by RJ Heller | Dec 7, 2025 | Life Downeast
Many years ago I read the book First Person Rural, Essays of a Sometime Farmer, written in 1978 by Noel Perrin. After finishing it I was convinced that one day I would go to Vermont, buy a 10-acre farm, raise chickens, buy a couple of goats, maybe even a cow and live...
by RJ Heller | Nov 4, 2025 | Life Downeast
Sometimes we need to find the still water in our life. Whether it comes from a trip to somewhere, a routine, a game or just a quiet reflective pause. To be still is to become. ******* This time and place in our lives feels angry. Confusion reigns from small towns and...
by RJ Heller | Aug 31, 2025 | Life Downeast
We all try to emulate our parents in one way or another. Sometimes it is with the embrace of a lesson learned, a skill mastered or a full-fledged attempt to follow in their footsteps. Here Downeast the importance of work is apparent and with it comes an intense desire...
by RJ Heller | Oct 14, 2024 | Life Downeast
When someone leaves, their absence remains. It floats like fog upon the water, seeking a place to sit and dine with friends, family and the community. And when the meal is over at the table of life, people head home to other lives, other responsibilities while that...
by RJ Heller | Feb 14, 2024 | Life Downeast
I forget what the conversation was about, but I remember it happening just after my wife and I moved here to live the proverbial “the way life should be.” Someone said to me: “You wouldn’t understand because you are a person from away.” I asked: “What’s a person from...
