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Rita s pea salad.

Easy Summer Salad

July 19, 2011
Today I ate lunch at the Open Door in Menno. It's been years since I've visited the tiny, pretty town located near the James River. My dad told me that people used to come for miles around on Sundays to drink a cold beer in Menno's very popular beer garden, which was more like a back alley than a garden.

Zucchini Brownies: Hold the Eggs

July 18, 2011
Bakers have bombarded the South Dakota Magazine office with phone calls after reading the feature in our July/August issue about our office zucchini cook-off. Departments Editor John Andrews submitted a recipe for zucchini brownies, a dish that doesn’t exactly feature the vegetable but may be one of the tastiest ways ever devised to get rid of a cup or two. Seasoned bakers believe we made an ...

JazzFest Melts Sioux Falls

July 15, 2011
Sioux Falls’ weekend of hot weather and hot music is here! JazzFest kicked off last night in Yankton Trails Park with headliners Indigenous and the Fabulous Thunderbirds.

Hot Springs' Square Thinker

July 13, 2011
People believed for centuries that the earth was flat. Hot Springs businessman Orlando Ferguson thought it was “square and stationary,” and believed it so vociferously that he delivered a series of lectures on the topic and printed maps to visualize his idea.

Yeller guarding the South Dakota Magazine garden.

Almost Tomato Time

July 11, 2011
I've never canned vegetables before but I'm determined to start this summer. My motivation is a New York Times review I recently read on the book "Tomatoland" by Barry Estabrook. 

Finding Crow Peak

July 8, 2011
The Black Hills of South Dakota are a hiker’s dream — as long as you can find your trailhead. My husband and I learned this lesson on our first visit to Crow Peak last summer. 

The Capital Man

July 5, 2011
John Sutherland helped Pierre become the capital of South Dakota. Then he did it again. And again.

Over 3,400 people are buried in the Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood. It was established in 1878.

Mt. Moriah is a Must See

July 1, 2011
I was appalled when we worked on last year’s “25 Very Unusual Man Made Places” article. There was an attraction in Deadwood I’d never visited!

Luigi Del Bianco was a master sculptor for the Mount Rushmore monument.

Bringing Life to Rushmore

June 29, 2011
Every year, millions of people gaze upon the four faces at Mount Rushmore. Most visitors could tell you that Gutzon Borglum designed them. But almost nobody knows the Italian immigrant who gave them life.

Berry with his greyhound at his side, gazing over his Badlands ranch.

The Cowboy Governor

June 27, 2011
Charisma and money are the top qualifications for getting elected to high political office these days. Historians wonder whether some of our best leaders of yesteryear would have been able to serve in our YouTube world.

Strawberry Crisp


We have a small strawberry patch behind the South Dakota Magazine office and it seems it is at its peak right now. 

President and Mrs. Coolidge at the Custer State Game Lodge.

The Summer That Made the Hills

June 23, 2011
Of the millions of summers the Black Hills have seen, the summer of 1927 was surely the most eventful – and perhaps cemented the region’s status as the popular tourist attraction that it is today.

Karolevitz: Rose to the Challenge

June 20, 2011
Way back in the 1960s, a bunch of 4-H kids gathered at Pine Acres 4-H Grounds in Yankton for our annual meeting. We enjoyed our moms' potluck casseroles and then some guy with a crewcut got up to speak.

Rhubarb Margaritas


I've heard from several friends that the rhubarb harvest is amazing this year. If you're getting tired of rhubarb tarts and pies, margaritas are a fun way to use up your reserves. This recipe is the perfect blend of tart and sweet.

Langford Smithy Helped Build First Tractor

May 4, 2011
Norman Olson, a Langford native, writes to us from Colorado this week to tell us about Will Mann, a Day County homesteader and mechanic who helped build the world's first successful gasoline-powered tractor.

Along with writing cowboy poetry, McNaught also creates custom leather belts, wallets and chaps from his ranch near New Underwood.

Slim's Pickings

April 28, 2011
Even if you didn't grow up on a ranch, Slim McNaught's cowboy poetry is bound to make you crack a smile. We wrote about his CD Reminiscin' in our current issue. One of the tracks is called "Tom Cat Wreck." It's the story of how McNaught once got bucked off his horse when a cat jumped from the haymow and dug its claws into the mare. That's bad enough, but McNaught landed face first in a fresh cow pie. ...

Jerry on his Clay County farm. Photo by Norma Wilson.

Historic Farm & Prairie Protected

April 25, 2011
Former South Dakota Magazine editor Jerry Wilson made news recently when he and his wife, Norma, donated a perpetual conservation easement on their 143 acre farm to the Northern Prairies Land Trust.

Bygone Days On Your iPad

April 21, 2011
Perkins County rancher John Penor's historic photos of Bison, South Dakota are now available as an iPad application.

Joe Thorne and Coach Ralph Ginn.

A Fitting Honor for Joe Thorne

April 6, 2011
Every time I return to Brookings, it seems my alma mater, South Dakota State University, has changed. On my last trip there to gather stories for a feature in our next issue, I saw the new Jackrabbit Village residential complex.

Yankton, South Dakota s 1903 post office was closed by the USPS in January 2012.

Post Office Deserting Downtowns

March 30, 2011
Nobody likes the USPS any better than the gang at South Dakota Magazine. Everything we write and photograph and design would be for naught if not for the post office's ability to get it from the printer to your mailbox.

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