Two hundred years ago, a group of hardy frontiersmen set out from St. Louis, Missouri, and headed west under orders from President Thomas Jefferson to find the Northwest Passage and open up the newly-acquired Louisiana Purchase Territory. The adventure is still celebrated with all the zeal as it was in the days of yore. Come along on the trip with Oregon wilderness poet and retired logger, Michael J. "Hoss" Barker, and partake of the festivities from the comfort of your own easy chair.

Brambleberry Farm is a place where friends become family through a shared love of sustainable living and good food. It follows Jo, a chef at the organic restaurant on site, who also has synesthesia, a disease where she experiences two sensations at the same time. Her partners at the Farm are the intense Mark; "mother-to-them-all," Hayley Marie; jewelry-maker, Grace, and the brewer who lives down the street, Tim. The book also includes many delicious recipes described at the organic restaurant.

From my mother's heart, I would like to share with you the life and passing of our dear son, Ryan Mayer, who died April 1, 2010, after battling brain cancer for three years. Ryan was born May 26, 1969, and died at age 40, leaving a young wife, three children under seven years of age, his Mom and Dad and four siblings with their families. His great love for us and for our Lord, as well as his courage, made our sad path - our Via Dolorosa - our way of the cross - bearable. Our hearts were totally broken. I still cannot say, "Thanks be to God," for this particular, excruciating painful trial,...