Privacy Policy

Effective date: November 5, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how The Heartland Daily (“we,” “us” or “our”) handles information when you visit theheartlanddaily.com (the “Site”) or contact us. The Site publishes free recipes and kitchen tips by Heather Lindgren, and we designed it to collect as little information as possible.

The short version

• You can read the entire Site without creating an account or giving us any personal information.
• The Site does not use cookies, analytics, advertising, tracking pixels (including the Meta Pixel) or social media plugins.
• Our hosting provider keeps basic technical logs (such as IP addresses) to run and protect the Site.
• If you email us, we use your message only to reply and to plan future recipes.
• We do not sell your personal information or share it for targeted advertising.

1. Information we collect

Information you choose to give us

If you email us, we receive your email address, your name if you include it, and anything you write in your message, including any photos you attach, such as a picture of a family recipe card.

Information collected automatically

Like almost every website, the Site runs on a hosting provider’s servers. When your browser requests a page, those servers may automatically record standard technical information in server logs, such as:

• your IP address;
• the date and time of the request;
• the page or file requested;
• your browser type and operating system;
• the address of the page that linked you to the Site (the “referrer”).

We do not use this information to identify you, build a profile about you, or follow you across other websites.

Information we do not collect

The Site has no sign-up, comment, newsletter or payment forms. We do not ask for, and do not want, sensitive information such as details about your health or allergies, financial information or government ID numbers. Please don’t include it in messages to us.

2. How we use information

We use the limited information described above to:

• reply to your questions and messages;
• decide which recipes and tips to share next (we will not publish your name, email address, photos or family recipes without your permission);
• keep the Site running, secure and free from abuse, and fix technical problems;
• comply with legal obligations.

3. Cookies and tracking

The Site does not set cookies and does not use analytics tools, advertising networks, tracking pixels (including the Meta Pixel), fingerprinting or embedded social media widgets. All fonts, images, styles and scripts are served from our own domain, so loading a page does not send your information to third parties.

The Site’s one small script runs only in your browser: it shows today’s date and the holiday countdown, and opens a recipe when you follow a link to it. It does not store or send any information.

Because the Site doesn’t track you, there is nothing to switch off. We treat “Do Not Track” and Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals as a request not to be tracked, which is already how the Site works.

If we ever add analytics, advertising, a newsletter or pages that use cookies or the Meta Pixel, we will update this policy before doing so and, where the law requires it, ask for your consent first.

4. How we share information

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for targeted advertising. We share information only:

• with service providers that help us run the Site and our email, such as our web hosting and email providers, which process it on our behalf;
• when required by law, such as to respond to a valid legal request;
• when necessary to protect the rights, safety or security of our visitors, the Site or others.

5. Our Facebook Page

Heather also shares her recipes on Facebook. When you visit, follow or comment on her Facebook Page, Meta Platforms, Inc. collects and processes your information under its own Privacy Policy. Like any Page owner, we can see what you choose to share publicly there (such as your name and comments) and the aggregated Page statistics that Meta provides. We may also promote posts on Facebook and Instagram; Meta decides who sees those ads under its own policies, and we receive only aggregated results. We don’t copy information from Facebook to this Site or combine it with anything else.

6. How long we keep information

• Emails: we keep messages only as long as needed to answer them and follow up, and delete them when they are no longer useful. You can ask us to delete your messages at any time.
• Server logs: kept by our hosting provider for a limited period, under its own retention practices, typically no longer than needed for security and troubleshooting.

7. Security

The Site is served over an encrypted HTTPS connection, and we limit who can access our email and hosting accounts. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we collect as little as we can in the first place.

8. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• know what personal information we have about you and get a copy of it;
• correct inaccurate information;
• delete your information;
• object to or restrict certain uses of your information;
• opt out of the sale of your information or its sharing for targeted advertising (we do neither);
• not be discriminated against for using any of these rights.

These rights may come from U.S. state privacy laws (such as those in California, Minnesota, Virginia, Colorado and other states), the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (LGPD), or other laws. Where the GDPR applies, we rely on our legitimate interests to run and secure the Site, and to reply to messages you send us.

To make a request, email us at heather@theheartlanddaily.com. We may need to confirm your identity, for example by replying to the email address that contacted us. We will respond within the time required by applicable law. You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

9. Children’s privacy

The Site is meant for a general audience and is not directed to children under 13 (or under 16 where local law sets a higher age). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

10. International visitors

Our hosting and email providers may store and process information in the United States and in other countries, whose data protection laws may differ from those where you live. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards for these transfers.

11. Links to other websites

The Site links to other websites, such as Facebook and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food safety site. We are not responsible for their privacy practices. Please read the privacy policy of any website you visit.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the effective date at the top of this page. If a change is significant, such as adding analytics, cookies or a newsletter, we will make it clear on the Site before the change takes effect.

13. Contact us

Questions or requests about this Privacy Policy: heather@theheartlanddaily.com.

See also our Terms of Use.