Kate Sheridan shares what it was like to work a crop farm as a child in the 1970s. Read her essay "Dirty Work."

The 2025 Best in Rural Writing Shortlist includes five essays and five short stories by writers from around the world.

A new doctor has to get a little creative to win over his clientele. Enjoy the short story "A Practical Love" by Marilyn Paolino.

"It was never an act / of treason or dissension, / only loyalty / to something deeper..." poems by James Lilliefors.

Malcolm Smith details the quest for an elusive "old time" sound in traditional bluebrass music. Read his essay here.

My bewilderment has endured for years since childhood’s footfalls quieted forever along with the soothing hum of the separator dividing cream from milk drawn from the dugs of Guernsey cows all of whic...

"The original honkytonks’ broken window / is the only air conditioning this buggy building..." Honkytonk Whiskey by James Lowell.

In "Bittersweet" by Julie Esther Fisher, a husband and wife negotiate their marriage with the means in front of them.

YouTube video by The Milk House

Enter the Best in Rural Writing Contest to win cash prizes and gain exposure. Fiction and nonfiction are eligible.

A person searches for a place to belong in "Pigeons" by Surnaí Molloy, shortlisted in the 2025 Best in Rural Writing Contest.

"Dust catches in my throat / between the rows, / following the windrows— / line after long line..." -Absolution for Two by Laura DeHart Young

Luther Allen contemplates how man's relationship with nature is navigated in the act of hunting, in his essay "A Place and Reason to Hunt."

The deadline is midnight GMT on September 1, with the contest open to writers of all levels of experience from all around the world

In "Foreigners" by Gwylym Ford, two people force themselves outside of their comfort zone in a classroom in order to surive.

"Thirsty. I drink the desolate hours whole / tall on the backbone of tomorrow..." The Spine of Time by J.M. Medeiros

In the short story "Possum" by Elijah Bayuk, the past threatens to interfere with the present in a small southern town.

Jericho Road “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho . . . .” Come harvest time the sunny chill on Jericho Road finds them in the barn, the two Sim brothers, Bill and Beau, replacing deck plat...

A faithful wife helps a husband fulfill his prophesy in Cathy Adams's short story "You Won't Get a Second Chance."

Enjoy a moment of reflection on our fleeting place on this ear. Read "In our Old Barn, I Ponder a Question we each Must Ask" by Gail Strock.

“Never seen a Laney miss the market,” said the farmers market manager. He stood at the edge of the faded blue canopy and rested a clipboard on his hip. “That must mean it’s serious.” He leaned forward...

Since she stopped attending mass, Kitty’s mother has taken to haunting her. But only on Sundays, the smug bitch. It was a hard decision to stop attending mass as Kitty’s contribution is duly needed in...

Daragh Fleming writes about an unusual pet and how it helped him understand his youth in the essay "A Snake Named Snake."

In the essay "Wild Strawberries" by William Gary Cole, a boy and his mother help each other negotiate the world around them.

A fatal accident leaves a quiet man with plenty to think about in the short story "Rained Off" by Michael Fitzgerald.

Sarah Fleming finds a moment of piece away from the responsibilities she has suddenly been tasked with, in her excerpt "Field and Streams."

A community comes together to take care of one of its biggest problems, in Michael Lundy's short story "American Testament."

Tom Milburn reflects on the season and his childhood growing up in snow in his essay "Winter on the Farm: A Memoir."

YouTube video by Successful Farming

In "Pour Me Three Fingers and Grab me a Beer" by Dan Tamblyn, a father and son make the most of the time they have left together.

"Our farm in long exhale—heat beats harder / on these acres. Fickle rain. Dormant acres / of wild grass..." Nancy Huxtable Mohr.

Young boys are forced to confront serious matters sooner than they expected, in the short story "Nameless" by Daniel Heila.

"The cattle have grazed through the wait / anxious at the gate getting noisy..." Enjoy three poems by James Walton.

They sure didn’t need her there—Beulah knew that without being told. Hunched over the steering wheel of her Buick, peering through the haze as the wipers whisked the snow from her windshield, she coul...

Editor’s note: The third annual “Best in Rural Writing Contest” was presented by the rural literary journal The Milk House with promotional support from

Editor’s note: The third annual “Best in Rural Writing Contest” was presented by the rural literary journal The Milk House with promotional support from

Andrew Sharp approaches death on both the conceptual and practical level, trying to negotiate its necessity in modern life.