I drive down the winding rural road to the farm, enjoying the quiet of early morning and watching as the mist rises from the nearby fields. I breathe in the quiet beauty. The stillness belies the pace of activity that occurred just the day before as our crew pulled the harvest from the field in anticipation of today's market.
Their day started at 5 a.m. with the harvest of the tender leafy vegetables: salad greens, arugula, kale, collard greens, Swiss chard, and lettuce. It was critical that these veggies were picked before the heat of the sun would cause them to wilt at the slice of the harvest knife.
After the greens, the roots - carrots, beets, scallions - are pulled from the soil. Broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage are cut and stored in totes. Everything is trucked back to the barn and unloaded to be washed, weighed, and packed for market.
While the wash crew cleans the harvest, the rest of the crew loads more harvest totes into the truck and heads out to pick fruit crops - summer squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplants - which don't get harvested until the morning dew dries off. Harvesting these crops while they are wet can promote the spread of disease.
It's been a dry and hot summer so far in Windham County, which is good news if you're a tomato, but bad news if you're a fungus. The damp and cool conditions of last summer fueled an outbreak of late blight, a fungal disease that wiped out many tomato...
We've written quite a bit over the last couple of years about local food and the revolution in value-added agriculture in Vermont. While small-scale, local agriculture is becoming a growing part of the Vermont economy, federal agricultural policy still favors the big commodity farms. An article in the July...
New Moms Network is a free service of the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital Birthing Center. Moms meet on Wednesdays from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in the Brew Barry Conference Room on the lower level of the main hospital. It is a chance for new moms (dads are also welcome) to network and learn tips from each other. Babies are warmly welcomed, of course, and need not to have been born at BMH to attend. Programs scheduled for August include a...
Longtime resident artist Bradford Voight - who is nationally renown as a classic, regional landscape painter - is showing his latest paintings at the Gallery North Star. This unique exhibition from the 88-year-old painter, which began with an opening reception on July 10, will run through Aug. 8 at the Townshend Road gallery. “This group of recent paintings by Bradford Voight show a master painter who, even at an advanced age, retains his senses of composition and color along with...
The Brattleboro Rotary Club recently inducted Cindy Jerome as its 61st club president for the 2010-2011 club year. Jerome is the executive director of Holton Home, a nonprofit residential care home in Brattleboro that has served the community's elders since 1892. Rotary club members serving as officers with Jerome this year are: President-Elect Liz Harrison of Nutrition Education Services, Treasurer Norb Johnston of NBJ Management and Financial Services, Secretary Marty Cohn of Cohn Public Relations, Vice President Rick Manson of...
The Selectboard approved a Rural Commercial District July 20, a change two years in the making. The district replaces the Interim Suburban Commercial amendment assigned to Route 9 lands between Edward Heights Road and Sunset Lake Road first adopted in 2007. According to Planning Commission Chair Gary Goodemote, the zoning changes reflect recommendations in the West Brattleboro Master Plan and public comment gathered through multiple meetings and a public hearing held June 28. He said the consensus of community members...
Eight riders recently completed a “double century” bike ride and raised more than $21,000 in donations for the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro, exceeding their original $16,000 goal. Starting on July 17, Robert Nassau, Jim Robinson, Kathryn Karmen, Mike Marchand, John Bentley, Sandy Garland, Christopher Chapman and Jim Sweitzer peddled 200 miles from Derby Line to Brattleboro, with a stopover in Bradford at a cabin own by Garland. Boys & Girls Club staff and kids welcomed the riders home...
After sweeping through their district tournament, the Brattleboro 9-10-year-old Little League All Stars made it all the way to the finals of the state tournament in St. Albans before being overpowered by South Burlington, 12-2, in the championship game on Monday. Brattleboro beat Barre, 9-6, in the opening game on Friday. Pitchers Leif Bigelow, Tanner Bell and Tyler Germain spilt the mound duties as Brattleboro rallied for five runs in the third inning. Bell led the Brattleboro hitters with a...
The primary ballots are in and registered voters wishing to vote early can pick up ballots for the Tuesday, Aug. 24 primary from their Town Clerk's office. The deadline to request an early ballot is the end of the business day on Monday, Aug. 23. Closing times vary for each town clerk's office. According to the Secretary of State's website, for an early ballot to count, it needs to arrive at the town clerk's office by the end of business...
A tradition of town meetings and dinner-table political discussions frames Michael Obuchowski's interest in continuing to run in, and win, 19 previous races for a seat in the Vermont House of Representatives. This month, Obuchowski announced his candidacy for his 20th term in Montpelier. As he has since 1998, he is teaming up with fellow Democrat Carolyn Partridge of Windham to run for the two seats in the Windham-4 district. They are unopposed in the Aug. 24 Democratic primary, and...
Like many cities and towns along the Connecticut River, Brattleboro turned its back to its waterfront. From the 19th century onward, the riverfront land stretching south from the Hinsdale bridge had been reserved for the railroads and for industrial use. Today, Brattleboro is no longer a busy railroad town, and the mills and factories that used to be by the river are long gone. A group of planners, designers and architects say that with the decline of the past uses...
On a rainy afternoon in downtown Brattleboro, Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie visited Main Street businesses and introduced himself to business owners and employees. With seven campaign workers in tow, ranging in age from the late teens to late 20s, the sole Republican candidate for governor stopped into stores to speak with the owners. The top two topics of discussion? Expanding broadband Internet to the rest of Vermont and the economy. Last Friday's heavy rain may have soaked the group's campaign...
Every year, Vermont prisoners complete their sentences and are released back into society. Some re-offend and land back where they started. But according to officials with the state Department of Corrections (DOC), fewer former prisoners re-offend when they have jobs, places to live and support networks — things most community members take for granted. “If they don’t have that support, it’s harder to manage [in their community],” said DOC Commissioner Andrew Pallito. Vermont’s Re-entry Program and other restorative justice programs...
I happened to be looking out the window at just the right time. The sun was setting, and soon the world would be dark. The first one came across the road fast, making a break for the safety of the forest. A few seconds later, the rest of them followed the scout. For a moment, I was tempted to follow them, but only a fool would chase a pack of coyotes into the winter woods at dusk. Some people call...
The federal government is squandering the Gulf oil spill crisis. Entrenched Democratic Party leaders such as Senator Leahy appear willing to settle for “management” without firm “leadership.” Is the explanation conflict of interest, “old-school” out-of-touch thinking, or lack of vision? The acute needs are to stop gushing oil, capture spilled oil, clean and rehabilitate the Gulf, compensate appropriately, investigate, inspect other rigs, optimize regulations, and hold those responsible accountable. The subacute needs are for the administration and congressional majority to...
Teams love to be on a roll heading into the playoffs, and perhaps no team in the Southern Division got so hot at just the right time as Post 5. Brattleboro had to win all of its remaining five regular season games to clinch one of the four Southern Division berths in the state American Legion Baseball tournament, and completed the task last Tuesday with an 8-2 win over Woodstock at Tenney Field. In finishing with a 12-6 record, Brattleboro...
Brattleboro Memorial Hospital's 25th and Final Clambake & Auction was held on the hospital grounds on July 17, with more than 450 people coming out for this bittersweet goodbye to a very successful fundraising event that spanned 25 years - this year “netting” the hospital more than $45,000. Many memories from Clambakes past were shared through photos and stories. A slide show of more than 500 photos from the past 24 years was exhibited for guests to view. The commemorative...
The little town of Halifax, chartered in 1750, celebrated the distinct privilege of being the second town chartered in the state with the Old Home Day celebration on the weekend of July 16-18. The one and only “main street” through West Halifax - Branch Road - was alive with events and people, young and old, who came together to enjoy them. The ice cream social on Friday evening was very well attended with great music, dancing and much hand clapping,
Jessie Haas has been writing books about horses for many years, and has recently published a nonfiction reference book called - appropriately enough - Horse Crazy! She claims that her love for equines has been with her since birth. “I was born horse crazy. I get it from both sides of my family. We got a horse when I was six and have had horses on the farm ever since.” Haas has a horse of her own at her home...
The Selectboard voted to approve the town's participation in Vermont Energy Investment Corporation's (VEIC) Quick Start program until Dec 30. The Selectboard will reassess the program after December and decide if it wants to continue the program. PACE, Property Assessed Clean Energy, allows individual and commercial property owners to pay for energy improvements through property taxes. Establishing a PACE district require a town-wide vote. Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray said he and other board members felt “trepidation” over the implications of...