As I did last year, I’m presenting a curated list of some of the Awesome Stuff I have personally enjoyed or have found useful during 2025.
I’m going to keep it tight this year (I want the whole thing fits into the body of an email), so here we go!
The Wonder Book of Wonders
I picked this up at the Viroqua Public Market the first week of January. It’s as wonderful as the title suggests. There’s a whole series of Wonder Books from British publisher Ward, Lock & Co., but The Wonder Book of Wonders stands in a whimsical category of its own.
Ruby Coffee Olde Milk-Glass Mug
As you may know, I have a weakness for coffee mugs. So when we visited the Ruby Coffee Headquarters Cafe in Nelsonville, Wisconsin and I saw the Ruby-branded Olde Milk-Glass Mug sitting seductively on a shelf, I couldn’t resist.
Parsnip Predator
The Parsnip Predator is a very specific tool designed by The Prairie Enthusiasts to help landowners eradicate the wild parsnip, an invasive species around these parts.
You can buy something similar like the Radius Garden Root Slayer, but the killer feature of the Parsnip Predator is a handle that’s oriented perpendicular to the cutting blade. You wouldn’t think such a minor modification would aid in quickly zeroing in on the stalk of a wild parsnip plant, but it does.
Ceramic Coffee Dripper
I use this ceramic coffee dripper at least once or twice a week. It makes a slightly sweeter and cup of coffee with a richer aromatic profile. I like changing up the coffee-drinking experience every so often, and the ceramic dripper does that. Plus it looks like Mt. Fuji (when it’s upside down). (I first wrote about experimenting with device back in Dispatch 20.)
Blackwing One-Step Long Point Pencil Sharpener
One of my favorite pencils is the Palomino Blackwing 602. There’s a very specific way to sharpen them to get the perfect point. I used to use the Kum Two-Step Sharpener, but more often than not I’d break off the point I was trying to sharpen. So now I use the much simpler and sleeker One-Step Long Point Sharpener from Blackwing.
Coffee Dosing Trays
All right, I didn’t really need a set of Coffee Dosing Trays. But, man, are they neat looking. I wanted the plain white one in the small size, but it was sold out. So I upgraded to the light green set of two. No regrets. I use the small one twice every morning.
Stihl MS-271
We had so many fallen trees on the property this year, the old battery-powered chainsaw just wasn’t cutting it. So I stepped up to a Stihl MS-271 — The Farm Boss. She can be a little tricky to start, but once she gets warmed up, she makes quick work of the deadfall. By the way, MS stands for motorsäge, the German word for chain saw (the literal translation is motor saw).
Gooloo GT4000 Battery Jump Pack
I always keep a battery jump pack in each of the cars in the fleet. This year I upgraded to the Gooloo GT4000 Battery Jump Pack which has an internal pre-heating device. This makes it functional down to temperatures of -40°F. Does it work? Hopefully, I never have to find out. Annoyingly, it didn’t ship with a nice case like the other Gooloo products — that was $25 extra.
Købenstyle Butter Warmer
Is $65 a somewhat ridiculous price to pay for a one-use kitchen item? Absolutely. But our red Købenstyle Butter Warmer melts butter like nothing else — even a microwave. And we don’t own a microwave. But we melt a lot of butter. And it has many other uses (including making excellent hot chocolate).
Toro PowerMax 824
As I’ve said elsewhere, my Toro PowerMax 824 is my favorite wintertime labor-saving device. She (we call her Talulah) has cut down the time it takes to clear snow from the driveway by literal hours. She’s got an electric start, which really helps get her going on that first outing of the season. I did replace her steel skid shoes with heavy duty polypropylene skid shoes to minimize the damage to the concrete and blacktop portions of the driveway.
This is the second year I’ve drafted a list of Awesome Stuff. If you’re interested, check out the Awesome Stuff from 2024. — it’s all still relevant in 2025.
This is probably the last you’ll hear from me in 2025. I appreciate the time you’ve spent with me this year and look forward to continuing to entertain, inform, and amuse you in 2026.
Until then, have a great holiday season and, to paraphrase Agent Dale Cooper, remember to give yourself a present every day.
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