All Entries in the "Community and Arts Life" Category
Chester Chatter: The art of stone wall building
By Ruthie Douglas © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC When early settlers first came to Vermont and began to clear their land, they discovered plenty of rocks and stones. They then built stone walls to show their property lines. Stone walls are Vermont’s land markers as well as our trade mark. Building a stone wall has […]
Henry Homeyer: tips for extending the life of your tools
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC By now most of us have put our gardens to bed – or done as much as we will this season. The morning of the first snow storm I finished cutting back the perennials in my last two flower beds. Whew, just in time. The vegetable garden has […]
Left in Andover: Taking the wheel, and a ticket home
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Although Dana-san, the boss, had given me permission to work on the potters wheel, no one actually “taught” me. One learned by doing, in this land where questions as such were just not asked. I was assigned my own wooden kick wheel, the concrete base of which was […]
Chester Chatter: The aromas of warmth, love
By Ruthie Douglas 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Thanksgiving Day is almost everyone’s favorite holiday. Perhaps it is because we get together with family and friends over some delicious food. Thanksgiving is not only a feeling in the air, it is the aromas coming from the kitchen, filling the house full of warmth and love. How […]
Henry Homeyer: Pruning, a late fall garden chore
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Fall is here, and winter is not far behind. I’ve seen some snow and scraped frost from my windshield. The sun is slow to get above the hills in the morning and quick to disappear in the afternoon. The sky is often gray and gloomy. These things take […]
Chester pub’s scarefest raises funds for 2 charities
© 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The annual Haunted House scarefest held by MacLaomainn’s Scottish Pub in Chester hit its fundraising goal last weekend for the two charities it supports. According to pub owner Deb Brown, the elaborate event, which takes more than a month to put together and more than 20 volunteers to operate, brought […]
Left in Andover: The push to learn in Japan
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The downside of securing an apprenticeship at the Ogami Pottery was that I could no longer freely visit the other workshops in Tachikui village without feeling like a traitor. Wherever I wandered, workers quizzed me as to how the Ogamis did things: What tools and techniques did they […]
Chester Chatter: From trash to treasures
By Ruthie Douglas 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The best thing about Gerald Ford as president was when he allowed for hot lunch workers’ unemployment when school did not open for the summer. It was a great time for my daughter and I to have fun. It was a time when many had taken up the […]
Henry Homeyer: tips for forcing bulbs for indoor blooms
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC It might be nice to take a week in February or March and travel to the Caribbean. By then most of us are tired of snow and cold. But if that is not in your budget, perhaps you need to plant some bulbs in pots for spring forcing. […]
Left in Andover: Transformation in Japan
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC In 1979 I resettled permanently on our family land in Andover with my life partner-to-be, fiddle player John Specker, my long held dream of establishing a family run pottery upmost in mind. John had recently come to southern Vermont from Ithaca, N.Y., where his bowing, singing and rhythmic […]
Chester Chatter: Remembering holiday windows
By Ruthie Douglas ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Store keepers in Springfield began to decorate their store fronts around this time for the Christmas season ahead. Remember Main Street allowed for strollers. Folks could stop by the window displays and get ideas for their gift lists. Up front, close to the store front windows were Christmas […]
Derry to hold energy efficiency workshop
The Londonderry Energy Committee will host a workshop at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5 on how to create an energy-efficient home in time for winter. The event will be held at the Depot, 34 W. River St. in South Londonderry. The workshop will answer these questions: What does weatherization look like in your home? What […]
Henry Homeyer: 15 October floral blooms
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Despite frost and short days, my garden produced plenty of flowers in October. I look for plants that will perform in the shoulder seasons – March, April, October and even November. Here are some I love that are blooming still, or that bloomed earlier in October. My ‘Knockout’ […]
Left in Andover: Discovering pottery in Japan
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC When I started college at Antioch in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in the summer of 1969, it was an era when all the rules were being broken. I was desperate to create my own young adult identity. But it was disorienting to go from a very structured high school […]
Chester Chatter: Stacking up to wood stacking
By Ruthie Douglas ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC At our farm house, we were warm and cozy with our oil-fired furnace. However, we had a fireplace in the kitchen as well as in the family room. We had a 15-acre wood lot up the hill. And every year, we cut about six cords of wood. Cutting […]
Henry Homeyer: Time to plant your garlic
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The easiest crop I grow every year is garlic. I plant it in October, mulch it well, and harvest it in early August. That’s it. If it’s well mulched, I don’t even have weed the bed more than once or twice. Not only that, I use this year’s […]
Spooktacular fun at MacLaomainn’s Haunted house spans two weekends this year
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing, LLC Around this time every year, 52 Main St. is the spookiest place in Chester as MacLaomainn’s Scottish Pub hosts its annual Haunted House in the Great Hall. This year though, there’s twice the spooky fun as the event will be held on two weekends rather than one. […]
Left in Andover: Finding the Promised Land
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC In 1942, at the age of 21, my mother was determined to escape her urban New York life. “The superficial, merry-go-round life of the city is hateful to me,” she wrote. “I want to get away from it and remain close to the soil. You are holding a […]
Chester Chatter: A step back in time
By Ruthie Douglas ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Not too many years ago, cousin Donald died. My daughters and I headed out for his funeral in the Northeast Kingdom. Almost there, we still needed some driving directions. Stopping at a small general store for some help, those inside fell silent, as they gave us the once-over. […]
Henry Homeyer: Time to plant bulbs for spring blossoms
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC This is the season for planting bulbs – from mid-October until the snow flies. Actually, I’ve shoveled snow off a bed to plant bulbs in November, and they did fine. Bulbs have everything inside them needed to succeed their first year. If you want them to keep on […]
