A little prep and a little prayer yield enough tomatoes to feed a multitude

THE LAZY GARDENER

By BOBBI BUCHANAN
Chief Editor
For folks who long to grow their own food without all the fuss and fancy equipment, we bring you the gardening foibles of Bobbi Buchanan. She doesn’t have the wherewithal to hoe a straight row, let alone keep her garden neat and weeded. She’s an expert at nothing, which… »

Must We Mow?

FROM THE EDITOR
My neighbors say nothing about the hip-high fleabane in our yard because they can’t see it. The gravel driveway dips from the road, and the shagbark hickories and brambles that surround our house help to camouflage the oasis of wildflowers that the family next door might consider unsightly weeds.
My husband, son and… »

Author Connie May Fowler talks about her new novel, ghosts and why she’s a fan of independent bookstores

INTERVIEW
By BOBBI BUCHANAN
Connie May Fowler writes the type of books that literary lovers tend to read in one sitting. Whether she’s giving the perspective of a black widow spider or a family of ghosts, Fowler’s stories are literally haunting, but they’re also memorable in a soothing sense, with characters that linger in the mind long… »

Leery or Weary of Earth Day?

5 reasons to celebrate, and 5 ways to do it
EARTH DAY

By BOBBI BUCHANAN

Maybe you’re a global warming skeptic. Or you don’t like the face of the environmental movement. Not an Al Gore fan? Had your fill of Michael Pollan? That’s okay. You don’t have to be a liberal or buy expensive organic… »

Unplugged and Lovin’ It

FROM THE EDITOR
As a kid I looked forward to tornado season in Kentucky. Every spring brought the promise of stormy weather and, with it, the likelihood of losing our lights for an evening.
Nothing beat the thrill of watching those dark, ominous clouds roil in the western skies and hearing thunder crack so loud it… »

Making Manna

FROM THE EDITOR
One of the biggest thrills of my elementary school years was the day our first-grade class made butter. We learned about the tools and ingredients necessary for this task from a smiling, sturdy woman, invited for the afternoon by our young teacher, Mrs. Lawson. I remember, in particular, the small wooden churn… »

Don’t buy it

FROM THE EDITOR
Buy, buy, buy.
Being frugal, and especially in these tough economic times, those are precisely the words I don’t want to hear.
So the day my husband David came up with a plan to construct a much-needed hay shelter out of recycled materials, I was game. In his construction job, he’d torn down a customer’s… »

Y’all Come Back Now

FROM THE EDITOR
Just when you got used to those cumbersome PDF files …. Ta-da! We did it again. Welcome to yet another format for the ever-evolving New Southerner.
Don’t leave us yet—this change was for you, dear reader. From now on, New Southerner will have twin purposes: to provide a seasonal selection of prose, poetry… »