by Dan | Oct 14, 2019 | Black Sheep Manor, Black Sheep Manor, Blog, Books
It’s been almost eight months since I finished the first edit of my new Chene trilogy, and I’m here to bear witness: No matter what anyone tells you about how hard writing is, it’s nothing compared to the months of not-writing that follow the...
by Dan | Aug 29, 2019 | Black Sheep Manor, Blog, Random Xarking, Uncategorized
Back in in mid-2000s, I produced a single newspaper feature section that was unlike anything I’d ever seen before: A package of items addressing the debate over climate change, and not one of those items was structured as a “story.” As a newsfeature writer, story was...
by Dan | Jul 18, 2019 | Black Sheep Manor, Blog, Featured, Random Xarking
Yes, despite our national majorities and the encouraging results of the 2018 midterms, there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about Trump and the GOP in 2020. But over the past few days, the pundit class has been aggressively pushing the alarming notion that if...
by Dan | Mar 30, 2019 | Black Sheep Manor, Blog, Featured
One of the new things we’re trying in Year Three here at stately Black Sheep Manor is a seed-starting system based on a U.K. technique called “soil blocking.” My stepfather, Michael Sasser, gave me his soil blocking equipment in the winter of...
by Dan | Apr 24, 2018 | Black Sheep Manor, Blog, Random Xarking
Today’s long but thought-provoking read is Dylan Matthews’ “The myth of an ending: why even removing Trump from office won’t save American democracy/It feels like this moment in history deserves a definitive ending. It won’t get one,” at Vox....
by Dan | Jan 30, 2018 | Black Sheep Manor, Blog
For those of you keeping score at home, here’s the run-down on the current state of the 2018 BSM food-raising plan. BACKGROUND In 2016, we cleared an overgrown, eroded field that I calculate at about 0.30 of an acre. We made a vegetable garden on about 2k square...
