Armed with the passion-and haplessness-of wide-eyed newcomers they rescue goats and adopt chickens, do battle with skunks and bats and falling ice, and, most disastrously, buy a black hole of a general store. Louis and threw themselves into a wildly different life in small-town Vermont.

most of us) only fantasize about, Ellen Stimson and her family packed up their house in St.

“Taking a plunge that wimpier sorts (i.e. Stimson's voice is endearing: both in its self-deprecation and its rapture, as she sings an only slightly conflicted love song to Vermont.” ― Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted “Anyone who has ever dreamed of leaving the city and taking their lives back to nature (and who hasn't?) will find much to contemplate in this warm and hilarious tale of rural misadventure and small town quirk, even if they have never chased a goat in a bathing suit or called 911 because there were cows in the road. Why? “The bread,” they tell her, “you moved the bread from where it used to be.” Can the citified newcomer turn the tide of mistrust before she ruins the business altogether?įollow the author to her wit’s end and back, through her full immersion into rural life―swapping high heels for muck boots raising chickens and sheep fighting off skunks, foxes, and bears and making a few friends and allies in a tiny town steeped in history, local tradition, and that dyed-in-the-wool Vermont “character.” None She dreams of patrons streaming in for fresh-made sandwiches and an old-timey candy counter, but she learns they’re boycotting the store. 2,036, one of the oldest continually operating country stores in the country, she learns the hard way that “improvements” are not always welcomed warmly by folks who like things just fine the way they’d always been. When she decides she wants to own and operate the old-fashioned village store in idyllic Dorset, pop. In self-deprecating and hilarious fashion, Mud Season chronicles Stimson’s transition from city life to rickety Vermont farmhouse. Louis: “We’re moving to Vermont!” The reality, they quickly learn, is a little muddier than they'd imagined, but, happily, worth all the trouble. After a getaway in gorgeous rural Vermont―its mountains ablaze in autumnal glory, its Main Streets quaint and welcoming―Ellen Stimson and her family make up their minds even before they get back to St.

Mud Season by Ellen Stimson