Never give up: A reason for living

Sadness and loss come to us all, and dark times in life challenge us to find new, meaningful purpose.

Lyme disease: Learn this lesson from Janet (or me)

“I was a strong, hardworking woman raising a family, helping my husband with his business, mowing four acres of yard every week, gardening and holding a job. I felt like superwoman. But as time wore on, so did my health.”

— Janet DeCesare,

from Ticked Off

Young injuries meant life’s lessons

“Perhaps because of our storehouse of knowledge of home remedies, parents were remarkably complacent about all the injuries that were a routine part of the lives of free-range farm children — cuts from knives, stone bruises caused by bare feet on rocks, blood blisters, and all the bloody, oozing scrapes on knees, arms, elbows, and

Dogs can bring the greatest joy in life

“Humankind is drawn to dogs because they are so like ourselves — bumbling, affectionate, confused, easily disappointed, eager to be amused, grateful for kindness and the least attention.” — Pam Brown, 1928 Sitting atop a special shelf in my writing room sits a tiny book that is one of my most treasured possessions. Just this

A life of simple living and giving

(Author’s note: The following column was first published the week of Christmas 1998. Now, by tradition, it returns. Merry Christmas. –Alan) The Christmas tree was a scrub cedar hacked from the edge of the woods that bordered the farm. Big-bulbed lights, strung in barber pole fashion, generated almost as much heat as the nearby wood

Almost Heavenly: The Little Church

Farm and Family Living columnist Laurie Marlatt Steeb continues her travels through West Virginia.