Sam Tries Things

I struggle to get into the holiday spirit. Christmas music gives me a migraine, picking out presents makes me anxious and -- let’s be honest -- gingerbread houses are a waste of (frankly, mediocre) cookies. Since I’ve moved to…
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In the suburbs of Washington, D.C., where I grew up, the entire metropolitan area will shut down for a light dusting of snow. Still, my family had no snow day traditions to speak of. My city-born parents were skeptical of the stuff, and…
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Like many wayward millennials, I have spent the lion's share of my early 20s living in apartments without a dishwasher. Dishwashers may be more energy-, water- and soap-efficient than hand washing dishes, but in big cities, they’re as much…
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Winter is here, and ‘tis the season -- for lip balm, anyway. The cold, dry air chaps my lips faster than autumn in Maine gives way to the first frost. No matter what the weather, though, I feel like I’m missing a limb if I don’t have a…
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A few months ago, while I was squeezing a cheesecloth filled with pulped nuts to make almond milk, I realized that I had yet to milk a cow. It took the gush of almond juice between my fingers for me to realize that this was the closest to…
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For my generation, staying in touch is mostly digital: sending DMs to college buddies on Instagram, lurking on high school classmates’ Facebook profiles or receiving the occasional email from that friend in the Peace Corps…
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Congratulations are in order, readers. This week, I celebrated my one year anniversary at Hello Homestead and the Bangor Daily News. It may seem like small potatoes, but it’s a big deal for me -- I haven’t lived anywhere for a full year…
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When I lived in the Bay Area, I would take the train to San Francisco every Friday for a long walk along the harbor. Sometimes, I would walk past the piers to Boudin Bakery to buy a loaf of their famous sourdough bread. The secret to their…
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I see art in everything. I have a blue enamelware spoon hanging on the wall of my kitchen. A cleaned jar of salsa with a flame-licked label (spoiler alert: it was hot) sits proudly on display in my living room. When I moved to New England,…
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My community garden bed in all its glory this spring. | Photo by Sam Schipani When I moved to Bangor last winter, I had no idea where I was going to garden in the spring. My second-floor apartment on the outskirts of Little City was…
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Here are my favorite fall activities: shopping for kitschy sweaters at the thrift store, crafting punny Halloween costumes and experimenting with every type of squash at the farmers market. Corn mazes generally don’t rank very high on my…
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I have more experience with plant-based milks than your average non-vegan consumer. During my six-month fellowship at the California-based “Sierra Magazine” before I moved to Maine, I spent one sunny afternoon sampling an array of…
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