Category Archives: More
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Purity, ambiguity, and the investment portfolio
This week I’ll begin with a parable from my favorite set of wise weirdos, the desert fathers, forerunners of Christian monasticism. A brother said to Abba Poimen, “If I give my brother a little bread or something else, the demons … Continue reading
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Tagged desert fathers, farming, organic farming, purity, Slow Money, Stewart Brand, Woody Tasch
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Of Frederick Law Olmsted, Mr. Brown, and Mexican Coca-Cola
Frederick Law Olmsted has been on my mind recently, in part because while we’re spending a few days in New York, we’re staying on Fifth Avenue, opposite the southeastern corner of Central Park, unquestionably Olmsted’s best-known creation. Olmsted (1822–1903) was … Continue reading
Listapalooza: top ten books about Texas
Time for the next installment in our much-anticipated series of lists (our first two were on our top ten songs about Texas and our top ten books on the environment)! This time, we thought we’d offer up our ten favorite … Continue reading
The Great Texas Camel Experiment
Susan Orlean’s wonderful story on mules in the military in this week’s issue of The New Yorker mentions one of my favorite, and most unlikely, episodes of Hill Country history: the U.S. Army’s Great Texas Camel Experiment of the 1850s. … Continue reading
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Tagged aoudad, camels, Camp Verde, Civil War, desert, Douglas MacArthur, Jefferson Davis, mules, San Francisco Chronicle, Susan Orlean, Texas Hill Country, The New Yorker
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Massachusetts, part II: in defense of Thoreau
On our recent trip to snowy Massachusetts, as Heather told you last week, we carved out time for a pilgrimage to Walden Pond, just south of Concord, the very wellspring of American conservationism. Walden Pond, of course, is where that … Continue reading
Massachusetts, part I: of books and houses and hospitality
On our very brief trip to Massachusetts last weekend, Martin and I drove straight from Boston’s Logan Airport to Concord in hopes of glimpsing one of the hotbeds of American utopian thinking before the winter sun set. Driving through snowy … Continue reading
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Tagged books, Bronson Alcott, Concord MA, Henry David Thoreau, hospitality, Louisa May Alcott, Massachusetts, Ralph Waldo Emerson, tohu-bohu, Transcendentalism, Walden
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Kerrville’s Singing Brakeman
Long before the first annual Kerrville Folk Festival in 1972, the city was for a short time the home of “the father of country music.” James Charles (Jimmie) Rodgers, nicknamed “the Singing Brakeman” for his background on the railroads, was … Continue reading
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Tagged country music, Jimmie Rodgers, Kerrville Folk Festival, Kerrville TX, San Antonio, Texas Hill Country, Texas music, tuberculosis
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Season’s greetings!
As we approach the end of the year (and decade), we thought a look back at what we’ve accomplished and a look at what lies ahead for Madroño Ranch: A Center for Writing and the Environment might be of interest. … Continue reading
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Tagged agriculture, Alliance of Artists Communities, bison, chickens, deer, feral hogs, Madroño Ranch, organic farming, peaches
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