On lyrics:

Hardscrabble is a small county park near my home place in Delaware County, IA that hugs a couple miles of the Maquoketa River. When I felt worried, upset, or just longed for some time in nature, I often followed the creek bed behind my house all the way down to Hardscrabble. As a child, my neighbor Harold would take my whole family down there in his wagon pulled by a beautiful and well-loved team of horses/mules. It was an impressive 3-4 mile ride. I liked to imagine that we were traveling west on the Oregon Trail. I hope I'll still be visiting Hardscrabble when I'm 80, if I'm lucky enough to make it that far: to muse and process as I so often do.

The song, itself, has evolved over a long period of time. I started working on it about 15 years ago. I felt stressed about "finding my calling," Iowan water quality, birds I hadn't noticed in a long time, and my own health (I was much later diagnosed with lupus & MCTD).

The creek bed has periodically been damaged by too much erosion and run-off. I started writing this during a spring when the water looked downright terrible. I suppose I also felt kinda angry about nutrient pollution. In any case, Hardscrabble, the song, just welled up inside me. Now, all this time later, I return to it, with a final verse (carry on, carry on) and some new layers by Tea So Cold and my husband who adds mando when we play this live.

A couple other shout-outs: Over the years, different people in my county have risen to the challenge of caring for our suffering rural watersheds. Some are private landowners. Some are local volunteers. A special thank you to Laura Vaske and Shirley Gates who both donated a considerable amount of time and effort to improving and supporting Hardscrabble - one of my favorite places in Iowa and the greater United States! In my dream world, all watersheds would be surrounded by sizable buffer areas and protected as public spaces: accessible and safe for all creatures to swim in and drink from. Free from the chemical-runoff that eventually winds up in the Gulf. Love, Leah