We think that this cottonwood tree is a descendent of the huge tree that gave Lone Tree Farm its name back in the 1870s. The original tree was just across the Creek to the left of this surviving tree. The old tree fell down in the 1930s and there was only a shared memory of its location when I was growing up in the 1950s. Things have changed a lot “down at the Creek” over all the years.

Changes have continued for us in the past few months. After the move to South Dakota last year, we’ve had a series of continuing changes….a new floor in the old house that’s “new” to us, I’ve got a new left knee (and the old right knee complains about it), and we just both tested negative for COVID after the quarantine cancelled a trip to Colorado!

Changes continue on the Farm as well. Earlier this month a team of archaeologists did sampling and an excavation in the area where we’ve found lots of artifacts and buffalo bones. The photo above shows the excavation unit in the early stages of the digging; it ended up being several feet deep. The lab results aren’t all back yet, but it looks like there’s going to be some interesting stories coming out of the whole effort. Those stories will all “trickle” out in the new blog that I’ve just launched.

The new blog is actually a “newsletter” that’s not posted on Word Press, but will be available as an email. It’s called Land at the Edge of the Sky. Like this Lone Tree Farm on Kanaranzi Creek blog, the new newsletter/blog will tell stories related to rocks and water, plants and animals, and families and communities. So, the subject matter will be the same, but the area of focus will be out beyond the Farm.

To see what area will be covered, here’s a link to one of the first posts: https://georgeshurr.substack.com/publish/post/137198647

The post is about a five-minute read and will probably be a little shorter than later stories. The plan is to do one or two posts a month, at least initially, and then increase the frequency as stories develop and readership increases. I anticipate that the first series, after the four introductory posts, will explore the possible connections between the archaeology on the Farm and the very significant complex of sites at the “Blood Run” National Historic Landmark just east of Sioux Falls.

Actually, this link is to only the second of four introductory posts. The first shares some aspirations for this new endeavor; the second is more of a preparation that describes the general area; the third will be explicitly naming the area of focus; and the last will explore some of the inspirations that are leading me to write about this Land at the Edge of the Sky. Please check them out and subscribe to see where this whole thing is going!