Monica Whitaker: How I Saved the Chicken That Crossed the Road in Nashville, TN

By Monica Whitaker
The chicken in my bathtub ate instant Quaker oats. She picked at them warily. Perhaps she thought I’d rescued her from the busy intersection after her tumble from the poultry truck only to add her to a pot of carrots and potatoes. Each time I entered, she glanced reproachfully from her porcelain roost, [...]

Rodger Moody: Two Cents, Williamsport Indiana 1965, Bridge

Rodger Moody: Three Poems
Two Cents
I was fifteen and loitering at the swimming pool
when she drove up, middle-aged and frumpy,
asking all the boys if they’d like to make a little
pocket money. It was summer and hay bales
were resting in the fields, heavy enough.
I couldn’t see the end of the week
or work gloves and scratched forearms.
I couldn’t [...]

David Walbert’s Backyard: July/August 2008

The backyard for which this column is named — the literal backyard, at least, the one directly behind my house — has never been in danger of winning any awards from glossy design magazines. Plantain rules a few patches where I let the ducks graze too freely. The old garden bed the dogs use for [...]

Jim Goodman: Welcome Back to Food

We often think that farmers markets are a product of our times as they spring up in cities and small towns across the country. Truth is, farmers markets are the traditional way of selling agricultural produce around the world.
The really nice aspect of this transaction is that the farmer receives just compensation for his product [...]