In today’s New York Times, there is a wonderful piece about Paula and Billy Ray Brown, a couple who have started an organic dairy farm in Oxford, Mississippi. The piece’s title—“A Modern Dairy Tale—is the perfect summation of Billy Ray’s struggle to have a farm and the happy ending as he succeeded in a way he didn’t expect. It really is a heartening story, which gives me hope that those with small farms and green ways can make a go of it. What is particularly moving about this piece is the way Billy Ray’s father—the writer Larry Brown—wrote about his son’s efforts. Excerpts from Brown’s essay, “Billy Ray’s Farm,” are included in the Times piece.