The River Reporter

The Way Out Here

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Composed and alert, this rabbit reminds me of a meerkat on the open savanna.

I’ve had such a busy year with building up the homestead that I feel almost a constant need to craft or harvest something for sake of a story. As I sat down to write this, however, I remember … more

By HUNTER HILL | 10/28/20

With every minute that passes, more water is cooked out of the apples, rendering them smoother and thicker for the spreading.

Apple butter bliss

Breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day—definitely in my top three, if I had to be really picky. But as someone who isn’t very good at waking up early and has to be to work … more

By HUNTER HILL | 10/21/20

Soon smoke will linger lazily over the roof of our new smoker once filled with life-sustaining meat.

A hunter’s haze

I woke up this morning wishing I didn’t have to go to work, much like a lot of folks this week. It’s not that I didn’t want to go to work, so much as I would have preferred to be … more

By HUNTER HILL | 10/14/20

There’s no time like fall to enjoy the nature around us.

Take a moment

Before you read this, I invite you to find a comfy chair and get comfortable. Go ahead, I’ll wait. It’s been quite a year to say the least. Every so often, I forget about everything … more

By HUNTER HILL | 9/30/20

Fresh onions to start the base of our French onion soup.

Crying over French onion soup

I was in tears. Not because I was upset, but because I was laughing. Why was I laughing? Well because my wife was crying. Before you think ill of me, she was also laughing but unable to quell the … more

By HUNTER HILL | 9/23/20

Fascinating as piebalds may be, they are in all ways, besides their appearance, the same as a brown whitetail deer.

Precious piebald

Lot’s of people go hunting every year whether for sport, for food or for family time. This year seems to be no exception, especially with the current pandemic pushing folks to do more outside … more

By HUNTER HILL | 9/16/20

A bunch of elderberries ready for picking

Elderberry eating

Most of us are familiar with the seasons as they are presented in an elementary classroom: spring, summer, fall, and winter. Fewer of us are as familiar with the micro-seasons that pass within and … more

By HUNTER HILL | 9/2/20

Steam rolls up steadily from the pots of brine and sanitizing jars.

What's the big dill?

There are some smells in the morning that fill your nose and welcome the morning with a warm and aromatic transition from a slumberly dirge to a functioning status. As I awoke this past weekend from … more

By HUNTER HILL | 8/26/20

Unconcerned with my proximity, this buck enjoys premature apples that have fallen in my yard

The Ides of August

Out here, there are a few things that we take very seriously—as seriously as religion or a fiscal promise in business. I’m speaking to the ritual that is fall hunting season. Most of us … more

By HUNTER HILL | 8/19/20

My son and I sit atop the freshly felled Hemlock in our yard.

Crashing coniferous

There are a few constants when living in the woods of Northeastern PA. The first is that there will be trees. The second is that said trees will grow and at least some will need to be cut down. When … more

By HUNTER HILL | 8/5/20

Rorick was delighted with his first experience on a boat.

The time we caught nothing

My father will likely scold me for publicly admitting we ever went out fishing and failed to catch something. So for the sake of his pride, I will explain right up front that it was a last-minute … more

By HUNTER HILL | 7/22/20

Yellow squash fritters

Like many folks in the current climate, I’ve been spending a lot more time in the kitchen, trying desperately to use up the overabundant items from my garden. The yellow squash seem to have … more

By HUNTER HILL | 7/22/20

My little blue swallow poses in the door of her fancy home.

Aviary abodes

I often like to write about my recent adventures, things I do with my family outside and just a general appreciation for nature, which I feel so inspired by. Sometimes I have a hard time coming up … more

By HUNTER HILL | 7/8/20

My wife Chelsea surveying our winged livestock as we load the truck to harvest our chickens.

Feeding the dream

One by one, my waddling broilers were handed off to my wife as she loaded the transport crate in the back of the truck with our freshly finished meat birds. Catching the chickens was hardly a chore … more

By HUNTER HILL | 6/24/20

Finished with this wood pallet planter, my appreciative wife’s first question was if I could make a few more.

Weathered wood

Take a drive through the countryside; see the blossoming apple trees, the fresh green foliage and the beauty of the wildlife. On my drive to work this morning, I was blessed with seeing three … more

By HUNTER HILL | 6/10/20

There’s some things a country man has got to have on hand: Lassos are on my short list.

It all hangs on this

There I hung about eight feet off the ground with the ladder top a mere foot beneath my outstretched boot. My grip slipping off the newly installed roof, I attempted to surrender as much ground as I … more

By HUNTER HILL | 5/29/20

This oyster mushroom kit was not only fun to grow but only took a week and a half from start to finish.

Making mushrooms

Many folks have taken to new hobbies as a byproduct of being isolated at home: starting seeds, preparing gardening beds, or impatiently planting outdoors in sheer obstinance and rebellion to snowy … more

By HUNTER HILL | 5/13/20

My humble chicken hut functions well, but 25 new chicks have inspired me to expand.

The certainty of sweat

Something you’ve likely heard a few hundred times in the past few weeks is the phrase “in these uncertain times.” If you’re like me, you are “certain” that you are … more

By HUNTER HILL | 4/28/20

There’s nothing quite so satisfying as the first cut into a freshly baked loaf of bread.

Baking memories

The air around was warm and sweet, filled with the scent of flour, coffee and a delectable note of yeast. My black fabric apron showed miniature clashes with white powder and dried sticky dough where … more

By HUNTER HILL | 4/14/20

Fishing tails

Feet kicked up, hat brim low. One eye peripherally guiding the boat as it chugs along as the other resting lazily on the stern where the lines lay taught, spread wide behind the trolling vessel. The … more

By HUNTER HILL | 4/1/20

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Currently viewing stories posted within the past year.
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