Lucy is 12 years old, which is pretty old for a Chespeake Bay Retriever. She's slowed down quite a bit, but she's still the first one to ford a flooded creek and she keeps up easily on my two-mile morning walks.

Mark would tell you that a dog couldn't have a more perfect life than Lucy's. She has people around nearly 24-7, she can run as far as she wants in every direction without worrying about cars, and she knows she has a job to do. No wonder a few morning aches and pains aren't enough to keep her on the couch, even on a frigid winter day.

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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