One of my favorite photo pieces we’ve run in Yankee focused on the young performers of Circus Smirkus in 2001. Our photographer, Dana Smith, captured these beautifully composed portraits in black and white. There is such an intensity and allure to each of the images. I remember having all of the black and white prints […]
I have always been ambivalent on the subject of hunting. I understand the arguments but love our friends in the wild. A trip to New Jersey, which inevitably includes the sight of deer carcasses scattered along the roadside like so much litter, can help along the arguments not only for thinning the herd, but also […]
My editor and a longtime travel writer, Mel Allen, often hands out the sagely advice to “get lost, but carry a good map.” Sometimes this works better in theory than in practice. Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely good advice for people in our line of work. Good travel writing takes readers to places they’ve […]
Though one could easily describe the handcrafted children’s clothing Mary-Alice Dalton produces as art , she’d prefer not to think of it that way. “My work is meant to be worn every day, by an active child, and I design and construct every piece with that in mind,” says the founder of Belmont, New Hampshire-based […]
“The regulars sit at the counter. They come in between 8:00 and 9:00, and they talk about politics and things in town. The good old boys. Sometimes you get involved in the talking, but when it comes to politics, I try not to say too much. They all have a lot to say!” “People have […]
A typical workday for Tracie Smith, an organic-vegetable farmer in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, is a long one. Weeding, harvesting, planting–on midsummer days she’ll be on the move for as many as 16 hours to meet the demands of her 300-member CSA (community-supported agriculture) business. Except at lunch. That’s when Tracie and her small staff sit […]
Like the house, the property’s bullpen has had many lives. This stout little post-and-beam barn sits on a solid foundation of quarried granite. Inside, the ring that once held a bull in check by his nose remains embedded in the stone wall, but not much else is the same. At first, Jilly and Alex Walsh […]
“When we first moved here, I was designing greeting cards and prints, but what I always wanted was hand-painted designs on ceramics,” recalls Jilly Walsh. “So I started with trays. I took my trays and cards to the New York International Gift Fair, walked through the Italian section, and saw an exhibitor selling ceramics with […]
Within earshot of the surf along Narragansett Town Beach sits a burnished little gem of a museum that dunks you into the lives of the farmers and fishermen of a coastal Rhode Island community. South County Museum, under the lively direction of Jim Crothers (a theater professor at the University of Rhode Island), trots out […]
Christine Chitnis traveled to more than 50 venues while writing Markets of New England (The Little Bookroom, 2011), and she knows a good one when she sees it. Chitnis writes for local and national publications, often on farming and sustainability, and blogs at christinechitnis.com. See her five “honorable mentions.” Get Our FREE Yankee Best New […]
I once realized with sudden clarity that owning a home, a home that has some land and a few outbuildings, perhaps some animals, is no different from owning a small business. I manage the budget and prioritize the needs the same as any shopkeeper, lying awake with worries as well as hopes for expansion and […]
Christine Chitnis spent most of last year roaming the region seeking out the best artisans’ and farmers’ markets our six states have to offer. Fifty of them have been beautifully captured on the pages of her new book, Markets of New England, but she gave us her personal top-ten list. Top 10 Farmers’ Markets Location […]
