News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, For me, this week held several bonfires, morning walks, and mountainside scrambles mixed among my everyday tasks and work - a good...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Hello from the Porch! If we haven't met, I'm Sarah Soltis, Managing Editor at FPR. I hope to meet or catch up with you in a few months at our fall conference...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, I’m taking the month of June off from email and Internet. FPR remains in good hands for my absence, however, and we have some...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, We haven't had an FPR conference since 2019 when we gathered in Louisville and were joined by Wendell Berry. But plans are shaping...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, This week has been a whirl. I’ve been grading final essays and spending every spare minute getting my garden ready to be planted....
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, This week we took a field trip to the Hurry Hill Maple Farm Museum, a museum inspired by the Newbery-Award-winning book Miracles on...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, The redbud trees are in full bloom. What more can be said about such glorious trees? In this week’s Water Dipper I recommend pieces...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, I’m building several raised beds for our garden, and while it’s a lot of work this first year, I’m hoping this work will establish...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, The daffodils are in peak glory around here, and many other plants are beginning to bud. So despite the fits and starts, spring's...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, We’ve announced the date (Sept. 24) and location (Grove City College) and keynote (Chris Arnade) for our fall conference. We’ll...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, We had a bitter cold stretch this week that, I fear, killed all the blossoms on our peach tree. So I can relate to what Matt Miller...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, I pulled the taps from the maple trees and ended up with about a gallon and a half of syrup. Not bad for a very amateur operation....
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, Despite some wrinkles obtaining paper, the new issue of Local Culture hit the mail this week and should be arriving in subscriber...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, We have fresh snow this morning, but our yard and the surrounding woods have been filled by recent arrivals. This week I watched a...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, An update on my maple syrup adventures: my jerry-rigged evaporator setup is inefficient and slow, but the results are delicious. In...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, We tapped a few maples this week, and the warm weather is making the sap run quickly. Cold sap straight from the tree is quite the...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, I drove through a torrential rainstorm this week to attend a conference. Sitting around a table with thoughtful people and talking...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, It's been a busy week at FPR, so without further ado, here's what new: In this week's Water Dipper I recommend pieces on...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, We did something a bit unusual for FPR this week: we published three different review essays responding to one book. But Ross...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, It's been bitterly cold here with several mornings below negative 10 degrees. But the squirrels dig through the snow after their...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, It's been a busy week on the Porch; in case you missed it, we released the cover of the spring issue of Local Culture. It's going...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, We're on tap for a big snowstorm starting tonight. It should be a good weekend to sit by the fire, drink some tea, and read a book....
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, While we were back in the Northwest for Christmas, Seattle got a nice snowfall. It was a treat to go cross-country skiing with my...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, Happy New Year–and merry eighth day of Christmas. We’ve had a lot of snow this week in the Pacific Northwest, so it’s been an...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, Merry Christmas! Russell Arben Fox takes stock of the legacy of Occupy Wall Street 10 years on: “holding up a sign, sitting at a...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, My first seed catalogue of the season arrived in the mail this week. It’s a peculiar kind of pleasure to thumb through it and dream...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, The ponds are freezing over, the snow is flying, and the dark comes early these days. At least I have plenty of final essays to...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, There's no Water Dipper this week, but I've read two books for fun, completed an essay, and begun drafting another. Maybe I need to...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, We have snow on the ground here in Pennsylvania to mark the beginning of Advent tomorrow. The oaks still have lots of leaves...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, This week we watched an impressive murmuration fly over our home, land on the oaks and maples and beeches in our backyard, and then...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, If you’re interested in meeting some other Porchers, do check our 2021 Porches page to see if any gatherings are happening in your...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, I traveled to the University of Dubuque this week to talk about my new book. Air travel is a pain, but I had several opportunities...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, Last weekend some students from the college spent the night roasting a pig and several chickens. They then invited the community to...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, The temperatures have finally dropped here in Pennsylvania this week, and the rains and storms have arrived. Now is a good season...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, The University of Notre Dame Press has put together a virtual book exhibit for FPR readers. Browse at your own risk: books are 40%...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, This week, we welcome a new editorial intern to the Porch: Sarah Soltis. Sarah is an English major at Grove City College, and...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, On Friday afternoon we had the opportunity to gather with a group of Grove City students in a local orchard for cider, baked goods,...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, Autumn has arrived here in Western PA. The leaves are turning and the cool temps at night are delightful. We’ve added a few more...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, In the week since we canceled the fall conference, we’ve begun to list some hosts for smaller, local gatherings. Several groups of...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, We were disappointed to make the difficult decision to call off the fall FPR gathering in Murfreesboro, TN. We will post a list of...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, I'm loving my new two-mile bike commute to campus. Now that the humidity of late summer is finally gone (at least for now), it's an...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, On Friday evening, as I washed the dishes after wrapping up my first week of teaching at Grove City, I watched a hummingbird feed...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, This week we announced the keynote speaker for our fall conference and opened up registration. Please make plans to join us in...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, One of the joys of moving to a new place is discovering its flora and fauna. I'm sure this will be an ongoing process, but we've...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, I'm surrounded by boxes, but we are in our new home. During this time of transition, we've been very blessed by friends and...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, Moving is a lot of work and not very much fun. I probably won’t get this email sent out next week as we’ll be in transit, but in...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, There are a lot of mosquitos in Michigan right now. Apparently last summer was relatively dry and many of the eggs never got enough...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, We've been enjoying wild black raspberries in our morning oatmeal this week. As the Wendell Berry poem I quote below reminds us,...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, This week we had the opportunity to watch a black-crowned night heron eat a five-inch catfish. It took the bird quite awhile to...
News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch, We took a brief trip to Chicago this week while our house was being shown to prospective buyers. While there, I learned that the...