In diary form, Hasselstrom presents one year on a South Dakota cattle ranch. The book highlights the rancher's struggle with natural elements and affords a look at the forces that shape a poet. Hasselstrom, rancher, poet, wife, and environmentalist, blends the practical with the poetic in her well-crafted book. Haying, fence mending, and cattle branding are described, along with the more dramatic occurences of ranch life: blizzards, prairie fires, cattle births, and deaths. In between are reflective moments when the poet pauses at the sight of a meteor shower or laughs over the irony of making garden mulch out of old love letters. Readers will not have to be nature smitten, or even particularly interested in ranching, to relate to Hasselstrom's warm, intelligent voice. This is the kind of book that is so authentically well written that readers will find themselves reading straight through the appending glossary of ranching terms because they don't want the book to end. They will also want to leaf back through the 16 poems that are included in the text. A uniquely uplifting and informative slice of life. - School Library Journal.