Chimney sweeping day always reminds me of my first day on a ship in the Navy.

A shipmate handed me a broom and said "Meet your new best friend".

I thought he was joking, but soon learned the critical link between our nation's security and a well swept deck.

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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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