Nature is Cruel and Kind
The philosopher Thomas Hobbes famously described life in nature as “nasty, brutish, and short” a view that continues to resonate with certain members of the populace. Often a man of...
Garth Brown |
Blog
Nature is Cruel and Kind
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Google Comes for Us All
Digital life often feels far less regulated than the real world, mostly because people are so rude when talking through screens. The single most notable quality of online discourse, something...
Garth Brown |
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Beyond Meat Failing and the Future of Fake Meat
When it comes to fake meat there are two flavors of skepticism. The first is an instinctive and powerful distrust of something so unnatural and a consequent grasp for anything...
Garth Brown |
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Dealing with Scammers
“We are having a birthday party for my mother, and I would like to order 100 pounds of ground beef. I will arrange for a truck to come pick it...
Garth Brown |
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We Can't Remake the Past
I’ve come to believe that quite a lot of our ideas about how the world should be effervesce from a sort of cosmic gumbo of influences: media, our friends, world...
Garth Brown |
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Dam Season
Earlier this spring I predicted 2025 would be the year of children building forts. Though time may yet prove me correct, the early signs are not promising. Despite a flurry...
Garth Brown |
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The Self-Sufficiency Trap
A recent essay by Mike Riggs in the Washington Post caught my eye. In it the author describes his family’s move from Philadelphia to a few acres in North Carolina,...
Garth Brown |
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Heading Out
In the morning haze I saw a deer bounding through my neighbor’s wheat. The way it arced up out of the rippling green reminded me of nothing so much as...
Garth Brown |
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Gardening Pros and Cons: Raised Beds vs. No-till vs. Stale Seed Bed
Cornell University runs a Master Gardener program. Do the coursework, volunteer on the gardening hotline, and you can proudly append the title to your name. I’m glad the program exists,...
Garth Brown |
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Fort Season
As children my brothers and I shared a mania for building forts. One, up on a slope where rain had worn out a shallow ditch, we made by laying rotting...
Garth Brown |
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Old Dogs, Old Tricks
Edmund went away for a long weekend, which meant I was on livestock duty and also that the animals weren’t on their best behavior. On Friday I was drinking my...
Garth Brown |
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What is it About Billionaires and Farming?
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal caught my attention. It describes the efforts of Larry Ellison, one of the richest men alive, to start a revolutionary agricultural enterprise...
Garth Brown |
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Snow Drifts and How to Spot Them
What is a snow drift? A snow drift is a large group of snow that has built up over time. This forms because of wind constantly blowing snow over a...
Garth Brown |
