An Antidote for a Reluctant Spring by Joe Scheidler

Dinner tonight starts with a nice big diced onion dropped in a skillet of piping hot butter and olive oil. It’s followed by chopped celery, sweet peppers, broccoli and cauliflower, celery, carrots, sliced mushrooms, cooked brown rice, soy sauce, a pound of canned venison, a smidge of brown sugar, a dash of salt. We’re following a recipe in the way we hike through unfamiliar territory using a map as a general reference.

March slipped out unnoticed, leaving us mired in a string of cold days with ...