This Month’s Featured Articles…

Oftentimes it has crossed my mind how much new legislative effort is being undertaken to help make life better, as in profitable, for farmers. While many folks tend to equate farming with the wide open spaces of the Midwest, those of us who live in the Hudson Valley and further upstate in New York are well aware that farming is a key component of what contributes mightily to a functional economy. But it surely is not as easy as farmers might make it look to [...]

Based on information published by the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), 6.3 million companion animals, mostly dogs and cats, enter US shelters every year. Even more sobering, “Each year, approximately 920,000 shelter animals are euthanized (390,000 dogs and 530,000 cats).” These unsettling numbers, gathered in part by Shelter Animals Count, a collaboratively compiled database initiated in 2012, are nonetheless an improvement over past years’; in 2011 twice as many shelter animals were euthanized. The overall decline in euthanasia owes much [...]

The holidays are behind us. We spent our time gathering with loved ones, sharing meals, exchanging gifts, baking and gifting cookies, and indulging in all the feel-good festivities that make the season bright. As we approach the rest of the winter season, we can continue to create ambiance and warmth while making a conscious effort to usher in some more light. Many cultures around the globe found rituals to get them through a dark season or enhance their wellbeing. Here are a few ideas to [...]

In most publications, this is the part of the article that usually includes a disclaimer meant to either dissuade the reader from engaging in the about-to-be-described activities or at least distancing the writer or publication from any kind of liability for the reader’s suggestibility and – let’s call a spade a spade – stupidity. Whether the editor will insist on more robust and legal-sounding language remains to be seen, but the author feels duty-bound to go out of his way to discourage most people from [...]

Is there anything more intoxicating than the smell of bread baking in the oven? Is there anything more magical than a first slice from a fresh-baked loaf, warm and welcoming and begging for butter? For anyone who’s experienced the rewards of baking bread, the answers are clear – resounding No’s. MFK Fisher, one of the most masterful of writers on the glories of food, said, “The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence [...]