Restoring Mayberry

  Ordinarily in this space I write about growing food, or paring down possessions, or trading with neighbours, or other pragmatic ways to cu...

  A couple I know lived in a century-old house in the middle of their town, a few miles from their jobs and surrounded by long-time neighb...

  "Sometimes when you are asked a question, it puts your mind back to something you had forgotten about for years. For example, when yo...

I wrote this 13 years ago. My girl is turning 18, and I think the things I wrote then -- especially the part about a risk of "civil war...

Originally written in 2009. Dear Sir or Madam: When I visited my native USA this summer, I needed to take my daughter from Minnesota to ...