Books

What to read next, the classics worth the effort and how to make reading a habit again.

Clean Your First Squirrel on a Saturday, Not in an Emergency

Field-dressing small game is a twenty-minute skill with one real hazard. Learn it in season, gloves on, long before the day you might need it.

GuideGarden & YardWes DunbarOct 5, 20267 min

Skip the Bucket and Grow Your Potatoes in a Bag

Bed, bag or bucket? One clearly wins, one is a trap, and the timing matters more than the container. What it costs and what goes wrong.

Ask BRO

What should I wear to this?

Ask it

StoryHistoryMarcus ValeOct 3, 20266 min

The Flour Sack Dress and the Neighbors Who Fed Each Other

Our grandparents didn't get through the 1930s on grit alone. They had a system: the garden, the sewing box and the family next door.

Delicious.com — Nine thousand recipes and a plan for tonight

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Travel6 min read

Same lake, same week, every summer

Novelty is overrated. The trip your kids still talk about at forty is the one you repeat, and it takes more planning than you'd think.

Poll

How often do you see your closest friends?

GuideGarden & YardWes DunbarOct 5, 20267 min

Peppers Want Warm Feet, So Plant Them Later Than You Think

Most pepper plants fail before they're two weeks in the ground. The fix costs about ten dollars and a little patience.

StoryHistoryMarcus ValeOct 3, 20266 min

Proving up took five years and two neighbors willing to swear

The Homestead Act's paperwork was easy. Staying alive on the claim was the hard part, and at the end your neighbors had to vouch for you.

Coconut.com — Tell us when. We find where the sun is.

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GuideLifeCal BrennanSep 30, 20266 min

Stop saying "we should get together" and pick a Tuesday

After forty, friendships don't die from fights. They die from scheduling. A standing weekly night fixes the one problem you actually have.

Quiz

Is your money actually in order?

Six questions. No email required, no sales pitch at the end.

GuideGarden & YardWes DunbarOct 5, 20267 min

Plant Paste Tomatoes If You Actually Want Sauce

Most homemade sauce fails in March, when you buy the wrong seeds. Pick the right variety and the timing, and one August afternoon fills your freezer.

StoryHistoryDean ShawOct 3, 20266 min

From the Plow to the Combine, One Broken Bottleneck at a Time

For most of history a farm was only as big as one family could harvest. How a blacksmith, a Virginian, and a few stubborn tinkerers changed that.

Ask BRO

Rewrite my CV so it actually gets read

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GuideRecipesWes DunbarSep 30, 20266 min

Big-Batch Chili for Twelve, Finished in the Oven

Tripling a chili for four in one pot is how you burn the bottom. Brown in batches, finish it at 300 degrees and make it the day before.

GermProof.com — An invisible germ barrier on your skin for hours

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GuideGarden & YardWes DunbarOct 5, 20266 min

Plant by Your Frost Date, Not Your Zone

Your zone tells you what survives winter. Your frost date tells you when to plant. Most first-year gardeners mix them up and lose a flat of tomatoes.

Poll

Where does your phone charge overnight?

StoryHistoryMarcus ValeOct 3, 20267 min

Baseball's Birth Story Was Made Up, and the Real One Is Better

A commission handed America a tidy origin myth in 1907. The true history has clerks, prisoners, a paid shortstop and a man who refused to swing back.

GuideFoodWes DunbarSep 30, 20266 min

Run a chili cook-off the guy with the most friends can't rig

Blind cups, a real score sheet, one breaker you'll definitely trip, and a trophy people will actually fight over next year.

Names.com — The name is the first thing you sell

PartnerNames.com

GuideGarden & YardWes DunbarOct 5, 20266 min

Your Soil Needs a Test and Compost, Not Another Bag of Fertilizer

Most yellow leaves aren't hungry plants. They're a soil problem nobody tested for. A cheap lab test and an inch of compost fix more than any bag will.

Quiz

Does your wardrobe actually fit you?

Five questions, honestly answered, and a plan for the next two weeks.

History7 min

Every Rodeo Event Was Somebody's Job First

Civics7 min

Your First Amendment Gets Tested at a Folding Table

Ask BRO

Give me something to do with my kids this weekend

Ask it

GuideGarden & YardWes DunbarOct 5, 20267 min

Your First Raised Bed Costs More in Dirt Than in Wood

A 4x8 bed holds over a cubic yard of soil. Size it right, fill it with the right mix and plant things that'll actually win you a first season.

CancerDefying.com — The research, protocols and reading in one place

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History6 min read

Farmers Invented the Pickup and Detroit Caught Up Later

Before Ford built a single pickup, men were sawing the backs off their cars. The truck has been shaped by its owners ever since.

Poll

Where does your phone charge overnight?

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