What We Can Learn about Working with People from Working with Horses

I’m one of those women who would have been horse-crazy as a girl if my parents had allowed it. So I tentatively began learning about horses after I grew up. One of the places I started at was called Last Chance Ranch (doesn’t that sound like a great title for a romance novel?). There, Lori rescued horses from the slaughter auctions, and rehabilitated them. She taught a course in natural horsemanship, which, being a natural kind of person, appealed to me greatly.

I will never forget my… more

Getting Saucy at Tomato Time!

Despite the blight and the wet, cold weather, my tomatoes are finally ripening. Actually, my biggest threat to the harvest this year has been that all my Guinea hens have been eating them. It’s quite annoying.

I got a great variety of tomato plants this spring from Seed Saver’s Exchange and Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, and they seem pretty healthy. Plus, I did ask the experts at Organic Gardening, and even if there is a bit of blight, the tomatoes are still edible, which is a… more

Food Inc: Worth Seeing, Even More Worth Believing

I finally got to see the film Food Inc., which took a few months to reach a multiplex near me in Pennsylvania. So, on a hot Saturday night I took my 12-year-old daughter Eve to see the 8:10 show. Unfortunately, there were only two other people there. I was tempted to veer to a different theater to see Julie and Julia instead—after all, it was a Saturday night, why not see something fun? But I knew I needed to see Food Inc. and that it wouldn’t last long in our local… more

Ponyo: Finally, a Great Family Movie

If you haven’t seen it in the theatres yet, Ponyo, a new Japanese animated film by Hayao Miyasaki, is one of the rare gems of a movie that the whole family will enjoy, and that is worth seeing on the big screen.

Our family doesn’t get out to see movies together very often. Between the different ages of the kids, and our different desires for film pleasure, we often end up splitting up and going our separate ways…or more likely, waiting till a film’s released on DVD, or on TV… more

Top 5 Greatest Mysteries of Housework, Plus Top 5 Records to Clean By

You may disapprove, but I take a big deep breath of relief the minute my husband gets in the car with the kids to go to church on Sundays. Finally, I can assess the week’s damage, and gather my forces to bring order to the house. If, God forbid, he misses church for a week or two, or we are traveling and I don’t get my Sunday morning, it’s like the evil lords of chaos descend on our house and I am lost in the ensuing flotsam and jetsam. As I turn on some music that I like, room-by-room I… more