Contributor

    Dorcas Smucker writes from the Sparrow Nest, a cabin beside Muddy Creek, near Harrisburg. She and her husband live in a 110-year-old farmhouse where they raised six children and an assortment of lambs, cats, and chickens as well as garden vegetables, fruit, daffodils, and dahlias.

    Born in the Midwest to an Old Order Amish family, Dorcas is currently part of the Willamette Valley’s Mennonite community. For many years not only a mom and pastor’s wife but also a columnist for the Register-Guard, Dorcas mines her rural setting, adventures, relationships, and travels for the quirky and significant details that lead to relatable essays and stories.

    Dorcas’s Letter from Harrisburg columns in the Register-Guard have been collected into seven books. In addition, Dorcas has blogged for twenty years and frequently speaks at women’s retreats and other events.

    In her Lookout column, Dorcas will write about a range of subjects, from life stages, retirement, and adult children to reconciling tradition and modern life to adapting the skills of her Amish heritage to today’s quest for self-sufficiency and sustainability to agriculture in the Willamette Valley,  all mixed with travels, memories, humor, and reflection.

    She invites you along for the ride, whether by horse and buggy, tractor, car, or airplane.