 20, 2016
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The sting of spring: Notes from the farm
Harvesting wild greens always returns me to our species' hunter-gatherer roots. Not so long ago, this is what people did the world over.
May 11, 2016
Still life with winter squash: Notes from the farm
It landed on my patio in early November, a pointy-ended battleship that was more mineral than vegetable. It stayed there as the days got shorter.
January 22, 2016

Terra Brockman's Christmas picks
My Christmas picks take you from the soil to the supper table. The essays in Dirt: A Love Story (ForeEdge Books) celebrate the mystery and meaning of soil....
November 23, 2015
Sweet harvest: Notes from the farm
As soon as frost threatens, my brother drops everything and calls all hands to come help dig the sweet potatoes.
October 22, 2015
Heirloom apple trees: Notes from the farm
My favorite heirloom fruit tree nursery sent an e-mail about a sale. With scarcely a thought, I ordered a bucket of trees.
August 5, 2015
Ephemera: Notes from the farm
This spring, I didn't find any morels in the woods around my house. But I did find a lot of other things.
June 11, 2015