EAST MONTPELIER – I’m writing this before this year’s State of the Union speech. As an old hand at backstage preparations, I can well imagine the excitement currently infusing whatever passes for a green room wherever the president is getting ready for his coming performance. And I can imagine the[Read More…]
Columns
Radio nerd guides local station through expansion
PLAINFIELD – “I’m a radio nerd.” That’s the self-description of Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, executive director of Central Vermont Community Radio, which operates WGDR in Plainfield and WGDH in Hardwick. It’s been a challenging time for public broadcasting, but donors have stepped up, said Mulvaney-Stanak, who uses they/them pronouns. Meanwhile, work continues[Read More…]
100 years ago in the Hardwick Gazette, February 25, 1926
Girl Scouts Grace J. Kelley, CaptainRuby Grisworld, 1st. Lieut.Mildred Stone, 2nd, Lieut. The twenty-eight girls who answered to their names at Roll Call last Monday night, at Scout Headquarters, were certainly an enthusiastic bunch and the business of the evening was conducted with all the necessary “snap” to make it[Read More…]
Tiny king of the winter woods: Golden-crowned Kinglets
MILLBROOK, N.Y. – The morning after a nighttime snowfall evokes feelings of newness and wonder. If the air is calm and the trees still retain their coat of fluffy white, I immediately bundle up and head out to explore. I trudge into the woods looking and listening for signs of[Read More…]
Bundling Up: Soil Microbes in Winter
VERMONT – Like any good animal, we sense the change of seasons through a hundred subtle clues. Leaves change and shed, becoming crispy piles underfoot. Geese cross the bright sky. Other signs of winter are harder to define: the morning chill deepens its bite, the afternoon light becomes pale. Although[Read More…]
Fight winter blues with plants
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Adding a bit of greenery to surroundings might help chase winter blues away. Each year, shorter daylight hours and colder temperatures send many retreating indoors. Less exposure to sunlight brings with it reduced levels of Vitamin D and a potential imbalance in bodies of serotonin and melatonin,[Read More…]
Grow gourmet mushrooms at home
FAYSTON – Growing mushrooms at home doesn’t require special equipment or prior experience. Fresh mushrooms can be grown with an at-home mushroom growing kit. Mushroom growing kits require minimal space and time, making it possible to grow your own food year-round, even during the cold Vermont winter months. Mushroom kits are[Read More…]
Multiple rounds of light snow; seasonable temperatures this week
EAST HARDWICK – Last week’s warming temperatures during the day still gave way to some cooler nights with lows on either side of zero. The boundary between some cooler polar air and warmer southern air did set us up for a few waves of snow showers, adding up to several[Read More…]
Would-be Thomas Paines
by Willem Lange EAST MONTPELIER – The so-called Founding Fathers of the United States of America were far from perfect. Compromised by various interests as they were, however, they were more aware of the various imperfections of the human character than might have been a band of starry-eyed idealists. Thus[Read More…]
Glassblower is proud member of community
HARDWICK – For nearly 40 years, Harry Besett has worked as a glassblower in Hardwick, where he makes art that is both utilitarian and unique. In 1984, Besett and his wife Wendy settled in Hardwick, founding Vermont Glass Workshop where their pieces are commissioned, created and sold. Vermont Glass Workshop[Read More…]
Phantoms of the North: Great Gray Owls
BURLINGTON – The great gray owl (Strix nebulosa) is a northern raptor that only occasionally graces our northeastern states. Also called the phantom of the north, these owls have large facial discs with alternating areas of light and dark gray, creating a concentric ring pattern around their yellow eyes. Beneath[Read More…]
Life beneath ice, snow: turtles in winter
NEW ENGLAND – For hundreds of years, people believed that, come autumn, barn swallows would dive under the surface of ponds and lakes, swim to the bottom, and bury themselves in the mud for the winter. We now know better. Swallows, along with thousands of other avian species across the[Read More…]
