Every year in March, my husband threatens to move back to Texas. In March, our home in the Washington, D.C., suburbs experiences more cold days than warm days, much to the disappointment of my sun-loving spouse. As soon as the Christmas holidays end, he grows increasingly weary of the cold weather and counts the days…
I am not a farmer. The total breadth of my farming knowledge comes from two experiences: growing up next to farms in the Midwest and visiting my grandparents. As a child, I knew we were approaching my grandparents’ house when lush, white cotton fields sprawled on either side of the road as far as the…
Envision taking a walk through your neighborhood in perfect fall weather. A briskness in the air keeps you moving just enough to stay warm. Big, white, fluffy clouds outline blue skies. But then dark gray clouds begin to roll in, and the wind picks up. You’re at least a minute’s walk from your house. You…
I remember the sun beating down on me as I sat among perfectly planted rows of cotton that were the map for a perfect adventure. Day after day, from sunrise to sunset, my brother and I roamed free, him building things and me collecting treasure among the fields. At the most unlikely time, rain would…
I dislike change. I really do. I like everything to stay the same. I enjoy predictability. Well, I used to dislike change and enjoy predictability. Lately, however, I have been feeling a strong urge to make a big change—what that change is, I don’t know. I have prayed about it, and I feel like the…
Every year, springtime produces in me an irrepressible urge to stick my fingers in the dirt. I spend hours preparing the soil, poring over gardening books, shopping the local nurseries, and finally planting that year’s new baby plants. Throughout the spring and into the summer, my family laughs about finding me out in the yard “talking…