“The wind howled and the snow came down all night long, across this vast prairie. We will wait until daybreak to make the trek to check the fences and the farm animals. The children are already planning a day of sledding, and are gathering up extra gloves to tuck in pockets for their day of […]
Is anyone else old enough to remember when the worst epithet you could scream to someone on the playground who was bullying you was, “You think you’re smart!” and that would send the chastened bully slinking to the other side of the playground?
Today there is just as apt to be a shooting or a beating […]
(Part II of II)
Have you ever tried to sit on a three-legged stool that had one leg shorter than the other two, or was missing a leg? It’s a balancing act that’s not very easy and you can’t do it for very long.
So it is with working toward sustainable agriculture. You can’t focus on the […]
Last week’s column on the perils of feeding deer corn in winter generated more mail than anything I’ve written in years. Many readers were mortified that their good intentions may have done more harm than good.
Here are a few excerpts from e-mails from concerned readers.
“I only put out a few cups of corn […]
I should have learned by now. I have been bitten so often. Once bitten, twice shy. How shy for bitten as much as I have.
The thing is, the proper answer for almost any question I get these days should be, “I haven’t got a clue.” I need to get this fixed in my mind […]
In the ever-expanding galaxy of American jurisprudence, few stars shine as brilliantly as Richard A. Posner, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago.
The best
Everything about Posner screams the best: Yale undergrad, Harvard Law, Supreme Court clerk, Stanford law professor, federal judge since 1981, author of more than […]
Each week Farm and Dairy challenges readers to identify a small tool or gadget (or at least ‘hazard a guess’ as to its use).
I am probably the only parent in history who has requested a parent/teacher conference with the playground monitor.
Rules
Generally, I teach my children that their teachers make The Rules and that, just as in all walks of life, we don’t necessarily have to agree with them to abide by them. I call this the “don’t come […]
Hello again,
I cannot recall a February with this much snow and indeed in many places record snowfall has been recorded, and the month is not over.
I neglected to connect the electric fence after feeding the cows last Saturday morning and upon checking them in the afternoon found my biggest cow had simply stepped over the […]
“As the light faded from the sky, we would build an immense bonfire and settle down to eat steak and roast corn, drink boiled coffee, sing songs and tell stories as the fire roared upward and sent its sparks toward the star-lit hood of the sky. Then the cattle would gather all around us in […]
