Small Acreages Photos
“Like old bones, old dishes can hide secrets in the earth for centuries until they’re dug from the dirt, exposed, examined, and questioned. Other plates and bowls survive the passing of time intact, perched vain and proud on display where they prattle about their origins and worth to any collectors who happen by. My Great-Grandmother Hudson’s dessert dishes … are neither silent nor boastful. … I keep them because it is my turn to keep them.”
—from “The Dessert Dishes” /SMALL ACREAGES
𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑃𝐸𝑁/𝐷𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑛-𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑙 𝐴𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑦
“Ernie said … ‘I’d forgotten how pretty lilacs smell.’
Yes, I nodded. Maybe like the first new day on earth, I thought.”
— from “Lilacs and Spirea”/SMALL ACREAGES
𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑃𝐸𝑁/𝐷𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑛-𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑙 𝐴𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑦
“Pat and Dave … would die in a plane crash. Divorce took a toll on other couples we knew back then. But we’re still standing. Partly because of dumb luck. But partly, I think, because I had a husband willing to hunker up near the ceiling for weeks brushing on poo-colored paint to make our home as perfect as he could. Because he had faith it would turn out to be a beautiful thing.”
— from “Beams”/SMALL ACREAGES
𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑃𝐸𝑁/𝐷𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑛-𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑙 𝐴𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐴𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑦
“And how did my America feel about being unable to vote in her America? Did she chafe at the irony? Did she question the morality of slavery? Or was her American Dream about the freedom to dream things that never were and ask, as Robert Kennedy would later do, 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡.”
from ”America McGinnis” / SMALL ACREAGES
𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑/𝑃𝐸𝑁/𝐷𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑛-𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑏𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑙 𝐴𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑦
𝑷𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐 𝑪𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕: 𝑬𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓 & David Lowe/𝑭𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒂’𝒔 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆
“January in Kentucky reminds me of a difficult relative. You know the kind I mean, the eccentric ones you put up with because you’ve known them all your life, shared the good times and the bad, and so you love them. But why, oh why, can’t they have a better disposition?”
— from “January” / SMALL ACREAGES
𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘌𝘕/𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯-𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥
Photo credit Ernie Stamper
For the love of old cemeteries and family history—
“ ‘Thank you,’ I whispered, in case the dead aren’t deaf.”
— from “Polina’s Grave”/SMALL ACREAGES
𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘌𝘕/𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯-𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘷𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥
“. . . an apple, even the plumpest, the reddest, never enticed me to overeat. Oh, no, had I been Eve, the Devil would have introduced original sin into the world with blackberry jam cake slathered in brown sugar icing.”
— from “Jam Cake/SMALL ACREAGES
𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘌𝘕/𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯-𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘷𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥
“It’s hard to understand the past, though it trails behind us, shaping even our molecules, pulling us down or lifting us up.”
— from “I’d Give a Hundred Dollars”/SMALL ACREAGES
𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘌𝘕/𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯-𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘷𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥
Family photo of Ernest Beverly on his Fordson tractor with metal wheels circa 1935
