In Praise of Old Fencerows
Within five years you could have a tiny piece of managed nature, in which more birds sing than you would have thought possible
Collecting Seeds and Letting Them Go
After I collect them, I scatter the seeds on a likely spot in my one-acre garden
Story of the Seasons: The Countryman’s Notebooks of Adrian Bell
Like the wonderful American writer Wendell Berry, Adrian Bell’s desire for a return to a more sympathetic agriculture is not born out of nostalgia
The American Food System’s Very Bad Legacy
There’s little appetite for a response that begins with taking up our axes to clear the land for something better.
Road Kill
I had to understand life and nature not as something to be mastered, but as gifts afforded to me to steward by a God abundant in goodness.
Finding The Seam: How Small Farmers Can Thrive
There are much easier ways to make money than farming. The primary goal of a good farmer is to find success in caring for one’s land, community, and family.
Winter Rabbits
And so the shotgun sits in our home like a quiet benediction. It dreams—as I do—of long walks in the valleys of my youth and whispers of future pastures that are untrod and unspoiled.
Allegories of Pruning: Cutting for Growth
Pruning is difficult because we are forced to make a conscious decision to remove something that has been part of a growing plant. But these cuts are necessary and even life-giving.