D e s e r t E x p o s u r e c o l l e c t i o n

Voice of a Ranch Woman
by Linda McDonald
as told to
Victoria Tester

Becoming a Legend
Learning to be a
ranch woman
(November 2007)

The Greatest Work You Will Ever Do
A ranch woman remembers learning to make do with what you have — even at Christmas.
(December 2007)

The First Track
in the Snow
Living and ranching out in nature, as stewards of the land.
(January 2008)

Showing Your Love
All the Time
A rancher's wife talks about her husband, his family, and love that doesn't need Valentine's Day gifts.
(February 2008)

Queen of the Feeds
Sharing the secrets
of feeding cowboys
(March 2008)

Using Up the
Scraps We Have
The surprise of quilting is that you wind up giving someone your heart.
(April 2008)

Roots that Grow Deep
Sometimes a gardener just knows that this is the place for her.
(June 2008)

If You're Moving,
You're OK
Why ranch women worry, and ranchers just get up and dust themselves off.
(July 2008)

Living Through the Droughts
Lessons from a one-eyed cowboy.
(August 2008)

When Chalk was Precious
Memories of one-room schoolhouses, lard-bucket lunchpails and walking home, yes, in a snowstorm.
(October 2008)

Dancing When the Stars Came Out
Memories of dancehall days in ranch country
(November 2008)

Voice of a Ranch Woman

These first-person reminiscences are excerpted from recordings of Linda Nielson McDonald at her home on the McDonald Ranch. Established in 1903, the McDonald Ranch is among the five oldest continuously working ranches in Grant County.

Linda McDonald, born in Moab, Utah, in 1942, is the wife of Jerry McDonald, the son of Jonnie McDonald and Evelyn McCauley.

The recordings are a collaboration between McDonald and author Victoria Tester, whose book Miracles of Sainted Earth (University of New Mexico Press) won the nationally recognized Willa Cather Literary Award. Their efforts mark the beginning of a project by the two women to record and publish a book of oral histories of ranch women in southern New Mexico.

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