Sometimes research feels like brushing against the still-verdant leaves of dwarf apple trees and the cushion of wet earth after jumping for a golden prize. Sometimes research smells like the sweetly acidic vinegar from apples a few days past due.

That sensory field trip broke up hours and hours of reading journal papers and books about federal farm policies during the Great Depression on my way to writing the hidden history of pick-your-own farms, from a single penny to a billion-dollar industry.

Not exactly what you think of when you see Cities as the theme, right?

But urban areas were never absent in my discussions.

"Part of me wonders if you-pick is driven by urban people who have farm experience," mused Jenny Barker-Devine, an associate professor of history at Illinois College whom I spoke with for the story. I read and ruminated about cities because the decade leading into the Depression saw so much interchange between urban and rural areas.

The easy distinction between the two labels is simply the number of people, and that's also the most common starting point for a list of divisions.
 
Even if the divide is more comfortable, we should remember the bridge that connects each category of place: it's a community – work, play, home – for someone.

My calendar still says it's the witching season when magic is possible anywhere, so here's a wonderfully wicked poem titled "Concepts" at the bottom of this books newsletter I look forward to every week.