Living the dream of the endless vacation “Anyone who has ever dreamed of leaving the city and taking their lives back to nature (and who hasn't?) will find much to contemplate in this warm and hilarious tale of rural misadventure and small town quirk, even if they have never chased a goat in a bathing suit or called 911 because there were cows in the road. Stimson's voice is endearing: both in its self-deprecation and its rapture, as she sings an only slightly conflicted love song to Vermont.” —Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted “Taking a plunge that wimpier sorts (i.e. most of us) only fantasize about, Ellen Stimson and her family packed up their house in St. Louis and threw themselves into a wildly different life in small-town Vermont. Armed with the passion-and haplessness-of wide-eyed newcomers they rescue goats and adopt chickens, do battle with skunks and bats and falling ice, and, most disastrously, buy a black hole of a general store. Through it all they manage to retain their love for their adopted home as well as one another. This is a tale to which all the cliché words absolutely apply: hilarious, heartwarming, rollicking, and, most of all, rich in the real stuff of life.” —Julia Reed, author of But Mama Always Put Vodka in Her Sangria!

Originally published: Woodstock, Vermont: The Countryman Press, 2013.

"How one woman's dream of moving to Vermont--raising children, chickens, and sheep & running the old country store--pretty much led to one calamity after another"--Jacket.

Chronicle of the unmaking of a gardener with explorations into the ecology of backyard gardens.

It's mud season, but there's more than mud in the middle of the road: There are pigs, hens, sheep, and bulls in the way. That won't do. For a car to get through, somebody's gotta shoo! But who? Plourde's trademark style blends alliteration and rhyme into an elegantly simple mix that children-and adults-enjoy reading aloud.

When Jule Ann goes outside in her brand-new clothes, a mud puddle jumps on her and gets her completely dirty. The mud gets in her ears, eyes, and even her mouth. Jule Ann’s mother scrubs her clean and puts her in new clothes, but every time Jule Ann ventures out, the mud puddle finds her and pounces. Finally, Jule Ann has had enough: clutching two bars of smelly yellow soap, she heads outside one more time... A newly designed Classic Munsch picture book introduces this charming tale of unavoidable mess to a new generation of young readers.

Boots McFarland is an adventurous outdoor-loving cartoon character who has been hiking the trails for over 15 years. On the Trail with Boots McFarland-Volume 1 is a collection of humorous comics capturing the highs and lows of backpacking life, interspersed with entries from the author's Pacific Crest Trail hiking journal. The ideas for most of these cartoons come directly from personal trail experiences... real or imagined. Over the years, Boots cartoons have become popular in the worldwide hiking community and now for the first time, the artist Geolyn J. Carvin is offering these images in book form. You'll be ready to hit the trail after reading these pages!