I’ve now written exactly 100 of these intro essays. How about this time I let a reader do the honors? This letter—words and art—is from Christa Chevalier of Enosburg Falls, VT:

Thank you, Pat, for having a dream and fulfilling it. The stories in GREENPRINTS remind me of a sunny day last July when I was drawn to my kitchen window by a pink flower I spotted growing in the middle of the front yard. This was the day after a teenage boy I had hired mowed the entire yard.

I went out to take a closer look, and there was a lovely columbine—without a single blade of grass near it that was higher than the rest of the lawn. That boy must have trimmed all the grass around the flower with his pocketknife!

I am not sure how long I stood there, smiling, and flooded with joy toward a fellow human who had wanted to share something that beautiful.

That is exactly how I feel when I read all the wonderful stories in GREENPRINTS. Thank you, Pat, for sharing the remarkable flower that is this magazine.

Thank you, readers, for supporting an oddball idea I had exactly 25 years ago. GREENPRINTS is alive today because you support it, simple as that.

Pat Stone, Editor