A Whole Other Country is a new podcast from the award-winning Marfa Public Radio Studios.
Back in the ‘90s, in an off-the-grid neighborhood in the mountains of Far West Texas, a wannabe vintner started his own Wild West nation. Reporter and host Zoe Kurland drives up the long, bumpy roads of the Davis Mountains to talk to a cast of neighbors and onlookers who watched the story of the standoff unfold in real time -- the myths of the frontier crashing violently into reality. 

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This series began with a question: what does abortion access look like in Far West Texas? But what about when the struggle isn’t to end a pregnancy — it’s to start one?

Kathleen Shafer and David Branch decided they wanted to have a baby not long after they got married. In the years since, that’s meant countless drives from Marfa to Austin for fertility treatments, so far without success.

In the final episode of So Far From Care, they sit down to talk through what it means to make a choice, or a family. And what happens when those things don’t feel possible in the place you call home.

Produced by Zoe Kurland, Carlos Morales, and Annie Rosenthal. Music written and performed by Clara Brill. Series artwork by Dio Cramer and Hannah Gentiles.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. And in Far West Texas, we have that, literally. But when it comes to finding formal childcare out here, you might be out of luck. In Marfa, “daycare” can look like bringing your toddler to your restaurant job — or counting on a web of friends and family.

Yasmine Guevara’s son was born when she was 21, and she’s not sure what she would’ve done without her mom’s help. In the last few years, she’s seen parallels in their lives: both of them single parents struggling to provide for their kids in an increasingly expensive tourist town.

But that’s not something Yasmine and Kristina have ever really had a chance to talk about. In this episode, they sit down to ask each other the questions they’ve never asked.

Produced by Zoe Kurland, Carlos Morales, and Annie Rosenthal. Music written and performed by Clara Brill. Series artwork by Dio Cramer and Hannah Gentiles.

Kelon Crawford spent a decade building a life down by Big Bend National Park: guiding river trips, doing conservation work, and building an off-grid house. But when she got pregnant, she and her husband decided to give up their adventure and move to Alpine to give their daughter the best possible home.

Produced by Zoe Kurland, Carlos Morales, and Annie Rosenthal. Music written and performed by Clara Brill. Series artwork by Dio Cramer and Hannah Gentiles.

In rural Far West Texas, it’s a baseline expectation that you often have to rely on yourself. And for Stephanie Winston, that wasn’t intimidating— it was the point. At least, at first.

Stephanie and her family moved off-the-grid to see what they were capable of — and in a converted shed way out in the desert, she found maternal care that made her feel safe, and supported. But as she navigated life as a homesteader, she found herself reconsidering the assumptions we make about what moms should carry alone.

Produced by Zoe Kurland, Carlos Morales, and Annie Rosenthal. Music written and performed by Clara Brill. Series artwork by Dio Cramer and Hannah Gentiles.

In Far West Texas, there’s only one hospital, serving a region of 12,000 square miles. That means lots of long drives: people here have even given birth on the side of the road because the delivery room was just too far away.

But when Brissa Ledezma went into labor last year, she found herself on a journey even more dramatic than what we’ve gotten used to — an odyssey spanning hundreds of miles, three hospitals, and two countries.

Brissa’s story is about a low point in reproductive care in the Big Bend: when the only maternity ward in the region started shutting down. But it’s also about another force that shapes life out here: the border. How it can divide a family, but also, create options where there seemed to be none.

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Produced by Zoe Kurland, Carlos Morales, and Annie Rosenthal. Music written and performed by Clara Brill. Series artwork by Dio Cramer and Hannah Gentiles.

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, people around the country have found themselves having to drive long distances to access abortion. But in Far West Texas, long drives to care have long been a reality. And as reporter Annie Rosenthal learned soon after she moved to Marfa, that’s not just the case for abortion, but for most everything in the reproductive realm.

Last year, Annie put out a call: asking how living out here has shaped people’s options and decisions when it comes to having kids. She heard back from people all around the desert, about things she’d never expected.

Produced by Zoe Kurland, Carlos Morales, and Annie Rosenthal. Series artwork by Dio Cramer and Hannah Gentiles. Theme music written and performed by Clara Brill.

Living in a small town in West Texas can feel magical. And part of that magic is how isolated we are: hours and hours down a desert highway from everything else. But when it comes to accessing reproductive healthcare, that remoteness can also be terrifying.

In the Big Bend, the idea of “choice” was complicated long before Roe v. Wade was overturned. Out here, you can’t legally get an abortion — but as recently as last year, depending on the day of the week, you also couldn’t have a baby in a delivery room.

So Far From Care is a podcast about those contradictions. It’s about how people decide when, how, or if to become parents — close to the border and far from the hospital, where you have a literal village to help you raise a child but daycare can be impossible to find.

These are stories about isolation that’s not just physical — all the challenges we deal with in silence. But also, about how a place without options can become the site of community and care.

New episodes weekly starting November 1st.