Welcoming Martin Corbin (at the end of the table in between Ken and Martin’s girlfriend, Stephanie) and Kelsey Eaton (3rd from right) into the The Woods and celebrating American Craft Beer Week at The Whetstone Brewery in Brattleboro, Vermont.  That’s Loryn on the far left clinking with Michelle.  Nice photoshop work connecting Michelle’s arm to the rest of her, eh?

We’re always looking for an excuse to celebrate at Vermont Woods Studios and– lucky us– this week we had several good reasons.  So last night we gathered at the Whetstone Brewery in Brattleboro to welcome Martin Corbin and Kelsey Eaton into the Woods and also… to observe American Craft Beer Week (yes, there is such such a thing).

I’ll post a couple short bios about Martin and Kelsey in the coming weeks but today I thought I should talk up Vermont’s fabulous craft beers so you’ll be able to get out and try them during Craft Beer Weekend.

According to the Vermont Brewers Association there are over 30 brewers in the Green Mountain State, from small specialty brewers like Lawson’s Finest Liquids in Warren,Vermont to nationally recognized brands like Long Trail in Bridgewater Corners, Vermont.  “Maybe there’s something in the water. Maybe there’s something in the air. Maybe….. there’s something up here in the mountains. Vermont’s brewers are making magic with it.”

In Brattleboro we’re lucky to have several fine breweries including McNeills on Elliot Street and Whetstone Station next to the bridge (and overlooking the Connecticut River).

Let us know what your favorite Vermont beer is in the comments section below or on our Facebook!

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The Brattleboro Farmers Market is located on Rte 9 in West Brattleboro.  It’s open rain or shine, every Saturday from 9am to 2pm.  Farmers will have maple syrup, fresh greens, herbs, rhubarb, eggs and meats, garden plants and flowers, apples, root crops, preserves and jams.  Artisans and bakers offer sourdough breads, pastries and treats, granola, fruit wines and sparkling juices, jewelry, pottery, fabric arts, and soaps.

Foodies throughout Vermont are celebrating this weekend because Saturday is opening day for many of our farmers markets, including our favorite one– in Brattleboro.  I tag along with Chef Annette who visits the market religiously every week to fill her fridge with fresh, organic fruits and veggies.  I haven’t been cooking much lately so I just go for the freshly baked breads, local gourmet cheeses and… oh yes… lunch!

Lunch is the best part of Bratt’s Farmers Market.  Take your pick:  Indian, Malian, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, wood-fired pizza– you name it.  Wash it down with steamy country coffee or a glass of the world’s best freshly squeezed lemonade.

The Brattleboro Farmers Market is located on Rte 9 in West Brattleboro.  It’s open rain or shine, every Saturday from 9am to 2pm.  Farmers will have “springtime harvests of new maple syrup, fresh greens, herbs, rhubarb, eggs and meats, garden plants and flowers, plus well-stored apples, root crops, preserves and jams.  Artisans and bakers offer sourdough breads, pastries and treats (many gluten-free choices), granola, fruit wines and sparkling juices, jewelry, pottery, fabric arts, and soaps.”

This Saturday on opening day, there will be music and Maypole dancing by  Andy Davis.  There’s something for everyone.  Call 802-254-8885 for more information.  Hope to see you there!

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The earth is beginning to thaw at Stonehurst, our soon to be Fine Furniture Showroom in Vernon, Vermont.  Join us and celebrate all the things each of us can do to honor nature and protect the earth’s flora and fauna today — Earth Day.

Greetings from Southern Vermont on Earth Day!  We hope you’re celebrating — perhaps with some local organic food or by joining a community gardening project or cleaning up the roadside or whatever.  Last year at Vermont Woods Studios we launched the Green Up Your Workplace Challenge where we used Facebook, our blog and some other physical and virtual venues to promote sustainability at work.

This year we’re swamped with our Stonehurst Fine Furniture Showroom project and haven’t had a chance to launch a 2013 Earth Day campaign.  But in lieu of that, I can report that we’ve been very careful to use local lumber and building materials for Stonehurst and we’ve re-used, re-purposed and recycled as much of the original design and structure whenever possible.  Stonehurst will truly be a green workplace.

We do have a couple modest Earth Day activities on tap today.  We’ll be installing the bluebird nesting boxes we made last month out of a Norway Spruce tree that had to be taken down from Stonehurst in the Fall (because it was leaning on the top of the building).   And we’ll be indulging in some local fare for lunch today… maybe from The Blue Moose Cafe or The Works in downtown Brattleboro.  If you’re in the Southern Vermont area you know we’re lucky to have many fine farm to plate local eateries to choose from on Earth Day and every day. Maybe we’ll see you at one of them.  Bon appetite and Happy Earth Day!

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This video shows the Vermont landscape for an entire year from the view at the top of Mt. Philo in Charlotte, Vermont. Everyday, for an entire year, Timothy Cummings climbed to the exact same spot at the top of Mt. Philo to capture this beautiful timelapse. The 10 minute video moves slowly, but is continuously changing. Watch as the seasons change with a show-stopping view of Lake Champlain in the distance.

Mark Twain once said, “If you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.” His words come to life in the video as you can see the ground switch from snow covered, to brown, back to snow covered in a short period of time. This video shows some of the most beautiful days in each season, where the grass is as green as a crayon, the trees are sprinkled with golden leaves, or the landscape has turned into a winter wonderland.

If you’re anything like us, you can’t see enough beautiful videos and photographs of the Vermont landscape. For more gorgeous photos of Vermont’s four seasons, take a look at our “Vermont Beautiful” board on Pinterest.

What’s your favorite season in Vermont? Let us know in the comments!

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Earth Hour | World Wildlife Fund

Why will hundreds of millions of people from all around the world be turning off their lights from 8:30-9:30pm tonight?   It’s Earth Hour– a show of solidarity in focusing on the one thing that unites us all—our planet.

World Wildlife Fund has always been my favorite charity, because their method of conservation relies on strong partnerships with indigenous communities to create win-wins for both people and the environment.  For 50 years they’ve been using science, research and human relations to save earth’s most cherished endangered species.  WWF’s been instrumental in efforts to save tigers,  panda bears, rhinos, elephants, gorillas and just about every other endangered species you can think of.  If not for WWF, some of these species might already be extinct in the wild.

If you’re a like-minded conservationist, how about joining us and millions of people in 7,001 cities and towns across 152 countries and territories to switch lights off from 8:30-9:30 tonight as a massive show of concern for the environment?

You can get involved, by watching the Earth Hour video, starting your own Earth Hour event or sharing your Earth Hour photos and stories on Facebook.  Join the Earth Hour global community here and be a part of the solution.

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This is the “backyard” of Stonehurst, our future Vermont made furniture gallery and nature center.  We’ve applied for a grant from the Working Lands Enterprise Initiative to close the final funding gap so we can complete Stonehurst renovations by mid-summer.

What do you love best about Vermont?  Our maple syrup?  Organic cheese?  Skiing or snowboarding?  Mountain climbing?  Our farm to plate restaurants?  Chances are whatever your favorites are in Planet Vermont, they are here for you because of Vermont’s working landscape.  That’s the term Vermonters are using to refer to the Green Mountain state’s pastoral forests and fields– and there’s a concerted effort afoot to ensure they will remain sustainable.

Last year our Legislature passed the Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Initiative which  allocated $1Million to “stimulate a concerted economic development effort on behalf of Vermont’s agriculture and forest product sectors by systematically advancing entrepreneurism, business development, and job creation.”  A request for proposals to carry out the WL initiative was issued last year and yesterday was the deadline for submittals.

Hundreds of entrepreneurs from all across the state have offered ideas and projects that will eventually add up to a wave of renewed commitment and progress in sustaining our working lands.  We at Vermont Woods Studios are among the group.

Our proposal seeks to use WL grant monies to close the final funding phase of renovating our Stonehurst Furniture Gallery and Nature Center.  From a Working Lands perspective, one of the advantages of Stonehurst is that it tells the story of where Vermont made furniture comes from and how it’s made– sustainably.

Putting our Working Lands proposal together has been quite a process and regardless of whether we win an award, I think it’s been time well spent.  I know the grant is highly competitive.  It’s my understanding that the WL Board received some 268 proposals  for a total request of over $12 million.  They are working with only $1Million in funding, so the odds aren’t good.

But I feel our proposal answers an important need in providing a market for Vermont’s wood furniture and a destination that will attract customers from beyond our borders.  We’ve been able to forge many new partnerships and collaborations as a result of the grant application process and that alone makes the effort worthwhile.

Decisions on grant awards are expected in April and we’ll keep you posted.  Best of luck to everyone who has invested their time into this important project!

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Vermont Center for Eco Studies | Naturalist of the Year Contest

Our friends over at the Vermont Center for EcoStudies VCE and the Northern Woodlands have launched a contest for Naturalist of the Year.  If you want to be in contention for the big prize (a subscription to The Northern Woodlands Magazine), you’d better get outside and TODAY.  Look, I’m going to be honest with you.  Judging from the response they’ve gotten so far you’re not likely to win this one.  Birders are serious competitors!  Have you seen that movie, “The Big Year” with Owen Wilson, Jack Black and Steve Martin?  Well these guys vying for Vermont Naturalist of the Year remind me of them.  Great competitors!  It’s not just about winning a contest, either.  Actually it’s too complicated for me to understand what it’s about, but I think it might be pretty deep.

Anyway, even if you don’t win Naturalist of the Year, with a reasonable amount of luck you might win VCE’s monthly photo-observation contest.  That would be a good stepping stone, right?  So head outside and scour Vermont’s “fields and fens, mountains and meadows, lakes and lawns”.  Take artistic, scientific or any kind of “wow” photos– maybe an amazing sighting, a neat behavior, or whatever catches your eye and email it to VCE.  Their readers will select winning photographs by who gets the most votes.

Let us know if you won by sharing your winning photos on our Facebook.  And while you’re over at VCE check out the amazing project that is the Vermont Atlas of Life.  It’s a citizen science project cataloging all Vermont’s breeding birds, butterflies, bumble bees, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and more.  You’ll be helping to save our endangered species from extinction and making the world a better place!

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Vermonters are serious about forest conservation.  It’s not just because the Green Mountain Forest makes a $1 billion contribution to our economy.  Or that the forest industry provides 9% of Vermont’s total manufacturing sales and employment for over 6000 Vermonters.  It’s also that Vermonters love the wildlife and recreation the forest provides.

Vermont is the Green Mountain state and trust me, Vermonters are serious about forest conservation.  If you live in New York or Boston or another metropolitan area you might be surprised though to learn that we have to fight hard every day to keep our forests clean, green and intact.

Dennis and I were at a meeting of the Vermont Wood Manufacturer’s Association last week and as always, forest conservation was high on the list of topics for discussion.  Vermont furniture companies are working on creating a chain of custody for their furniture so customers will be able to trace it back from the furniture maker to the forest where it was sustainably harvested.

You may be thinking: “why do Vermonters think forest conservation is so important?”  Well it’s not just because the Green Mountain Forest makes a $1 billion contribution to our economy.  Or that the forest industry provides 9% of Vermont’s total manufacturing sales and employment for over 6000 Vermonters.  It’s also that Vermonters love the wildlife and recreation the forest provides.

We see how forests are being decimated in tropical countries like Brazil, the DR Congo and Indonesia and we’re determined to do what we can to conserve forests (both our temperate forests and rainforests) for future generations.  Here is  just a short list of Vermont organizations working on the mission of forest conservation:

• The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation
• The Vermont Woodlands Association
• The Vermont Sierra Club
• The Vermont Land Trust
• The Vermont Working Landscape Partnership
• Vermont Family Forests
• Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department 

Another forest conservation group– one near to my heart, is the Vermont Center for Eco Studies. Researchers there are working to conserve habitat for our state’s migrating songbirds.  As such their conservation efforts span both our temperate Vermont forests and the rainforest of the Dominican Republic where our state bird the Bicknell’s Thrush winters.

Learn more about forest conservation and  how it fits into our mission at Vermont Woods Studios on our website.

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The other morning I received an email from Peggy with the subject line, “a cause near and dear to our hearts.” I suspected immediately that it had to do with animals. Everyone at Vermont Woods Studios has a soft spot for animals, but I think Loryn and I would win the award for biggest bleeding hearts in the office. Ever since we purchased Stonehurst, Loryn and I have actively been trying to persuade Peggy to let us have a few animals (cats, dogs, rabbits, chickens, and I think we’ve thrown around the idea of having a horse or two). Although we haven’t quite convinced the whole team of this mini farm idea, Stonehurst will be a sustainable furniture showroom and nature center.

Once I stopped day dreaming about our Stonehurst farm, I opened the email and confirmed my suspicion that the cause had to do with animals. Peggy had sent me this call for help from the Stuck in Vermont Facebook page.

In addition to the call for help, Stuck in Vermont attached a video with the story behind the Gamache family and this cause. Here’s what I learned from the video: Junior and Joyce Gamache have a family-run organic dairy farm in St. Albans, Vermont. The Gamache family has a admirable passion for their animals (cows and cats alike), a passion for staying true to traditional farming, and a passion for their deep Vermont roots. This video made it an easy decision for us to donate to the Gamache barn cat fund; not only because we love cats, but because Vermonters help other Vermonters.

We hope that you’ll take a few minutes to watch the Stuck in Vermont episode about the Gamache family and their barn cats. The Franklin County Humane Society is going to help spay and neuter the Gamache barn cats, but they need to raise money to contribute to the costs. It costs $40 for each cat to get spayed/neutered, but you can contribute any amount via their inlu page. Donations will be accepted until Thursday, February 28th. You can also help spread the word by sharing the Stuck in Vermont’s Facebook post with your friends.

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Happy New Year from Vermont Woods Studios!  This photo is of the back yard at Stonehurst, our new property on Hucklehill Road in Vernon, VT.  From the 1940s-1960s the property was host to Pine Top a popular ski area run by Elsie and Romey Racine.  In 2013 Stonehurst will re-open as a nature center and showroom for sustainable Vermont made furniture.

Happy 2013!  We hope this year brings you all the best of good health, happiness and success.  And we hope you’ll come share some of that with us in our new home at Stonehurst in Vernon, Vermont.  2013 will be a year of renovations at this 200 year old Vermont farmhouse as we work with J Coleman + Company Architects and Bob Furlone of American Construction to transform the property into a fine furniture showroom and nature center.

Our goal this year is to provide the destination shopping experience our customers (from Boston, New York and beyond) have been longing for.  Stonehurst will become a place where eco-conscious homeowners can experience all aspects of Vermont handcrafted furniture, including the natural forests where it originates.

Check our blog and Facebook now and then as 2013 unfolds a new life for this iconic Vermont property.  We’re planning to complete construction by June, just in time for a mid-summer Grand Opening.  In the meantime, if you’re in the neighborhood, stop by with your toboggan this winter.  We’ve got about a foot of snow now with more in the forecast.  Either way, don’t let 2013 go by without a trip to Vermont!

Happy New Year

From all your friends at Vermont Woods Studios

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