John Valentine

There were many clues at first. The usually soft, packed down, pine needle laying nests were often a mess at the end of the day, the chickens were sometimes bunched in the corners of the coop and, the clincher, the missing eggs. On weekends I started going out to the chicken coop at odd hours […]

The clay-chomping rototiller sits idle near the mildewed shed. A cover of red clover runs amok, rising as high as a foot in places, waving like horticultural pompadours over expectant raised beds. Sneaky morning glories, natural insurgents, cavort on rusty tomato cages. “Where is he?” they all seem to ask. They’ll have to wait a […]

A dozen minutes before game time, in a crowded hallway beneath section 12 of Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Duke men’s basketball team waits for the call. They’re just big kids, but they know they’re at the next level. The anticipation and excitement that surrounds them is palpable, addictive. For two-hour spells several times a year, […]

We are a people of worries: Will my family sleep well through the night? Are my children, scattered between careers and colleges, doing OK today? Will Jabari Parker stay healthy during his freshman year, or will he Kyrie Irving his way into the NBA? Some days, you just need a little extra assurance. When my […]

I’m usually out the front door by first light, tiptoeing by the dogs so as not to wake them. On the best mornings, I feel like I’ve slipped into a Jacob Cooley painting, becoming invisible in the cool, layered and enveloping fog just before dawn. I listen for sounds and the absence of them. I’m […]

My wife and I have lived in the middle of fields and forests for 40 years now. We know the patterns of the sun and the moon, the light and the dark, the sounds of the animals and the weather. We listen for the spring peepers and the distant howls of coyotes, the wake-up calls […]

“Here, let the Chicken Whisperer handle this. Just hold the door open a crack,” my wife calmly instructed. Her voice changed as she turned to the frightened flock: “It’s OK, babiesyes, climb up on your roost, sure.” A few minutes later, that soothing, nurturing tone coaxed five chickens into cardboard boxes for a bouncy ride […]

Back in my running days, I ran around this tri-county Piedmont maze of back roads, auditoriums and playing fields by car, attempting to keep up with my daughters’ various activities, from the drama department to the verdant pitch. It was a busy time, but I kept centered with one cherished morning routine: I’d grab a […]

A wintry mix was in the forecast, but I could have told you that without a television: As I walked to the chicken coop with a bucket of warm water, the stark Snow Moon was setting in the west. That’s why what happened next might be the young year’s biggest surprise yet. Just half awake, […]