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| The Galaxy Book Shop in Hardwick, VT |
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| self serve with cash in the till |
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| Amazing roof garden |
Nearly all of Monday was spent driving up and down Route 2. I was taking youngest daughter for her obligatory immunizations before college. This was a lot of time in the car - 7 hours due to traffic but relatively easy. Easier than we had thought and Rosie and I enjoyed pleasant conversations and a nice breakfast at Whole Foods on the way out and she was much relieved that the this series of shots was not very painful as the previous ones. I also arranged other important doctors visits as I drove so it was a good day. And if not a vacation precisely at least some stress was removed from the summer.
The drive to Vermont was delightful. We stopped Burdick's for coffee in Walpole NH and arrived in Hardwick VT in time for lunch. Hardwick has a coop that we visited in 1984 when or eldest was 1 years old. We bought her a T-shirt that had a buffalo and Buffalo Mtn. Coop which she and all three of her sister wore for 15 years. Hardwick is now the center of the '
localvore' movement. The first site we enjoyed was this
window at the
Galaxy Book Store 7 Mill Street. They will have one of my fave poets reading in AUG -
David Budbill. I wish someone had been in the window. We could have exchanged stories. We had a local produce lunch at the
Buffalo Mtn. Coop Café where the gazpacho was the best I have ever had. Anxious to get out of the car we pushed on Craftsbury to visit our friend Mimi who is the mother of one of our oldest and closest friends, David. Back 1984 we lived together in Cambridge. He was reeling from a divorce proceeding that was tearing at all our hearts and shaking the foundations of our little coop house and community. We were visiting in VT to cheer us and his two year old daughter, Catherine, in this difficult time. I was pregnant with our second child, due in late August. David was separated but still married to Lucy, my best friend from high school. Our friendship and our youthful promise that we would live together and help each other raise our families was the center pole of the three family arrangement in our funky three-decker in Central Square, Cambridge. Robert and I loved Catherine like a niece and our eldest daughter Sira loved her like a cousin. We spent many summers after that visiting David and his parents in Vermont and now our all too infrequent visits are always filled with sweet memories.
On the way to Mimi's there is new farm stand that is owned by Pete Johnson - a shaker and mover, who is responsible for much of this ... article excerpt from http://www.slowfoodusa.org
SlowFood blog:
"We all know what local, sustainable food can do for the health of our bodies, but could it also be a cure for the health of ailing economies? Ben Hewitt’s book The Town that Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food delves into this question, exploring the growth of a vibrant local food economy in Hardwick, Vermont, population 3,200. Hardwick is a lot like how it sounds – unemployment in the town is 40 percent higher than the state average; incomes are 25 percent lower. But in the last few years, Hardwick has returned to its historical roots in farming, with a new twist – local, sustainable agriculture. It’s growing a vibrant local food system that is restoring not only some jobs and higher wages, but a sense of community and food that’s connected to it. A diverse network of “agrepreneurs” in Hardwick– High Mowing Organic Seeds, Pete’s Greens, Jasper Hill Farm, the Vermont Food Venture Center and so on - are producing organic and artisanal foods and seeking investors. Business owners share advice, capital and facilities. About a hundred jobs have been created. Sounds great, but is the story of this one town’s thriving local food system unique, or is it a viable model for other communities? As I read, part of me hoped to find an easy-to-follow plan - just do it like we did! Farm this way, market that way, save the world, take a nap. Sadly, social change isn’t that easy, but while Hardwick doesn’t offer an exact blueprint, it is a thought-provoking example of a thriving local food economy. Hewitt suggests that a couple of unique, and surprising, variables have contributed to the town’s growing local-ag economy: poverty and small size. Hewitt believes that Hardwick’s success is founded upon trust and collaboration which “are in no small ways social and cultural responses to economic hardship.” He also suggests that the population had a “just right” quality that was big enough to be ambitious, and small enough to be fast-acting and flexible. The best lesson to be learned here is about cooperation and inspiration. The Town that Food Saved is a story about the ability of a group of likeminded folks to come together in pursuit of a passion for sustainable, local food– not without challenges, but with dedication to a bigger vision. That’s what Slow Food is all about too. If you’re interested in learning more about thriving local food entrepreneurs, BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) has some exciting network programs focused on sustainable agriculture. And for ideas on how to invest in other inspiring small food enterprises, you can check out Slow Money, a non-profit dedicated to investing in local food systems and connecting investors to local economies.
We were earlier than planned but Mimi was gracious and read her book as we paddled around her pond and walked the dirt roads a bit, eating fresh raspberries. Then we watched a huge thunder storm roll in, roll over and pass on. Mimi made a delicious curry chicken dinner and we played a few rounds of banana gram and slept soundly in a room overlooking pond. A gray morning greeted us as we left later than planned for Montreal. But the drive was pleasant and again, shorter than we had thought. We arrived at our 'hotel' at noon and the room was not ready. We discovered only as we were leaving the next day that we had misread the time and we were a full 2 hours early.
window at the Galaxy Book Store 7 Mill Street. They will have one of my fave poets reading in AUG - David Budbill. I wish someone had been in the window. We could have exchanged stories. We had a local produce lunch at the Buffalo Mtn. Coop Café where the gazpacho was the best I have ever had. Anxious to get out of the car we pushed on Craftsbury to visit our friend Mimi who is the mother of one of our oldest and closest friends, David. Back 1984 we lived together in Cambridge. He was reeling from a divorce proceeding that was tearing at all our hearts and shaking the foundations of our little coop house and community. We were visiting in VT to cheer us and his two year old daughter, Catherine, in this difficult time. I was pregnant with our second child, due in late August. David was separated but still married to Lucy, my best friend from high school. Our friendship and our youthful promise that we would live together and help each other raise our families was the center pole of the three family arrangement in our funky three-decker in Central Square, Cambridge. Robert and I loved Catherine like a niece and our eldest daughter Sira loved her like a cousin. We spent many summers after that visiting David and his parents in Vermont and now our all too infrequent visits are always filled with sweet memories. 
We were earlier than planned but Mimi was gracious and read her book as we paddled around her pond and walked the dirt roads a bit, eating fresh raspberries. Then we watched a huge thunder storm roll in, roll over and pass on. Mimi made a delicious curry chicken dinner and we played a few rounds of banana gram and slept soundly in a room overlooking pond. A gray morning greeted us as we left later than planned for Montreal. But the drive was pleasant and again, shorter than we had thought. We arrived at our 'hotel' at noon and the room was not ready. We discovered only as we were leaving the next day that we had misread the time and we were a full 2 hours early.
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