The author began this collection as a series of pieces for Harper's Magazine when he left New York City and moved to a saltwater farm in Brooklin, Maine. There is one essay for each month, dated from July 1938 to January 1943. His observations on town meetings, poultry, the weather, songbirds, compost, taxes, war, winter, and much more will resonate just as strongly today, to anyone attuned to Maine life, as they did half a century ago.