PLAINFIELD – The Plainfield Housing Advisory Committee meeting February 25, featured presentations from Hardwick and St. Johnsbury municipal leaders who shared their experiences with community revitalization. Kristie Farnham from the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development facilitated the discussion with Hardwick Select Board Chair Eric Remick who has served[Read More…]
News
Maple open house weekend, March 21, 22
HARDWICK – Vermont Maple Open House Weekend is an opportunity to visit sugarhouses across the state where visitors can learn how maple syrup and other maple products are produced, while tasting samples and buying products to take home. The 2026 weekend is coming up, Saturday and Sunday, March 21 and[Read More…]
Greensboro Nursing Home roof shovelers
As winters get warmer, maple farmers are learning to adapt
VERMONT – Sugar maples are called “Goldilocks” trees for good reason. Preferring temperatures to be just right, the trees produce more sap over freezing nights and on days that are just warm enough. But warmer winters and midseason thaws are disrupting that balance. Producers are being forced to adapt to protect both[Read More…]
What’s the solution?
With Vermont’s Town Meeting Day upon us, most questions involve funding, or who will be responsible for making decisions in our towns. At school district meetings we have budgets for education to vote on, most of which have gone up, some astronomically for several years. Our state legislature ponders education[Read More…]
Bread and circuses
EAST MONTPELIER – I had the experience, some thirty years ago, of sharing a canoe in the Canadian Arctic with a delightful child psychiatrist. Naturally, we talked all day long of shoes and ships and sealing wax, I suppose, and I remember a few of the things I learned. One[Read More…]
As we become unmoored
GREENSBORO – The United States has had more than its share of moral failure. From the Trail of Tears to the My Lai massacre there is plenty for us to be ashamed of. But with our democratic institutions, our Constitutional rights and the power of dissent, for 250 years, we[Read More…]
Emotional health of seniors is not optional
MONTPELIER – I vividly remember the days, years ago, when I would occasionally deliver meals to homebound neighbors in our communities. Each visit lasted only 30 to 60 seconds, but the impact was profound. An isolated elder’s face would light up when I stepped through the door. I often knew[Read More…]
Sue Slayton remembers Hardwick history: Upstreet, downstreet, overstreet
HARDWICK – Claire “Sue” (Goodrich) Slayton, grew up hearing stories about her grandfather, Samuel Daniels of Sam Daniels Manufacturing Company Inc., a maker of wood and coal furnaces in Hardwick and Montpelier from 1908 through 1969. Graduating from Hardwick Academy in 1966, Slayton has many memories of Hardwick’s unique community[Read More…]
At the crossroads of too many lines
HARDWICK – One of the less visible parts of running a town like Hardwick is how many different regional systems overlap here. On paper, Vermont looks neatly divided into counties and regions. In practice, especially in this corner of the state, those lines rarely line up in ways that make[Read More…]
Elementary school holds mock town meeting
WOODBURY – For more than 260 years, Vermonters have gathered to make their voices heard. On Friday, Feb. 20. Woodbury Elementary School carried that tradition forward with its annual mock town meeting. Both current superintendent, Dr. David Baker, and incoming superintendent, Becca Tatistcheff attended. All students had the opportunity to[Read More…]
Advocates, legislators celebrate Universal School Meals
HARDWICK – “Universal meals is the right thing to do for our children, families, communities and education,” said Valerie Hussey, Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union (OSSU) Food Services Director last week. Legislators, supporters and advocates from Hunger Free Vermont, the School Nutrition Association of Vermont and the Vermont Farm to School[Read More…]
