Yvonne Hollenbeck- cowboy poetry

Performer – Poet
Yvonne Hollenbeck is a South Dakota cattleman’s wife who writes poetry about her life on a beautiful, remote ranch where she helps with everyday duties–putting up hay, feeding a crew, doing bookwork, or working cattle. Her writing, often humorous, takes a serious side when she reflects upon the hardships experienced by her parents and ancestors. Yvonne is a freelance author, penning a weekly column in the Farmer & Rancher Exchange, an avid quilter (her master quilting and appliqué work can be seen in the Western Folklife Center’s Pioneer Saloon), and the creator of her one-woman show, Patchwork on the Prairie. Most of her writing and quilting is done while waiting on meals for her husband and hired hands, waiting for a cow to safely birth a new calf, or in evenings when the ranch day’s work is done, what she calls her “found time.”