My world is expanding. Why? Because my electric bicycle has arrived from Vermont, and I’m going to be riding it for the summer instead of my regular bike. What does that mean for me? With my regular bike, I don’t usually ride more than 5 miles away. This makes my effective range of activities at…
So, you’ve decided to live without a car. Congratulations! What freedom, right? Consequently, unless your income has decreased, you also have more money. Awesome! So, what are the expenses related to living car-free? You’ve got lots of choices of what you can spend that extra money on. First, you might consider saving some of it…
One of my favorite parts about Rutland is having access to fresh organic food. While many would think that fresh produce is hard to come by this time of year, I would direct you to the Rutland Area Food Co-op located at 77 Wales Street. They are open 7 days a week for your shopping…
This year, I set a goal to buy most of my Christmas presents locally and as many as possible made in Vermont. I also tried to buy consumable products that would not be more “crap” people had to incorporate into their homes. I bought all the adults on my list (mostly couples) local food products.…
Yesterday, I spent 6 hours at the College of St. Joseph in Rutland, Vermont volunteering for the Gift of Life Marathon. I performed one of my favorite volunteer tasks: registration. When you register people for an event, you get to greet them and see how excited they are to participate. Wearing a Santa hat and…
I’m so thankful to Vermont Environmental Consortium for holding their fall tradeshow in downtown Rutland! What an awesome decision. The show was held in the Opera House space formerly occupied by GMP’s Energy Innovation Center. Vendor spaces for the tradeshow sold out, and a great crowd of people showed up for the event. I was…
The holiday season is upon us. With Thanksgiving still several weeks away, we will now be constantly bombarded with advertising aimed at separating us from our money. My advice is to ignore all the flash and promises of Walmart, Amazon.com and the big box stores. Instead, set your sights on unique gifts from local shops…
Today I went to the second weekend of the winter farmers’ market in Rutland. It was fabulous! I bought some huge kale from Radical Roots Farm, some green tomatoes from another local farm, applesauce from Yoder Farm that probably contained apples from about 100 yards from my house, and rice – YES RICE – that…
Yesterday I walked around what will soon be the best neighborhood in Rutland – the Northwest neighborhood. It was the perfect day for a walk – sunny and a balmy 48 degrees. I had the great company of my friend Elizabeth, and we toured almost the entire neighborhood. I was struck by some of the…
It is imperative that we participate in the democratic process, now more than ever. As the world is often more interested in profit than people or planet, it is our duty to represent ourselves against corporate interests. That means paying attention to local issues, writing letters to the editor, sending letters to government and attending…
You would think by my posts last month that Europe is the only cool place in the world to experience city life, but that is just not so. The United States has some really wonderful pedestrian-friendly, people-powered cities. One of those happens to be St. Petersburg, Florida. If you have two feet and a bicycle,…
Today is March 3, 2012. I heard geese overhead yesterday, making an early return to the north. Surely the sparkling ice-free ponds are beckoning them to return. Buds are on the trees, and sap is running. The temperature today will hit 55 degrees. Tomorrow it will hit 65 degrees. The historical average temperature for today…
When was the last time you took a walk? Probably not recently. Walking requires us to slow down, something we are often unwilling to do. We think that during that 30 minutes, something crucial will happen on Facebook. But walking gives you a perspective on life that you just do not get any other way. …
I know I say it a lot, but we really should be paying more attention to the food we eat. As much as possible, we should know the source of our food. When you open up a can of store-bought canned vegetables, do you really know anything about those vegetables? Do you know how long…
Do you ever think about where the food comes from that you cram into your mouth? Do you ever wonder who handled it or how far it traveled to get to your plate? When you buy food at the grocery store, you can know a bit – the produce has a sticker with its place…
