“I don’t know how to parent you!” These words shock me as they shoot from my mouth on this steamy Fourth of July morning beside the edge of Mallet pond. Ula’s back is to me, facing the water. She’s been with her friends all week. She’s been with friends all summer. But they are not […]
Smoothies & Hormones
“Kids! We gotta be in the car in 15 minutes! Let’s MOVE!” “But Mom!” Ula lobs her words from her pillow, over the stair railing and down into the kitchen where they land, smoking, at my feet. “You have to make our smoothies!” Imperitives don’t sit well with me today. This is an invitation to […]
Bullfrogs and Graveyards
Jug-a-rum, jug-a-rum, jug-a-rum. I don’t think much of the Westchesters who own the vacation house next door. But I think a lot about their pond. My bedroom windows are up against the state forest, and as I fall to sleep at night, they channel in the songs of the thrushes. The clerestories above me […]
Please.
“There are several words for thank you, there is no word for please.” I am reading Braiding Sweetgrass*, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, a citizen of the Potawatomi Nation, is talking about table manners in her native tongue. “Food was meant to be shared,” she explains. “No added politeness needed; it was simply a cultural given […]
Lucky Dog
It’s nearly 11 o’clock at night. Bob and I pay for our food, push aside our plates and make our way to the exit of Gene’s, a brightly lit restaurant on the outskirts of Moncton, New Brunswick. We are the only customers there at present. A man watches us intently from behind the counter. I […]
Whiskey for Breakfast
It’s noon on Friday, and I’m pounding on the back door of the Green Wolf Tap Room. Bob and the kids are next door at the library with a homeschool group, and I’m demanding that Justin, the owner, open up early and serve me whiskey for breakfast. I haven’t eaten since lunch the day […]
Women’s Work
I’m not used to being invisible. It’s true that I’m happy to go for days on end seeing no people. It’s true that social contact takes a lot of energy for me to muster. But it’s also true that, when I am seated in a room with people, I expect to be seen and acknowledged. […]
Divine Intervention with a Shot of Espresso
When Don and Trish sold us the PO building and former firehouse, they left behind an Old Town canoe, a curio cupboard, an electric coffee pot from one of the former post misstresses, a five legged table, and Mark*. Mark is a young homeschooled man from a Mennonite family. He has a gift for working […]
Mothers’ Day
I’m not a fan of Mothers’ Day. I was seven months’ pregnant for Saoirse when I vowed to put a stop to the madness. I saw it all as a giant pyramid scheme, with the youngest, newest, most exhausted Mom in the family line at the highest point of suffering. Because, while it was a […]
Less Stress, More Profit
Lessons From A Kitchen Disaster It’s the middle of May, and I shuffle the bills like playing cards. It’s that time of year, when all the savings from the end of last fall have run dry, and I’m scanning due dates, matching them up with the the farm’s production and sales schedule: pairing feed bills […]
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