Vincent van Gogh apparently said “Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art and more.” As the crowd delighted in the great acts and delicious food (thanks Lee) at the Compost Cabaret – true mastery, I marveled that the inverse must also be true. So much energy and talent we have in our community as well as generosity leading to so much cycling back of
nutrients. So much perspective gained while enjoying these artists and their contributions. Thanks all!
Spring automatically nourishes our love of nature and last week’s sudden onset amped up the appreciation to an almost overwhelming level. Squeeze a bit of extra time out of your schedule when you visit the farmstand throughout the Spring to foster your love of nature via frog watching, monitoring the killdeer nest and witnessing the woodcock display.
Amidst all this beauty around us we’ve been preparing to welcome new apprentices. As we do so we thought it would be a fun week to update you on Green Mountain Girls Farmers emeriti. Probably it is more honest to say that we don’t want you to miss Megan James and Daniel Houghton on the cover of last week’s Seven Days. How about the juxtaposition of this fabulously fun photo withimages of Megan milking and doing fecal samples or the two of them planting potatoes, hauling compost, etc! Megan continues as Assistant Arts Editor at the weekly and Daniel has spent the year as visiting lecturer in film and media culture at Middlebury College. They are also busy planning their summer wedding.
We saw Katie Spring at the cabaret and recently enjoyed the clarity of her letter in the Times Argus
voicing concern about GMOs. She, together with her husband Edge, is preparing for another growing season in Vermont and continues to share with all of us her beautiful writing and imagery on her blog. Speaking of gorgeous imagery, Alexa Norstad has also been blogging, sharing stories of her global travels with Ian. Recently a motorcycle accident landed them back in California so Ian can heal a broken leg. Okay, soon I’ll get the rhythm of a true gossip columnist! Uno’s favorite farmsitter Magen Farley has been taking up journalism this semester and recently interviewed us for a story she is writing for a class at Johnson State and hopes to publish. She has exciting plans for an exchange Junior year at California State University at Monterey Bay.
In spontaneous difficult moments kidding we thought of Carrie Childs. Carrie is on her way to vet school, among her choices are the University of Pennsylvania and University of Wisconsin. We know how hard it is to get into vet school in this country but as soon as we saw her whip index cards out of her vest so she could review a key concept walking from chore to chore, we knew she was so serious she couldn’t be denied! With equal force and momentum Anna Svagdyzs’ bio next to her
comic strip published in Brink Magazine notes she has “thrown herself heart and soul into making the transition from novelist to graphic novelist, frequently at the expense of all her prior commitments and activities, which include rowing, working on farms, and being in college”. She finishes at UVM this Spring. Also wrapping up her final semester at Connecticut College, Rose Wall has just landed herself an exciting apprenticeship at Pats Pastured in Rhode Island. We can’t wait to learn from Rose about this large scale operation founded on principles that are inspiring and quite similar to ours. Our guess is that sometime in May some of Rose’s amazing photos (b/w photos here are Rose’s of course) might start showing up on Pat’s facebook page!
Mary Myers, who walked out of the clouds last spring to help us get onions in the ground has been exploring land options in Barnard and looking to get herself established and growing there. She’ll be back a bit this spring to help get the crops and orchard into shape. Sophie is seeking to put her inner geek to work in Montpelier. We look forward to her landing a role helping folks with water resource planning and protection.
Tessa Bussiere stands with a foot still in the farm, being tractorista and farmstand manager as it fits around her increasing responsibilities elsewhere. She is working with Jaska Bradeen at Jaska’s mom’s Williston greenhouse Just Dancing Gardens. Jaska was very active on her philosopherfarmer blog last fall after we finished the major siege pickling, canning tomatoes, etc. Back to Tessa… she and Rene used the inspiration of Saint Valentine or some of the modern manifestations of Valentines magic to get engaged. Okay, now that is news to make a gossip column! Congrats to all you guys out their exploring, learning, teaching, sharing, etc. We miss you and continue to be inspired by you.