Morning chores offer a brief, yet vital connection to the land, a respite from the rapid pace of instant communication and the perils of electronic overload: a continuous stream of news, weather, sports and entertainment. The pace of modern life and its constant rapid change are like fresh …

Rural survival once depended on an ability to read the land; to see and sense patterns and to respond to changing seasons and weather. Robert Frost described his emotional response to a tree tossing in the wind outside his bedroom window as "inner weather." New England has a rich tradition of …