When the mercury rises, nothing’s better than fresh summer produce. A couple of great dishes and a cool breeze make a hot, lazy day just about perfect. Grilling makes mealtime a summer event. Expand your repertoire by grilling veggies like corn on the cob, zucchini, or create a shish kebab. Rubs and marinades are just as tasty on veggies as on your burger!

Whether you’re flying with your family on a big trip across the country or going on a quick weekend road trip to the beach, smart travelers like to pack light. Not only does it make packing easier, but it makes finding what you need when you reach your destination easy, too.

Taking the family for a summer road trip oftentimes includes the furry children. Kennels and pet sitters are costly and no one wants to leave the four-legged family members out of the fun. Your friends at Mast General Store are here to offer some tips that will help make your summer adventure a safe and enjoyable one for the furriest members of your family.

We all want to invest our lives in the things we love. For Frank and Peggy, their great love in life, in addition to each other, is exploring the outdoors together.

This past June, one of our new Facebook friends asked us an excellent question. We posed her question to our 25,000 “friends on the internet” and were mightily touched by their answers. This blog captures what happened. 

Do you remember those lazy, endless summer days of childhood? A whole afternoon was spent skipping rocks in the creek. You’d lie in the grass, pull a blade, and fashion a horn by pressing your thumbs tightly together. Chalk drawn hopscotch boards colored neighborhood sidewalks in green, pink, and blue.

When a 31-year-old John Cooper first laid eyes on the Mast General Store back in 1976, he had a vision for his family’s future that involved going back into the past. “I fell in love with the store as soon as I stepped inside,” says Cooper, who had traveled from his home in Florida with a friend to scout out potential real estate. “They literally had to carry me out.”

In March of 2012, Southeast Discovery, "The Retirement and Second Home Blog", wrote an article exploring the richness of Mast General Store - our history, values, people, and the things we care about. Here's a snippet of their post. Click through at the bottom to read more.

Bird watching is full of surprises. Did you realize that chickadees are as fond of peanut butter as your four-year-old… and as prone to squabbling over it as toddlers are? Have you ever watched a cardinal feed a choice seed to his mate?  Listened to the joyous song of a sparrow after a rainstorm?