My latest at The Country Gentleman. You know what to do.

I love America. Every last bit of it.

Yesterday on the Kancamagus Highway.

Happy Independence Day, friends. God Bless America.

The easiest way to deal with spilling maple syrup in the pantry is for you to move.

Me and who else?.

When she comes in from tending the chickens and garden and starts cleaning the kitchen.

You are not a warrior-aristocrat, youngblood. You may never storm the halls of commerce or seize the levers of power. But you can meet a good women and raise some children and live the American Dream. No one will stop you.

Me: “God, give me purpose. What should I do?”. Christ: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”. Me: “Oof.”

I have a chicken tractor. Now I need sheep lawnmowers and a goat to trim the verge.

They will tell you we have no culture. Explain this then.

When they all want something on a Monday.

Wiring took two of us most of the day. The chickens are not sure about summer camp, but do seem to be enjoying the extra space.

Not bad for an afternoon without plans or extra hands. Tomorrow I will cover it with wire and shade cloth and move the flock in.

When you have been to the lumber yard and farm store before 9 am on a Saturday things are happening.

Craft beer is dead. Like everything else it was bought out by big corporations, who wore its culture thin with exotic ingredients and ever higher alcohol content. Pick a regional mass market beer like Narragansett or Grain Belt as your go to and stop being so twee about it.

Listening to my wife talk about dogs for hours.

The old ways are not totally gone. You can buy the Foxfire books for the cost of a night out, and the joy will last a lot longer.

Metric is for nerds. The Imperial System is more human scale and embodied. A mile is how far I can walk in 20 minutes. A pound is how much meat I eat in a sitting. Everyone knows what a 2" x 4" is. But try asking for a 38 x 89 mm at your local lumber yard.