A thick white sap oozed from the diagonal slash in the bark of the tree. Gravity gently pulled the liquid downward toward half of a coconut shell fastened to the tree trunk to collect this precious resource. I stood in the middle of a rubber tree forest in the rural inland foothills of Sri Lanka, […]

When I was in seventh grade, my family acquired an old farmstead reclaimed by the forest. We worked on the weekends, clearing land that would become the driveway, erecting outbuildings, slowly turning the place back into a recognizable farm. By the time I got to high school, my morning duties involved feeding the pigs while […]

I would like to take this time to offer my thanks to the editors of this feature because this topic has been on my mind my entire life. I have been asking the same question for as long as I can remember. I’ve always been an in-town gal. When I was growing up, my family […]

When I grew up rural it was equated with being deprived. A country bumpkin less than best, automatically so. How could you be better than those who lived in town? Your bus ride to school included fellow students who didn’t bathe daily, especially in the winter, although their farm chores remained in place. Indoor plumbing […]

I left the rural state of Maine in 1976. My baby boomer buddies and I had always been taught that we lived in a rural state. Fish, lobsters, lumber and paper, blueberries and potatoes were always named as the principal products. I had always enjoyed walking on the beach and in the woods. Heck, I […]

In the far distance and to the right of the farmhouse, the Adirondacks filled the horizon. To the left, Mount Abraham looked like the mountain every 5-year-old draws. “Mt. Abe” was so close, it seemed like I could reach out and touch it. I was at my grandparents’ farm in Lincoln, Vermont, where my mother […]