Monthly Archives: October 2016

A defense of Maine: How I fell in love with this state and found my home

winter in our yard

Recently, Maine has been getting some bad press, and I don’t think it’s fair. In a segment comparing Governor LePage to Donald Trump, Samantha Bee from TBS dissed our state, calling us “the unheated crawl space between Quebec and New Hampshire where America hides its heroine,” and Five Thirty Eight noted our struggling economy and our […]

How to save your money and your time by buying it once

image of Bean Boots

“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.” ― Henry David Thoreau This is one of my favorite quotes. If you think about, it’s really a philosophy for everything in life. We all have a […]

Backyard chickens: Preparing your flock for the cooler temperatures ahead

chickens in snow

It’s that time of year. Tonight is our first freeze in the Bangor area, and last week, our chicky girls laid fewer eggs than they ever have. There’s some molting going on, and the days are getting shorter. I saw a post on a chicken Facebook site (yes, we have those) that read “Let the […]

Surviving this election: Getting back to where life makes sense

image of two people talking

I really, really need this election to be over. I really, really need everyone to just get along. I’m stressed out and in a worry. I can’t stand to be on Facebook. I feel ideologically betrayed by my own family. And I’m so stressed that even my husband told me to settle down last week. […]

Rejecting the food industry: Processing chickens and finding truths

image of chickens at fence

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my anxiety surrounding our first “one bad day” as farmers. We had 14 chickens to process, and I had never experienced anything like it before. For me, it was a tough day. A long day. A draining day—and my husband did most of the work. Still, that […]

Bernie in Bangor: Talking to kids about politics, fairness, and American democracy

image of American flag

The last time we had a local visit from a major politician, I wrote about how I planned to avoid talking to my kids about Donald Trump’s visit because, well, I just don’t feel he sets a good example for our children. But, today, Bernie Sanders is visiting Bangor, and I feel like he’s a […]