Can the citified newcomer turn the tide of mistrust before she ruins the business altogether? Follow 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. We watched it and imagined living on a farm in New England, she recalls. Why? The bread, they tell her, you moved the bread from where it used to be. Vermonter Ellen Stimson was living in the Midwest almost two decades ago when her husband surprised her one December night with a bottle of port and the equally spirited black-and-white film Christmas in Connecticut. 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. Don’t skip the recipes at the end – cheese and bacon are the star ingredients – or Stimson’s genuinely moving tributes to the family’s beloved pets.In self-deprecating and hilarious fashion, Mud Season chronicles Stimson s transition from city living to rickety Vermont farmhouse.

Mud Season, which Stimson assures the reader is at least 78% true, humorously chronicles Stimson’s various mishaps and misfortunes as she and her family create a new life in Vermont. Happily for the reader, however, a dream upended makes for hilarious reading. Louis so why not sink a breathtaking amount of money renovating an old farmhouse? Why not buy a “lovely quaint country store”, make poor business decisions, flirt with bankruptcy and alienate the locals? Now throw in some ill-advised calls to 911 and a few environmental mishaps and clearly Ellen’s lilac-scented, starry night dream of Vermont was more a nightmare of unhappy villagers and threatening letters from creditors. Louis to start a new long-dreamed-for life in the rural splendor of Vermont.

Glorious fall foliage, cozy Heidi-esque mountains, delightful country stores, and cheese, lots and lots of cheese, – who wouldn’t fall in love with Vermont? Besotted with Vermont’s natural beauty (and all that cheese!) Ellen Stimson and her family packed up and left St.

Mud Season by Ellen Stimson