A Late-Summer Message from Linda
"Journaling the Fruits of the Season"
The ancient Celtic festival held on August 1 celebrates late summer and the work of harvesting and preserving the fruits of summer. At that time, the citizens celebrated the summer’s wealth of food and warmth while acknowledging that summer is ending and winter will return. One of the names of this festival, “Lammas” began as “loaf mass,” referring to the bread made from the first wheat to be harvested, brought to church as an offering.
Halfway between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox, Lammas is often celebrated by women only, with rituals allowing us to recognize our hopes as well as our fears, to understand our regrets and accept the farewells we must make.
Modern folks, however, are often busy at this time of year: frantically cramming in as many of summer’s pleasures as possible before the long winter. Since it’s easy to lose track of what’s important, this is a good time for journaling. Don’t worry about writing finished prose or poetry; use the busy-ness as an excuse to take quick and detailed notes.
What are the joys of this season for you? The feel of the prickly echinacea blossoms? The scent of rain on drying grasses? Eating tomatoes from the garden? Freezing strawberries bought on sale?
Consider the season’s symbolisms: what seeds did you plant in the eagerness of spring-- either literally or figuratively? What has been the result? What have you gleaned from the past three months?
What plans did you make for the summer? Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t accomplish everything; use the journal time to consider the benefits you did realize, and to plan for next summer.
What is passing from your life? How can you say goodbye to it without sentimentality? Instead of regretting, memorialize the past in stories. Perhaps you will make jelly or jam from the fruits of the season, but if not, consider how you can keep images from this summer sweet in your memory.
Linda M. Hasselstrom
Hermosa, South Dakota
August, 2010
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Some of Linda's specialty journals
kept on a shelf in her office.
On Friday, October 1st Linda will be teaching a journaling workshop for the South Dakota Women in Agriculture conference at Spearfish Canyon Lodge.
The workshop is called
Eighty Percent of Success is Showing Up: How your journal can organize your life.
Linda will discuss using several types of journals to organize your life. She'll discuss how to concentrate on what you want in your life rather than becoming stressed by reacting to outside events. She'll show you examples of her journals for specific purposes, including her personal journals, her Handbook to Everything, her New Poems journal, her Toyota journal, her photograph album journal, her Death File, and others.
A conference registration fee is required.
For more information:
Meade County Extension Office
Rural Women in Ag
1029 5th Street
Sturgis, South Dakota 57785
phone: (605) 347-2436
e-mail:
meade.county@sdstate.edu
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Welcome to Windbreak House Writing Retreat
In the center of the nation, deep in the grasslands of western South Dakota, essayist and poet Linda M. Hasselstrom grew up as an only child on a family cattle ranch homesteaded by a Swedish cobbler in 1899.
Today she invites you to benefit from a writing retreat on that same ranch. Come to the house where she discovered the Great Plains outside her windows, where she began to write the poetry and non-fiction books that have established her as one of the strongest voices on behalf of the prairie.
Linda holds a BA in English and Journalism, an MA in American Literature, and has been a teacher of writing for more than 40 years. She has hosted writing retreats at her ranch since 1996.
Not a writer but a reader? Enjoy Linda's vivid descriptions of her life and work on the ranch, as a writer, and as an advocate for the preservation of the prairies and the people and wildlife who inhabit them.
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What's Here on the Website?
What's New?
Linda's newest book,
No Place Like Home, was published by the University of Nevada Press in September, 2009. To learn all about this book
click here.
You can find Linda's
new blog,
Notes from a Western Life, by
clicking here.
Linda accidentally became a blogger when she began sending her assistant various essays and musings, suggesting they be posted "somewhere on the website."
Other new things in 2010 include new and improved content plus additional photos on the following website pages:
The Home Page --- you're looking at it!
The Retreats Page --- the list of available dates for 2010 is posted.
The Homestead House Page --- now includes a photo tour of the retreat house and surroundings.
The Writing Conversations By eMail Page --- the sign-up process is streamlined.
The Books & More Page --- new featured book and expanded material in many of the articles.
The Ask Linda Page --- a "Comments" section is now included.
Linda's Books
If you want information about Linda's books, see
The Non-fiction Page
The Poetry Page
The Wind Anthologies Page
The Additional Books Page
Check out these "Featured Books" for some behind-the-scenes stories and photos.
Land Circle
No Place Like Home
Roadside History of South Dakota
Windbreak
Want to know more about a particular story or poem? Post a question for Linda on the
Ask Linda Page.
Windbreak House Writing Retreats
Would you like to have Linda help you improve your own writing in a creative environment? See the
Retreats Page to learn about Windbreak House Writing Retreats. Linda offers an individualized retreat for each attending writer.
Look here for a photo tour of
Homestead House and its surroundings. This is where you'll stay if you attend a retreat.
The
Ask Linda Page has answers to some additional questions about writing help and the writing retreat experience. Don't find what you want to know? Post your own question or send us an e-mail (use the link in the left-hand column).
Writing Conversations by eMail
Can't take a retreat vacation right now? Want to work with Linda during the winter when driving to a writing retreat is difficult? See the
Writing Help Page for complete details on how to sign up for a Writing Conversation by eMail.
For additional information on Linda's philosophy of working with writers and a sample of Linda's writing hand-outs,
click here.
And, as always, the
Ask Linda Page has answers to some questions about working with Linda on your writing. Don't find what you want to know? Post your own question or send us an e-mail (use the link in the left-hand column).
Linda's Calendars
Hoping to meet Linda in your hometown? See
"Where in the World is Linda M. Hasselstrom?" for a list of Linda's upcoming appearances and other newsworthy events. Sign up for one of her workshops, attend a reading, stop by to chat and get an autograph at one of her booksignings.
Look on the
Retreats Page for the list of "Available Retreat Dates" before you schedule your retreat.
Information about Linda
Want to know more about Linda for that school project or just out of idle curiosity?
Read
Linda's biography and see photos of Linda and a few of her relatives.
The
"See What You Read" Page shows people, places, animals, and things mentioned in Linda's writings.
Check out this year's
"Where in the World is Linda M. Hasselstrom?" for a list of the magazines in which Linda is featured or has published essays.
Still want to know more? The
Ask Linda Page has many more details and you're encouraged to be as nosy as you wish with your own questions. Though be sure to read "The Rules" in the left-hand column of that page.
Environmental Projects on Linda's Ranch
Linda has worked with the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory to improve bird and wildlife habitat on her ranch.
Click here to read more about this project. Some lists of birds and animals seen on Linda's ranch are posted here. Many Windbreak House retreat participants enjoy bird-watching and wildlife-viewing during their stay.
The Great Plains Native Plant Society is creating a public garden on 350 acres of Linda's ranch. The article about the
Claude A. Barr Memorial Great Plains Garden has details, including a list of plant species found on the ranch. The garden is an easy walk from Homestead House; retreat participants are welcome to tour the garden.
"See What You Read"
This web page lets you
see photos of the actual people, places, animals, and things Linda mentions in her writing. Brief descriptions and excerpts of Linda's work accompany the photos.
Let us know what you'd like to see!
Home Page Essay Archives
Linda posts a new message on her Home Page a number of times each year. We've
archived the essays so you can read the ones you missed and re-read the ones you enjoyed. Some of them include recipes.
The Fun Stuff
This website also has some fun stuff. See the Books & More Page for stories and photos about:
The dogs in Linda's life.
Some cows Linda has known.
Rendezvous stories and photos about mountain man reenactment camping.
Food growing, preparing, and writing about it.
Birds and wildlife at Linda's ranch.
Note: I am working on activating the inactive links and adding the missing content to the portions of the website still under construction. If you find any typos or mistakes in grammar or content, please let me know, using the e-mail link in the left-hand column. Thanks!
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