“Pledges by college students to eschew drugs and alcohol are old hat. Now they’re meditating, working out, practicing yoga, eating healthfully, and at least one school, the University of Vermont, it has become a bona fide lifestyle,” writes the Associated Press. Continue reading this story.
Source: UVM News
<p>The 15<sup>th</sup> Annual Heirloom Apple Day at Scott Farm Orchard on Kipling Road in Dummerston, VT beckons apple lovers of all ages to celebrate this iconic fall fruit. Come visit the 571-acre historic farm and orchard that border Rudyard Kipling’s former Vermont home, Naulakha, and other historic rental properties owned and renovated by Landmark Trust USA. </p><p>On <span style=”font-weight: 700;”>Sunday, October 8 at 10 AM, Noon and 2 PM</span>, Scott Farm’s Orchardist Zeke Goodband entertains guests with the enlightening history of the orchard and its ecologically-grown fruits, accompanied by a free tasting of some of the more than 120 varieties of heirloom apples grown on the property.</p><p><img src=”https://www.diginvt.com/assets/_resampled/resizedimage600400-1862-barn-at-Scott-Farm-by-Kelly-Fletcher-Photography.jpg” width=”600″ height=”400″ alt=”” title=””/></p><p>Sample Old World and Early American heirloom varieties such as Esopus Spitzenburg, a favorite of Thomas Jefferson, grown at Monticello; Reine des Reinette, a French apple from the 1700s, considered the best hard cider apple in Normandy; Blue Pearmain, a New England apple dating back to the 1700s, mentioned by Henry David Thoreau in his journal, and Cox’s Orange Pippin, an English favorite, awarded the highest honors by the Royal Horticultural Society—just to name a few of the exciting flavors bound to excite your palate.</p><p>According to Goodband who will be giving the talks, “There’s Blue Pearmain, Thoreau’s favorite. And Belle de Boskoop, a strudel specialist. And Ashmead’s Kernel: “It would be referred to as ‘fine-grained’ flesh, but there’s almost a crystal quality to it. When you pick it at the right time, it’s just exquisite. That’s the one, more than any other apple, where people pick it and come back and say, ‘Oh, that’s the best apple I’ve ever had!’ When someone says that, it makes all the work of an entire year worthwhile.”</p><p><img src=”https://www.diginvt.com/assets/_resampled/resizedimage600400-Heirloom-apples-cut-for-Scott-Farm-tasting-by-Kelly-Fletcher-Photography.jpg” width=”600″ height=”400″ alt=”” title=””/></p><p>Following the talks and tastings, guests can fill bags with their favorite selections—all available for purchase.</p><p>Visitors can also pick their own apples in the PYO orchard or select them from multiple apple bins in the Farm Market, along with Scott Farm Orchard’s heirloom cider, freshly baked apple pies, fruit jams and jellies, and more.</p><p>In addition to the apple talks and tastings, Whetstone Ciderworks, of Marlboro, VT, will be on hand to offer samples of their artisanal wine-like, award- winning hard ciders, such as Orchard King, Orchard Queen, Barnyard Blend, and Moonlighter—blended primarily with apples from Scott Farm Orchard.</p><p><img src=”https://www.diginvt.com/assets/_resampled/resizedimage431600-Whetstone-Cider-sampling-at-Scott-Farm.jpg” width=”431″ height=”600″ alt=”” title=””/></p><p> “This is our favorite event of the year, when apple enthusiasts from all over New England come and sample our apples fresh, baked and squeezed!”, says Operations Manager Kelly Carlin of Scott Farm Orchard and The Landmark Trust USA.</p><p>Rigani Wood-Fired Pizza of Brattleboro, VT, will be on premises with their portable wood-fired oven, cooking up and vending artisanal pizzas featuring local ingredients. </p><p>In keeping with the Farm’s mission to share living history, preserve and perpetuate heirloom apples and small fruits, and educate people about their cultivation and uses, Scott Farm also offers a variety of fall workshops. Local cider maker Jason MacArthur of Whetstone Ciderworks teaches an introduction to making hard cider on Oct 1; and Pastry Chef Laurel Roberts Johnson of The Queen of Tarts offers hands-on apple and fruit pie making workshops on Oct 21 and Nov 11; and Master Brewer Thomas Coleman teaches an introduction to brewing beer with wet hops. harvested from Scott Farm’s hop yard, on Sept 9 and 24. </p><p>To further showcase the many delicious uses of apples, Scott Farm and the Vermont Fresh Network co-host the 10<sup>th</sup> annual Heirloom Apple Harvest Dinner at the Farm on Oct 28. The five-course meal, prepared by Chef Tristan Toleno of Entera Catering, features heirloom apples and heirloom cider with other local foods. </p><p>For more information on Heirloom Apple Day, workshops, and the dinner, please visit<span style=”font-weight: 700;”> ScottFarmVermont.com/workshops-more, </span>call 802-254-6868, or email events@scottfarmvermont.com. </p><p>The Scott Farm Market is open daily through November 22, and You-Pick apples are available September into October.</p><p>____ </p><p><em>Established in 1791 when George Washington was serving his first term as President, Scott Farm consists of 571 acres and 23 buildings, all listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1995 the Vermont non-profit Landmark Trust USA took over the farm. The Trust has since restored many of the buildings, and under the guidance of Orchardist Zeke Goodband, has converted the orchard from conventionally-grown McIntosh to more than 120 ecologically- grown heirloom and uncommon apple varieties. The farm also grows peaches, plums, nectarines, pears, grapes, cherries, quince, medlars, gooseberries, and hops. Four fully restored historic vacation rentals, surrounding the farm, are available for short or long term self-catered stays throughout the year. Details at LandmarkTrustUSA.org.</em><span style=”font-weight: 700;”> </span></p><p><span style=”font-weight: 700;”>Photo credit: </span>KellyFletcherPhotography.com</p>
Source: Dig in VT Trails
<p>Cedar Circle Farm hosts its annual Pumpkin Festival on Sunday, October 8 from 10am until 3pm. Now in its fifteenth year, the Pumpkin Festival offers on-farm enjoyment for the entire family, with horse-drawn wagon rides, pumpkin picking, live music, kids’ activities, storytelling, birds of prey, cider pressing, and local food concessions.</p><p>Kids and families will want to visit the “Circle of Cedars” Enchanted Forest—where entertainment includes award-winning storyteller Simon Brooks of New London, NH who weaves folk and faerie tales from 10-30-11:30, and Vermont storyteller-musicians, The Swing Peepers, who play from 12-1 and 1:30-2. In addition to horse-drawn wagon rides to the pumpkin patch and cider pressing, children will also love the live birds of prey brought by the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS), plus face painting, educational activities, and crafts. For those who feel like dancing or listening to an eclectic mix of American songs, stop by the main stage to hear live music by the popular Vermont jam band, Sensible Shoes, from 1-3.</p><p><img class=”center” src=”https://www.diginvt.com/assets/_resampled/resizedimage600400-2-girls-picking-up-pumpkins-sideview-by-Ben-Fleishman-2015.jpg” width=”600″ height=”400″ alt=”” title=””/></p><p>“The Pumpkin Festival is not only a Cedar Circle Farm tradition but it has become an Upper Valley tradition! People from all walks of life come to celebrate the season with great food, engaging entertainment, and educational activities suited for kids and adults alike.” says CCF Education Manager Eric Tadlock.</p><p>Be sure to arrive hungry! The food concessions, open from 11-3, feature delicious, farm-fresh organic soups, salads, grilled local sausages and farm-made veggie burgers, and pumpkin desserts prepared by CCF Chef Theo and her Farm Kitchen crew. NOFA-VT’s mobile wood-fired oven returns to offer artisan pizza. And, new this year are Piecemeal Pies of White River Junction offering savory pies and soups, Griddle and Groovy of East Thetford serving gourmet grilled cheese and mac and cheese, and JUEL Juice + Smoothies with their food truck. The Farmstand and Hello Café coffee shop will be open until 5. </p><p>“Pumpkin Festival is a great community event. People love to come out and enjoy the fall splendor, eat good food, and learn about where their food comes from. It’s definitely time to celebrate the season’s bounty and spend time with family and friends.” states CCF’s Farm Manager Kate Duesterberg.</p><p>The Pumpkin Festival is a “Green Event” with a waste recovery station, which has yielded just two bags of trash for more than 1500 visitors in previous years.</p><p>A suggested donation of $10-15 per car includes parking in designated fields and free admission to all events. Carpooling is encouraged. No pets please. Rain or shine.</p><p>Located on Pavillion Road along the Connecticut River, the farm is just off of Rt. 5 in East Thetford, VT. For details and directions, visit <a href=”http://www.cedarcirclefarm.org/events/festivals”>www.CedarCircleFarm.org/events/festivals</a>.</p><p><em>Cedar Circle Farm & Education Center is an organic farm with a social mission, engaging the community to develop and share practices that promote regenerative agriculture, good health, and a resource-rich environment. The farm offers a retail farmstand and greenhouses, a farm kitchen, and coffee shop. They feature a CSA program, pick your own berries and pumpkins, educational school programs, summer day camps and farm tours, cooking classes, and a community harvest festival.</em></p>
Source: Dig in VT Trails
The University of Vermont celebrated the completion of Phase I of its new $104 million science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, complex, the largest construction project in its history, with tours of the two new buildings that were recently completed – Discovery Hall, which opened in June after 23 months of construction, and Votey Hall, which opened in late August after an eight-month renovation.
About 150 people toured the new buildings late Thursday afternoon. A third component of the complex, Innovation Hall, will be completed in May 2019. When finished, the STEM complex will house UVM’s departments of Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Statistics, Computer Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical and Biomedical Engineering.
“We’re thrilled that the new STEM complex is on schedule and on budget, and that a significant portion of the project is already online promoting just the kind of engaged student learning and interdisciplinary faculty innovation that we envisioned,” said Tom Sullivan, UVM president.
While Innovation Hall will contain predominantly faculty offices, lecture halls and classrooms, Discovery Hall and Votey Hall, home base for the university’s College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, will house the majority of new teaching labs and faculty research labs in the STEM complex.
Discovery is home to 14 teaching labs and 22 faculty research labs. Votey adds 11 new teaching labs and three new faculty research labs to the complex.
Both the teaching and the research labs in the buildings mix the STEM disciplines, rather than giving each one dedicated space as is traditionally done, an intentional element of the project’s design, said UVM’s provost, David Rosowsky.
“The plan was to put people together to promote the kind of collaboration across disciplinary boundaries that can lead to truly innovative learning and discovery,” he said.
The first floor of Discovery Hall, which houses faculty research labs in chemistry, physics and engineering, is a case in point, he said, as is the third floor of Votey Hall, which houses a large physics laboratory near a cluster of engineering labs.
Teaching labs, too, are flexibly designed so they can accommodate students in several different STEM disciplines and be reconfigured for different pedagogical or research purposes.
The new STEM complex, a significant upgrade over the facilities it replaces, contains state-of-the-art features like the only open-research clean room in Vermont, giving students invaluable training that will prepare them for today’s high-tech job market and UVM the chance to recruit world-class faculty focused on nanoscience and nanotech research.
But its real significance lies beyond bricks and mortar.
“The STEM complex has given us the capabilities to bring to life innovative curricular programming that’s strategic for the university and attractive to our student body that we’ve long planned but didn’t have the facilities to implement,” Rosowsky said.
The new biomedical engineering undergraduate major, launched in September 2016, is an example. Planners were confident the major would succeed in part because the new STEM complex would include a large biomedical engineering teaching lab, the university’s first.
Similar new work spaces will help the university grow its new data science major, promote collaborations between UVM’s Larner College of Medicine and the university’s engineering departments, foster collaborations with industry and offer new graduate and certificate programs.
While the new complex is designed to engage and inspire UVM’s STEM majors, who make up about one-third of undergraduate enrollment and more than 60 percent of graduate enrollment, and to attract talented students interested in engineering and the sciences, it is also serves undergraduates in other majors, 90 percent of whom take two or more STEM courses during their college careers.
“The facility is meant to make STEM learning inspiring and accessible to all,” Rosowsky said, “so all UVM students, regardless of their major, graduate with math and science literacy, an appreciation for these disciplines and a commitment to become lifelong learners within our technological society.”
Rosowsky is also excited about the role the new STEM complex can play in education and outreach to Vermont’s K-12 population as a kind of “Exploratorium.”
Beginning this year, classes will be invited to visit the facility to learn about STEM, view research projects in action and meet with faculty and students.
Rosowsky sees this outreach as a natural fit for the university’s land grant mission.
“We want to give Vermont students the opportunity to learn about STEM and to be excited by it, at an early age,” he said, an opportunity young people routinely have in large metropolitan areas like Boston that offer a greater density of tech companies, research institutions and science museums.
“What better role for the state’s land-grant university to play?”
The architect for the STEM complex is a partnership of Freeman French Freeman of Burlington and Ellenzweig Architects, a Boston-based design firm specializing in STEM projects.
Source: UVM News
A University of Vermont-led study of 300,000 children in 35 nations says kids whose watersheds have greater tree cover are less likely to experience diarrheal disease, the second leading cause of death for children under the age of five.
Published in Nature Communications, the study is the first to quantify the connection between watershed quality and individual health outcomes of children at the global scale.
“Looking at all of these diverse households in all these different countries, we find the healthier your watershed upstream, the less likely your kids are to get this potentially fatal disease,” says Taylor Ricketts of UVM’s Gund Institute for Environment.
Surprisingly, the team predicts that a 30 per cent increase in upstream tree cover in rural watersheds would have a comparable effect to improved water sanitation, such as the addition of indoor plumbing or toilets.
“This suggests that protecting watersheds, in the right circumstances, can double as a public health investment,” says Brendan Fisher of UVM’s Gund Institute and Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. “This shows, very clearly, how ‘natural infrastructure’ can directly support human health and welfare.”
The research is the first to use a massive new database that will enable “big data” approaches to study links between human health and the environment, globally. The database features 30 years of USAID demographic and health surveys, with 150 variables for 500,000 households, including spatial data on the environment.
“We are not saying trees are more important than toilets and indoor plumbing,” says Diego Herrera, who led the paper as a UVM postdoctoral researcher, and is now at Environmental Defense Fund. “But these findings clearly show that forests and other natural systems can complement traditional water sanitation systems, and help compensate for a lack of infrastructure.”
The researchers hope the findings help governments and development agencies to improve the health and environment of children around the world. They add that more research is needed to more fully understand exactly how watershed forests impact the risk of diseases like diarrhea, which has many causes, including waterborne pathogens.
The research covers 35 nations across Africa, Southeast Asia, South America and the Caribbean, including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Nigeria, Colombia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The study was supported by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), Luc Hoffmann Institute and WWF, along with The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation as part of the Health & Ecosystems: Analysis of Linkages(HEAL) program (now Planetary Health Alliance).
The interdisciplinary research team was led by Brendan Fisher and Taylor Ricketts of the University of Vermont (who also led the database’s creation) and includes lead author Diego Herrera (Environmental Defense Fund/UVM), Alicia Ellis (UVM), Christopher Golden (Harvard University), Timothy Treuer (Princeton University), Alexander Pfaff (Duke University), Kiersten Johnson (USAID), and Mark Mulligan (King’s College London).
According to the World Health Organization (WHO):
Read the full study: http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00775-2
ADDITIONAL QUOTES
“The novelty is that this is a global study of individual people linking ecosystems and health around the world,” says Diego Herrera, a former postdoctoral researcher at UVM’s Gund Institute for Environment and Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, who is now at Environmental Defense Fund.
WWF
“This ground-breaking research shows the extent that our health and wellbeing can be influenced by the health of our forests and rivers,” says Dave Tickner, Chief Freshwater Adviser at WWF. “Many of these natural habitats are in critical condition. This is shown by the fact that, globally, there has been a 38 per cent fall in populations of land-dwelling animals, and a shocking 81 per cent decline in freshwater wildlife, between 1970 and 2012.”
“This new science indicates that investment in healthy forests and rivers can provide significant benefits for human health. WWF is now working with the University of Vermont research team to understand the implications of this evidence for the management of rivers and forests around the world. These are limited and precious natural resources. Our failure to look after them could have real consequences for human health.”
SESYNC
“The dataset put together by this team of researchers is essential to understanding the importance of environmental policies on human well-being,” said Margaret Palmer, Director of the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) “This research demonstrates the powerful conclusions that can be made when we bring together social and environmental data from around the world.”
LUC HOFFMANN INSTITUTE
“For more than 40 years case studies around the world have suggested that ecosystem degradation has a disproportionate impact on the world’s poorest people,” says Jonathan Hutton, Director of the Luc Hoffmann Institute. “This study uses big data to demonstrate the strongest possible link between forest quality, water quality and human health. It is a significant piece of evidence in the case for better management of our river basins and other natural systems.”
Source: UVM News
A who’s-who lineup of comic artists and graphic novelists will converge on Burlington later this month for the “Pulp Culture Comic Arts Festival and Symposium” sponsored by the University of Vermont and the Vermont Folklife Center.
Scheduled for October 19-21, the event features talks by artists Alison Bechdel, Joe Sacco and Art Spiegelman; discussion panels and workshops; exhibits by over 30 cartoonists from New England and Quebec; and a festival of images and ideas for enthusiasts of the art form.
Works like Speigelman’s Maus, serialized from 1980 to 1991, demonstrated that comic art could take on serious adult subjects, contradicting the assumption that comics were only relevant for adolescent lovers of fantasy, sci-fi and superheroes.
The mid-eighties kicked off the graphic novel movement, which now report on topics like genocide, particle physics and political theory, and provide a robust medium for biography and fiction.
Isaac Cates, a lecturer who teaches classes in the comic arts at UVM, serves as an advisor for the festival. He came to appreciate comic art from the perspective of poetry.
“Poets must be attentive to every word, every detail,” he says. “In the same way, every detail in every panel of a graphic novel is purposeful—nothing appears accidentally.”
Cates will moderate a forum on comic art as a medium for autobiography.
“I tell my students that comic authors are like filmmakers who happen to be the writer, producer, director, costume designer, set designer, editor and cinematographer.”
Highlights of “Pulp Culture Comic Arts Festival and Symposium” include:
An Evening with Art Spiegelman, October 19, 2017, 7-9 p.m. at the UVM Recital Hall. In an onstage interview and presentation, the legendary Spiegelman will discuss his extensive body of work, including his award winning graphic novel Maus, and share his perspectives on the history of comics and use of comics in non-fiction storytelling. The event will conclude with an audience question and answer session.
A Conversation with Joe Sacco, October 20, 2017, 3-5 p.m. at the Carpenter Auditorium, Larner College of Medicine at UVM. The Dan and Carole Burack President’s Distinguished Lecture Series at UVM presents this conversation with renowned comics journalist, Joe Sacco. Sacco will explore journalism, cartooning, subjectivity and objectivity in representation, reflexivity, and the role of the self in his work, as well as the intersections of journalism, ethnography and history.
Drawing from the Past: A Nonfiction Comics Workshop. Join New Hampshire teaching artist Mark Bennett for this hands-on non-fiction comics lab. Participants will look at basic techniques of cartooning and comics creation, and draw original comics based on primary source texts. No experience required–space is limited. Contact Andy Kolovos (akolovos@vermontfolklifecenter.org) for more information. 10-2 p.m. October 20 at the UVM Special Collections.
A Conversation with Alison Bechdel, October 21, 2017, 6-8 p.m. at the Fleming Auditorium (Room 101) at UVM’s Fleming Museum. The capstone event of “Pulp Culture Comic Arts Festival and Symposium” features a live interview with MacArthur Fellow and UVM professor of English Alison Bechdel. Her comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For” became a countercultural institution among lesbians and discerning non-lesbians all over the planet. And her more recent, darkly humorous graphic memoirs about her family have forged an unlikely intimacy with an even wider range of readers.
Panel Discussions. On October 21, symposium features a series of five panels throughout the day that explore different aspects of non-fiction cartooning. Drawing together cartoonists, writers and academics, the hour-long panels will foster a rich dialog between panelists and audience. Panels will be held in the Fleming Auditorium (Room 101) in the Fleming Museum.
Exhibition. Visit the Marble Court of the Fleming Museum on October 21 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and meet cartoonists from Vermont, New England, New York and Montreal.
Green Mountain Pulp: Comics in Vermont. This exhibit in partnership with the Vermont Folklife Center, the Fleming Museum and University of Vermont Libraries is on display on the main floor of UVM’s Bailey/Howe Library October 2-March 5, 2018. “Green Mountain Pulp” highlights the work of symposium presenters Alison Bechdel, Joe Sacco and Art Spiegelman, and presents a wide range of materials on comics in and about Vermont, including original works by Bechdel, Stephen R. Bissette, James Kochalka and Rick Veitch.
All events are free and open to the public. For more details visit
www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/pulp-culture
The “Pulp Culture Comic Arts Festival and Symposium” is presented by the University of Vermont and the Vermont Folklife Center. UVM co-sponsors include The Fleming Museum, Carolyn and Leonard Miller Center for Holocaust Studies, Department of German and Russian, Jewish Studies Program, Dan and Carole Burack Distinguished Lecture Series, University of Vermont Humanities Center, Department of Art and Art History, Vermont Humanities Council, Larner College of Medicine, Vermont Arts Council, Center for Cartoon Studies, The Center for Research on Vermont, UVM Departments of Anthropology, English, Geography, History, Romance Languages & Linguistics, Global & Regional Studies, Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies Program, and the Honors College. Jonah Steinberg (associate professor of anthropology) is the principal organizer and host of the event.
Source: UVM News
<p>Head Brewer Andrew Leichthammer of Good Measure Brewing Co. goes above and beyond to source locally – from foraging fruit to collecting wild yeast. We checked in with Andrew about his local beers and upcoming <a href=”https://www.diginvt.com/events/detail/good-measure-brewing-co-beer-dinner-farmhouse-tap-and-grill” target=”_blank”>Beer Dinner with Farmhouse Tap & Grill on October 11th</a>. </p><p><strong>Tell us a little about the brewery, what’s special about your beer? </strong></p><p>So we started this project in November/December of 2015. We had over a year of construction on the building located here in Northfield, VT. We converted this former 1940’s IGA/Grand Union Grocery store to our brewery and tasting room and opened to the public December 23rd, 2016. We brew a lot of different beers and styles but we focus mostly on pub beers or easy drinking beers from all around the world. To date, we have brewed over 110 batches of beer over 75 of which have been unique one-off beers. Our 4 core beers that we always produce include an American Cream Ale, English-Style Extra Special Bitter, Belgian-Style Saison and an American Pale Ale. </p><p><strong>What’s your brewing background? </strong></p><p>I was an avid homebrewer having brewed my first homebrew in 2006. After working at The Farmhouse Tap and Grill for a few years I moved on to help open and run Mule Bar in Winooski, VT. I partnered with Scott Kerner at that time who is also now my partner in Good Measure. After running Mule Bar for a few years I left to start construction on the Good Measure space and we brewed our first commercial beer early September 2016. </p><p><strong>How do you incorporate local ingredients into your beer?</strong></p><p>I like to focus a lot of my brewing on Belgian influenced farmhouse ales and sour beers. This gives me a lot of room to work with lots of local ingredients. We have brewed with local malts including Spelt, Wheat and Buckwheat. We have brewed with local ingredients like coffee and caramel. This summer we spent a few weeks foraging for found/fallen fruit including Peaches, Cherries, Blueberries, Chokecherries, Aronia Berries, Raspberries, Apples and more. I really like bringing as many local ingredients into my brewing as possible and I like the connection that we make with our farmers and neighbors in the process. We have even begun to harvest local wild yeast that we plan on using in some small-scale barrel projects. </p><p><strong>Do you have a favorite beer that makes use of a local ingredient?</strong></p><p>Our newest beer to hit the market was our Harvest Grisette. This was brewed with all local VT grown and donated whole leaf hops as well as local raw spelt and raw wheat from our friends at Rogers Farmstead in Berlin, VT. It is a traditional light Belgian-Style beer with subtle notes of bubblegum and spice and at only 4.0% abv it’s a crushable beer that you could have a few pints of. I really like this beer and I think its a great representation of how well local ingredients can work in a beer. </p><p><strong>What are some challenges around making beer with local ingredients?</strong></p><p>One of the biggest challenges with local ingredients is the processing of the products. Different ingredients require different times and ways of processing including milling, juicing, freezing etc. When we work with local ingredients it’s always a challenge and always a different brew-day each time we do.</p><p><strong>What do you think the future holds for Vermont beer? Do you think we’ll see more local sourcing? </strong></p><p>I’d like to say that more people will begin sourcing local ingredients. I see the trends moving towards more session-able small beers that can really reflect the bounty the local farms can provide us brewers with. </p><p><strong>Good Measure is partnering with Farmhouse Tap & Grill for a special <a href=”https://www.diginvt.com/events/detail/good-measure-brewing-co-beer-dinner-farmhouse-tap-and-grill” target=”_blank”>Beer Dinner to benefit VFN on October 11th</a> – how do you go about choosing beer pairings? </strong></p><p>For this dinner, I wanted to showcase two of our core beers and two of our new beers. I chose our ESB and our Saison for two of the courses because they are so incredibly food friendly. For the main meat course I wanted to choose something that would cut through the richness and the fat in the pork so I paired it with our new IPA and for the dessert course I wanted something that would work well with the spices and the apple so we pulled a new beer out of barrels that reflected those similar characteristics. Food pairing doesn’t have to be a challenge and when you have beers that work so well with food it makes the selection fairly easy!</p>
Source: Dig in VT Trails
<p>Follow the pink neon sign at the corner of Church and Main Street into the warm, inviting and bustling dining room of Burlington’s newest restaurant Honey Road. <a href=”http://vermontfresh.net/search-members/member-list/member/honey-road”>Honey Road</a> has been pulling in rave reviews since their opening this summer. The buzz is strong for many reasons – the restaurant is female owned and run, helmed by Chef Cara Tobin and VFN restaurant veteran Alison Gibson; they’re serving up Eastern Mediterranean small plates – a new (and delicious) concept for Burlington; and it’s good – really good. We checked in with Cara to see how she was creating this global cuisine while staying Vermont-focused with ingredients.<strong> </strong></p><h4><strong>How did you come to open a restaurant in Vermont? </strong></h4><p>I started working in a professional kitchen when I was 17. It was at a pizza place in Hanover NH. I fell in love with it and kind of never looked back. In 2001, I met my now husband, in Vermont. We moved together back to my home state of California, but we always missed the east coast and hoped to move back someday. In 2010, we did and I started working at Oleana in Cambridge, MA. That is when I started learning about Middle Eastern, specifically, Turkish cuisine. It was a whole new world and it was amazing. After traveling to places like Turkey and Morocco, I knew that this was the cuisine where I had found my place. Living in Boston was great but we quickly knew that we wanted to move north, to Vermont and set down roots. So I started conceptualizing what is now Honey Road. It was so natural to combine the fresh, Mediterranean cooking style of California with the flavors and textures of the Eastern part of the Mediterranean. Then to add in the wonderful produce, meats and dairy of Vermont seemed like a no-brainer. <strong>Once I was back in Vermont I was introduced to Allison Gibson. It sounds silly but we sort of had a blind date and the rest is history.</strong> We had a lot of the same philosophies about running restaurants and we were both ready to do our own thing. It’s crazy but that’s what happened. It was like asking someone to marry me. <strong>On our second “date” I said, “I want to open an Eastern Mediterranean restaurant in Burlington, do you want to do that with me?” And she said “Yes”!</strong></p>
GM Allison Gibson and Chef Cara Tobin of Honey Road
<p><strong style=”color: #414141; font-size: 16px;”>Tell us a little about Honey Road and Eastern Mediterranean cuisine.</strong></p><p>Honey Road is an Eastern Mediterranean restaurant that serves Mezze, small plates, family style. Eastern Mediterranean cuisine is influenced by places like Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Greece and Syria. Some people recognize it as being middle eastern. <strong>What I love about this combination of cuisines are the spices</strong>. We use a lot of spices. The spices are used to create depth and flavor, instead of using butter and heavy cream. You walk away feeling full and satisfied but not like you overindulged. We also use things like <strong>Tahini, Sumac, Za’atar and Maras Chili</strong>. Some menu items that might be familiar are Hummus, Baba Ganoush and lots of Lamb!</p><p>We use mostly local ingredients. <strong>Right now about 90% of our produce is locally sourced and almost all of our dairy is local as well</strong>. With the exception of some protected origin cheeses that come from Greece and Cyprus. Our lamb, chicken and quail are also all local. The atmosphere in the restaurant is refined casual. It’s a super fun place to hang out and get a drink and a snack but also works for a special occasion dinner place as well. <strong> </strong></p>
Lamb and Greek Cheese Pide, with Cherry Tomatoes and a Local Egg
<h4><strong>What’s your method to create flavors from afar while sourcing locally?</strong></h4><p>It’s the use of spices with the local produce, meats and dairy that help create the flavors of the middle east while eating carrots or lamb that are grown and/or raised in our own backyard.<strong> Also, did you know that <a href=”https://www.instagram.com/p/jo0tnHrLZn/?taken-by=vermontrawnutbutter”>people are making tahini</a> in Vermont?!</strong> Aside from the spices themselves, we have all we need here. Tahini, sumac, and Za’atar!</p><h4><strong>What is Za’atar?</strong></h4><p><strong>Za’atar typically refers to wild thyme or oregano</strong>, but can also refer to a condiment that combines wild thyme or oregano with sumac and sesame seeds. Its origin is as foggy as the origin of most Middle Eastern dishes. Many countries claim it as theirs but it is found almost everywhere in the Middle East and parts of North Africa, throughout history. <strong> </strong></p><h4><strong>What dishes do you use it in? </strong></h4><p>Right now on our menu, <strong>we use Za’atar on the Braised Lamb Shoulder with yogurt</strong>. It also appears on <strong>crackers for dipping in hummus</strong> and on the <strong>Crispy Hen of the Wood mushrooms</strong> that we are getting from local foragers. </p>
Za’atar drying on racks at Honey Road
<h4><strong>It’s hard to choose favorites, but what are some fall menu highlights?</strong></h4><p>Fall and Winter are when Middle Eastern cuisine shines. You can really <strong>get into all the braised and stewed meats and vegetables</strong>. Try the Braised Lamb with Yogurt and Za’atar; Haloumi Cheese with Delicata Squash and Maple Tahini; and Brussels Sprouts, Freekah “Dirty Rice”, Walnuts. </p><p> </p>
Source: Dig in VT Trails
…Patchy dense fog this morning… Motorists are urged to be prepared for rapid changes in visibilities as there is locally dense with visibilities less than a half mile occurring mainly near bodies of water across portions of east central New York and adjacent western New England. Please allow for some extra time to reach your
