Crucial Reading This Week

Timberland boots go downhill, surveillance pricing, and mystery food additives.

Hello dear readers,

I’ve taken another step toward becoming a fully-fledged rural Vermonter: I got my hunting license.

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while. If you care about eating meat that is locally and ethically sourced, hunting and processing an animal is a bucket-list item. But when I got an email from Vermont Fish & Wildlife about a turkey hunting course, that’s when I got my butt in gear. After all, a whole flock of turkeys often appears in my backyard, or wander across my road. How hard could this be?

I signed up for a full weekend of hunting safety and basics. I went on eBay to buy used layers. (And I managed to find almost all of it in cotton and merino!) I peppered my friend who has a farm and knows guns with questions. I contacted all my neighbors to get permission to turkey hunt on their land.

As you read this, I’m probably out roaming the 200 acres that I have permission to hunt on this weekend. Honestly, don’t think I’m going to get anything. Turns out turkeys are very perceptive to the slightest movement, and hence quite humbling to pursue. In my two days of scouting through the woods and fields, I’ve only seen a few hens and haven’t heard one gobble indicating an adult male that I could take is on the premises.

And that’s okay, because I’ve already gotten so much out of this.

I learned about different guns and gun safety, and became confident loading and unloading my 20-gauge shotgun without even looking at it. Now I’ll be able to tell immediately if I’m talking to an unsafe cowboy, and can act accordingly.

I got in touch with some neighbors that I hadn’t yet met or talked to in years. They were all super cool about it, and now I have their numbers and emails and a better understanding of the neighborhood.

I’ve walked all over the back woods and gotten to know the land much better. I recorded 20 different songbirds on Merlin. I found a mulberry patch, some old logging trails, peaceful babbling creeks, lots of moose scat (as well as coyote and bear), and a vernal pool filled with egg masses. I sat in silence at sunset, then started a duet with a barred owl down the ridge.

Oh, and I now have an incredibly flattering pair of camouflage pants.

Even if my friend and I find no gobblers tomorrow, this has already been a grand, brain-stretchy, nature-based adventure. A whole turkey meal that I earned through patience, skill, and knowledge of my woods? That would be just a bonus.

So, on to the roundup of interesting reading today on healthy fashion, healthy homes, healthy supplements, and public health. I hope you enjoy!

Speaking of slow cooking! I talked about the Magnifique Claypot Multicooker a month ago (I still really like it) and now I have a discount code for you: Use ECOCULT for 10% off.

Sustainable, Natural, Quality Fashion

You paid to recycle your clothing. Here’s where it actually goes. And why recycling alone won’t fix our fashion waste problem. Related: My popular story from last year about Trashie.

Plus, those clothing donation bins are killing people in the U.S. (Canada fixed the problem. Can we?)

Icebreaker is inching closer to being completely plastic-free.

Meanwhile, the other merino wool brand Allbirds shows that you can’t lean on sustainability while not making a fashionable product. You have to evolve…to an AI company though?? Absolutely wild. This is proof we are in an AI bubble.