For someone whose years of formal schooling focused on things like the Krebs cycle and the shape of electron shells, little attention was paid to history. A plunge into the fascinating world of cider and orchards, however, has reveled just how closely intertwined the history of America and the history of American cider truly are. … [Read more…]
There was a time when the small family farm was the heart of American agriculture, a time when local food production wasn’t an exciting new trend but just the way things were. The face of American farms has changed dramatically in the last century. Overall farm land is being consolidated, individual farms getting larger, and … [Read more…]
The latter part of the 19th century was a transformative time for the western half of North America. Settlers seeking new economic opportunities flocked to what would become the western states, especially after passage of the Homestead Act in 1862. All a would-be landowner needed to do was file an application for a 160 acre … [Read more…]