Author Archives: Martin

FREE RANGE: FOOD, NATURE, PLACE, AND MORE

Most memorable meals, take one: fire in the hole!

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Martin

The other night, inspired by a typically wonderful dinner at Texas French Bread, my Best Gal and I got to talking about our favorite meals ever, and what made them so. Eventually, we decided that it might be interesting to … Continue reading →

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My favorite Massachusetts meal

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Martin

My friend and former graduate school colleague, Tinky Weisblat, who lives in Hawley MA, asked her many blogging friends to publish a post on Massachusetts food during the week of August 22–28 as part of Loving Local: Celebrating the Flavors … Continue reading →

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Listapalooza: top ten Austin restaurants

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Martin

Yep, another one of those crazy lists. This one, of my ten favorite restaurants in Austin, was a real toughie. The one clear choice was Texas French Bread (pictured above), our absolute number-one favorite dinner spot. After that, however, things … Continue reading →

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Listapalooza: summer reading

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Martin

It’s the end of July (or, as we call it in Texas, “late spring”), so I’ve been thinking a lot about summer reading, which has almost become a sort of cliché. There’s a lot to be said for curling up … Continue reading →

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There and back again: a geobiography

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Martin

We recently led a seminar on Madroño Ranch as part of the annual Summer Literary Festival at Gemini Ink, a writing center in San Antonio. The theme of this year’s festival was “What Would Nature Do?” and in our seminar … Continue reading →

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The literary environment (with apologies to the Williams Alumni Review)

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Martin

Confession: I consider myself a loyal son of alma mater, but I usually just skim the quarterly Williams Alumni Review before tossing it into the recycling pile. A story in the June issue, however, caught my eye. “The Literary Environment,” … Continue reading →

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Adventures in Business-Land

Posted on June 18, 2010 by Martin

This week, during a solo trip to Madroño, Heather spent much of her time knocking on doors in Kerrville, Bandera, Medina, Tarpley, and vicinity, hoping to convince chefs and restaurateurs to buy locally raised, grass-fed bison meat from the ranch. … Continue reading →

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Listapalooza: top ten Texas movies

Posted on June 4, 2010 by Martin

Yup, another one of those crazy lists. This time we thought we’d offer our ten favorite movies about (or set in, or somehow related to) Texas. Pass the popcorn, and turn off that damn cell phone! Dancer, Texas Pop. 81 … Continue reading →

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More on violence: a death in West Austin

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Martin

Last Thursday got off to a grisly start in our West Austin neighborhood, bringing a stark reminder of the violence inherent in the way we humans live on the land. We usually attempt, more or less successfully, to keep this … Continue reading →

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Madroño’s mythical bison

Posted on May 14, 2010 by Martin

We spent last weekend at Madroño with Shawn and Susanne Harrington of Asterisk Group, who are designing a visual identity for the ranch suitable for use on business cards, website, food labels, letterhead, gimme caps, T-shirts, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, … Continue reading →

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