Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Happy Vermont

Sheena Brown is a fourth-generation dairy farmer at Skyline Holsteins in Derby. Her great-grandfather bought this farm 81 years ago. As a child, she spent her days bottle-feeding lambs, walking a pet pig down the road, and following her father through the barn, convinced this was exactly where she belonged.

Then, when she was in middle school, the family sold the dairy herd. The barn went quiet, and it seemed like her dream of farming here might disappear.

Fortunately, it didn't.

In 2015, Sheena reopened the family dairy. Today, she and her partner, Ben, are raising three young boys on the same farm where she grew up.

Now they're taking on perhaps their biggest challenge yet: transitioning from conventional dairy farming to organic in hopes of creating a more sustainable future for the farm, and for the next generation.

This episode was made possible with funding from Vermont Dairy Farmers.

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In this episode of Happy Vermont, host Erica Houskeeper explores the story of the common loon's recovery in Vermont.   Inspired by a personal encounter with a loon call after her brother’s passing on Sherman Reservoir, Erica meets experts Eric Hanson and Eloise Girard of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies to talk about the conservation successes and ongoing challenges facing these iconic birds.   Tune in to hear about loons’ unique calls, the threats they’ve overcome, and their presence on Vermont’s lakes, ponds and and reservoirs.    Visit Happy Vermont https://happyvermont.com   Subscribe to Happy Vermont's newsletter https://mailchi.mp/happyvermont/subscribe-to-happy-vermont   Support Happy Vermont on Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/c/happyvermontpodcast/membership  

Sandy Lincoln owns The Bookery in Rochester, a cozy small-town shop that focuses on antiquarian and used books.   It's also a place where visitors can slow down, browse, and feel at home. With resident cats, quirky displays, and a friendly atmosphere, The Bookery is just as much about community as it is about books. facebook.com/thebookeryvt   happyvermont.com   Book Fair Details

The Seven Stars Arts Center is one of those rare places that blends history, community, reinvention, and a touch of quirkiness.

What began as a Baptist church later became a grange hall, then a garage, and eventually a healing arts center. Now the building is an education and performing arts venue run by volunteers.

Located a few doors from the Sharon Post Office on Route 14, the building still resembles an old church. But the steeple and an exterior clock from its earlier days are long gone. Today, the top of the building is flat, and musical notes are etched in a framed circle once told you the time.

The center gets its name from a 1990s creation. On the yellow front doors are two stained-glass windows hand-painted with seven stars.

Yet, despite its whimsical exterior, the inside the building is where the magic happens.

“There’s a great extended community that like to come to Seven Stars. They love the hall, and they love the music,” says Anne Mapplebeck of Sharon, a visual artist who volunteers regularly at Seven Stars with her husband, Michael Barsanti.

Maple sugaring in Vermont is a tradition built on hard work, risk, and reward. When it comes to sugaring, the days are long, but the season is short. At Judd's Wayeeses Farms in Morgan, fourth generation Vermonter Jim Judd and his wife Donna Young have spent years perfecting their craft. “People look at our place, and what they don’t always consider is that I’ve been doing this for 50 years. This didn’t happen overnight,” says Judd, whose maple farm is five miles from the Canadian border.  In this episode, we talk about maple season, why sap can taste different from place to place, and what it takes to make a living as a Vermont sugar maker. Buy Vermont Maple Syrup from Judd's Wayeeses Farms Visit HappyVermont.com Help Support Happy Vermont on Patreon 

There’s a lot to love about Vermont general stores. 

This episode includes an interview with Ben Doyle, the president of the Preservation Trust of Vermont in Montpelier. The organization has helped many Vermont towns save or reopen general stores. 

I also chat with Dan and Alison Singleton of Singleton’s Store in Cavendish, which opened 80 years ago.

 

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Cory Ciklin and a group of volunteers are helping to bring the Townshend Town Hall and Opera House back to its former glory.

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This holiday season, windows on Brattleboro's Main Street and beyond are being decorated for the inaugural Festival of Miniatures. 

Festival organizer Melany Kahn talks about the event and the town she loves. She also shares insight into Brattleboro's strengths and challenges, and why local art matters.

www.brattleboro.com

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Jamie Ide of Jericho spends a lot of time on the western side of Mount Mansfield—where you’ll find Underhill State Park and trails to hike to the top of Vermont’s highest peak.

But it turns out there was a ski area there, too. Jamie talks about finding relics of the old ski area in Underhill and what it was like on the quieter side of the mountain many years ago.

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Happy Vermont Holiday Gift Guide

Kendall Gendron's favorite movie is Beetlejuice.

When the Seattle native met her future husband and discovered that his hometown was East Corinth—where the movie was filmed—it felt like a match made in heaven.

In 2016, the couple moved from the Pacific Northwest to East Corinth. When the opportunity arose to own the fictional Miss Shannon's School for Girls from the Beetlejuice movies, Kendall jumped at the chance.

It wasn’t just about owning a part of movie history, but how the iconic, Gothic structure on Village Road could become a vibrant events venue and community gathering space.

In this episode, I talk to Kendall and lifelong East Corinth resident Wade Pierson about Beetlejuice, the building's past, present and future, and the meaning of community.

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Mike Snyder is passionate about keeping Vermont forests healthy, especially in the face of climate change. 

We met up on a wooded trail in Stowe to talk about the consequences of overuse, the foliage outlook for this year, and how we can be more mindful when we’re exploring the woods.

At one time there were 38 fire towers in Vermont. Now there are fewer, but Vermont fire towers are more popular than ever.

Luke O’Brien, a forest recreation specialist with the State of Vermont, talks about the history of Vermont fire towers and why they matter.

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South Mountain in Bristol is a legendary place.   Ethan Mitchell, a history and mathematics teacher, grew up in nearby New Haven. He’s a folklore enthusiast who has researched tales of money digging in Vermont, including stories about people searching for treasure on South Mountain.   https://happyvermont.com

 

Along Vermont’s interstates stand a unique collection of 16 abstract sculptures created by internationally renowned artists. more than 50 years ago.

These sculptures were placed at rest areas along Interstates 89 and 91 in the early 1970s. Decades later, most of them are now hidden by forest growth. That will soon change.

The collection could be described as the largest outdoor presentation of sculpture in the world. Art conservator Bob Hannum of Barre is working with the state of Vermont to clean, repair and move these sculptures into view so they can be enjoyed once again by the public.

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Margaret Loftus is a former public defender.  She’s now a farmer.

She and her husband Jonathan left Brooklyn for Vermont in 2006 in search of a better place to raise their kids—Keelan, Tobin and Wendell—and grow their own food.

After years of learning about farming, growing organic vegetables, and raising animals for beef, pork and lamb, the family-run Crossmolina Farm—named after a town in Ireland—became a full-time enterprise in 2018.

In this episode, Margaret talks about creating a new life in Vermont, learning how to farm, and creating a tight-knit community around food.   

Read about Crossmolina Farm in Daybreak 

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Host Erica Houskeeper talks with attorney Spencer Crispe of West Brattleboro and forester Norm Arseneault of Granville about why Vermont ancient roads still matter.

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Chris Wilcox is vice president of Wilcox Ice Cream in Sunderland. Chris was my first friend when my family moved to Vermont in 1979. 

Not only were we friends, we were neighbors, too. I would zig zag my way through a couple of fields and cross a dirt to get to her house.

The farm you see just south of Equinox Valley nursery on Route 7A, where Chris spent her childhood. But 24 years ago, on May 7, 2001, a fire tore through the farm on Route 7A, destroying multiple buildings, including one that housed the ice cream business.

The farm you see now on Route 7A is no longer part of Wilcox Ice Cream. It hasn’t been for years. For the past decade, they’ve been making ice cream out of their facility in Sunderland. 

In this episode, Chris talks about ice cream, hard work, perseverance, love and loss.  

https://www.wilcox-ice-cream.com

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Hotels used to stand at the top of some of Vermont's mountains, like Mount Mansfield, Camel's Hump, Snake Mountain and Mount Equinox. 

Mary Skelton spent eight childhood summers at the Mount Mansfield Summit Hotel. It was a hotel her dad managed, and he served as the hotel's postmaster. 

In this episode, Mary talks about the old hotel on Vermont's highest mountain, her joyful memories, and the end of an era.

Vermont has no shortage of offbeat place names.

What is special about place names is that they come with a story, either a true story or one that's a mix of myth, folklore and fact. 

In this episode, host Erica Houskeeper shares some of Vermont's interesting place names. 

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The town of Stratton is best known for the popular ski area, Stratton Mountain Resort. But beyond the 3,000-acre ski area, the town has 30,000 acres and about 300 full-time residents.

At one time in the 1930s, the population was so small that there were fears the town would go the same way as the unincorporated communities of Glastenbury and Somerset. 

Town Clerk Kent Young talks about Stratton's tiny population, the fire tower on top of Stratton Mountain, the lack of post offices in town, and an old tragic tale from Kelley Stand Road.

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Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond is tiny but mighty. 

The ski area was started in the early 1960s by Mickey and Ginny Cochran. 

Their children, Bob, Barbara Ann, Marilyn and Lindy, came to be known as the “The Skiing Cochrans.” They represented the U.S. in the Winter Olympics, with Barbara Ann winning the gold in 1972.

In this episode, Barbara Ann talks about the ski area's early days, her racing career and what makes Cochran’s an extraordinary place. 

Learn more about Cochran's Ski Area https://cochranskiarea.com

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You can learn a lot about a town and its history by visiting the local library.

The Goodrich Memorial Library in Newport has a taxidermy collection that includes an alligator, bob cat, porcupine and birds.

The Rutland Free Library originally served as a post office and courthouse. There are also jail cells in the basement.

In this episode, Jessamyn West, a library technologist from Randolph, talks about what makes Vermont libraries fascinating places. She also shares what's she's learned on her quest to visit all of Vermont’s libraries. 

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Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley was the first person to ever photograph a single snowflake. 

On January 15, 1885—at age 19—he used photographic plates to capture his first snowflake image at his family's farm in Jericho. His images of snowflakes are on permanent display at the historical society in the Old Red Mill in Jericho.   "He had the mind of a scientist and the soul of a poet," says Sue Richardson, Bentley's great-grand-niece, who manages the exhibit and gift shop at the Jericho Historical Society. "His dream was to share his images with the world," she says.

In this episode, Sue shares stories about Snowflake Bentley and his lasting impact on the world.

Jericho Historical Society 

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Host Erica Houskeeper talks about her brother, Matt, who died while kayaking in Southern Vermont last summer. It happened in a region of the state that Matt loved exploring.

In honor of Matt, Erica highlights a bit of history and geography in this part of Vermont. 

Susan Leader is a well-known potter based in Andover, where she grew up at the base of Terrible Mountain. 

In 1950, Susan's parents moved to Andover and settled at Popplewood Farm, where she spent her childhood. 

Today, she lives on a piece of land her parents left her just up the road from her childhood home. 

In this episode, we talk about Terrible Mountain, Susan's unconventional upbringing, and how she has found community in the small town of Andover.

Steve Farrow grew up in Holland, Vermont and now lives in Newport in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.

Steve studied at UVM in the 1980s and his master’s thesis focused on Vermont place names. He now teacher geography at Community College of Vermont.

In this Happy Vermont podcast episode, Steve and host Erica Houskeeper talk about Vermont place names and lost names like Elysiana, Hurricane and Jefferson County. They also explore Vermont gores and grants, as well as town names like Eden, Troy and Athens.

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Mike Snyder of Stowe was Vermont’s Commissioner of Forests, Parks and Recreation for over a decade before leaving his post in December 2022.

He’s now working as an independent consultant. Mike and host Erica Houskeeper met up at Brownsville Forest in Stowe to talk about fall foliage, forest health, and what it's like living in a popular tourist town.

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Glenn Fay of Burlington is an author, historian and seventh-generation Vermonter. He’s also a descendant of one of the Green Mountain Boys.

Glenn wrote Hidden History of Burlington Vermont and has a new book out, Ambition of the Remarkable Family of Ethan Allen. On a sunny day in July, we met at the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum in Burlington, where Glenn serves as a board member.

In this episode, Glenn shares how Ethan Allen is famous for capturing Fort Ticonderoga from the British and was also a complicated figure. We also talk about Burlington’s history, old neighborhoods, and the city's waterfront, which was once a bustling lumber port. 

https://ethanallenhomestead.org

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Traveling east on Route 118 along the Trout River is a nostalgic scene with covered bridges, barns and mountain views. After a few bends in the road, a clear view of the Montgomery Center for the Arts unfolds.

The Greek Revival building was empty the first time Sebastian Araujo saw it when he and his partner moved to town from Provincetown, Mass. The iconic building, perched at the intersection of Main Street and Mountain Road, is a former Baptist Church built in 1866.

“These buildings deserve to be restored. They deserve to be cherished. They deserve to be protected,” says Araujo, founding director of the Montgomery Center for the Arts. “And it's really important, because if we don't know where we come from, we don't know who we are in the present.”

Since opening six years ago, the Montgomery Center for the Arts has hosted art exhibits, performances, workshops and meditation sessions.  Araujo and others have tirelessly volunteered to help repair and preserve the building, organize events and get the word out.

 

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Artist and entrepreneur Stacy Harshman was living in New York and looking for a change. She Googled "nature, therapy, community, work and mountains" and landed in Vermont. 

Seven years ago, she started the Sparkle Barn in Wallingford, which has become a wildly popular destination in this small town in Rutland County. The Sparkle Barn is a gift shop and art installation located in an old dairy barn on Route 7.

In this episode of Happy Vermont, Stacy shares how she created this special place and how she’s found healing, happiness and belonging in Vermont.

Adamant is an unincorporated Vermont village between Calais and East Montpelier.  Its geographical boundaries are hard to define.

In this episode of Happy Vermont, Erica Houskeeper talks with three women about Adamant's history, the local co-op that's a community hub, and how Adamant is a state of mind. 

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https://www.adamantcoop.org

 

Mount Philo in Charlotte stands at 968 feet. It offers some of the most beautiful views, plus hiking trails, an auto road and campsites. It became Vermont’s first state park 100 years ago in 1924.

Judy Chaves is the author of Secrets of Mount Philo: A Guide to the History of Vermont's First State Park. In this episode, we talk about Mount Philo's significance, its history and why people love this small Vermont mountain.

Outdoor recreation is breathing new life into Poultney, which is home to Lake St. Catherine, the Poultney River, the Delaware and Hudson Rail Trail and Slate Valley Trails.

James Johnson lives off the grid in a yurt on land once owned by his grandmother. He's also the founder of the Fifth Season Race and Ride, a quirky mud season ride where participants ride around to local sugarhouses. 

In this episode of Happy Vermont, James Johnson and other locals talk about life in Poultney, exploring the outdoors in Poultney, and why they call this tight-knit community home. 

Read more: https://happyvermont.com/2024/04/09/outdoor-recreation-renaissance-in-poultney/

Pete and Sandy Gebbie are farmers and skiers. They have three rope tows on their 400-acre property, which sits at an elevation of about 2,000 feet. When the snow is good, friends come over to ski.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the first rope tow, which opened in Woodstock in January 1934.

In this episode, Pete and Sandy talk to host Erica Houskeeper about running a rope tow and what the tradition of rope tow skiing means to Vermonters. 

Vermont’s skiing had a big year in 1934. Ninety years ago, the first rope tow opened in Woodstock. It’s also when the Stowe Ski Patrol got its start, when the Civilian Conservation Corps were busy building trails in Vermont, and when the first purpose cut ski trail was completed on Mount Mansfield.

Brian Lindner of Waterbury is a historian, ski patroller, and outdoor enthusiast. While hiking on Camel's Hump when he was a boy in the 1960s, he stumbled upon World War II plane wreckage, which sparked his lifelong interest in local history.

In this episode, Brian talks with host Erica Houskeeper about the story of the plane that crashed into Camel's Hump, the early days of Stowe Mountain Resort, and the spot along Interstate 89 that goes over the top of the engine room of an old rope tow.

Jane Dorney of Richmond is a geographer who helps people connect to the Vermont landscape and understand how it evolved.

She approaches her work with the geographer’s question: Why are things where they are? 

In this episode of Happy Vermont, host Erica Houskeeper talks to Jane about settlement patterns, maps, town centers, villages, covered bridges and old mill sites.

https://janedorney.com

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Mount Tom in Woodstock isn’t a particularly tall mountain. But its environmental legacy, easy public access and central place in the community are monumental.

Mount Tom is where you’ll find miles of trails, beautiful views, a shining mountain top star, and the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, the only national park in Vermont. It’s also where the American environmental movement was essentially born 160 years ago.

Host Erica Houskeeper talks with resident Randy Richardson about the mountain's legacy, hiking trails, and special place in the community. She also checks in with resident Norm Frates about replacing the wooden Woodstock Star on the south peak of Mount Tom, which was installed after World War II.

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John Lent, of Waltham, started volunteering many years ago at the Vergennes Community Foodshelf with his late wife, Mary Ann. She was the driving force behind the couple’s volunteering efforts in the community. After Mary Ann died in 2020, John decided to keep volunteering in her honor. 

John is not only an avid volunteer, he’s also an accomplished marathon runner. He’s completed marathons in all 50 states, all Canadian provinces, and all seven continents.

In this episode of Happy Vermont, John shares what motivates him to volunteer and why getting out of your comfort zone is essential. 

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Vergennes Community Foodshelf

Vermont Sports magazine interview with John Lent

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Alicia Taylor and Joanna Alpizar met at a pop-up roller-skating event in Burlington. The two BIPOC women became fast friends and are now on a mission to create a public, welcoming, year-round space for roller-skating in the Burlington, Vermont area.

In this podcast episode of Happy Vermont, Alicia and Joanna talk about the joy of roller-skating, the history of roller-skating, and creating a welcoming skating space for the community.

Read the story here on HappyVermont.com.

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Jamie Franklin opened an exhibition at Bennington Museum earlier this year called Haunted Vermont, which explores disappearances in the Bennington Triangle and the work of mystery writer Shirley Jackson. Jackson lived in North Bennington and some of her work was inspired by the strange happenings in this area of Southern Vermont.

This episode of Happy Vermont highlights disappearances in Glastenbury, witches in Pownal, and vampires in Manchester and Shirley Jackson's work.

https://benningtonmuseum.org

https://happyvermont.com/2023/10/11/bennington-triangle-happy-vermont-podcast/

 

 

Every fall, John Anderson of Dummerston and a group of volunteers monitor birds that are migrating south for the season.

For decades, these volunteers, known as the Putney Mountain Hawk Watchers, have recorded the number and kinds of hawks they see and report the information to Hawk Migration of North America, which maintains an online hawk count database.

Established in 1974, Putney Mountain Hawk Watch is the only autumn raptor watch in Vermont that is monitored daily between August and November.

In this episode of Happy Vermont, John talks about hawk watching, what it brings to his life, and the time he saw more 6,000 birds fly over Putney Mountain in one day.

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http://putneymountain.org

 

If you’ve ever been to Shelburne Orchards, chances are you’ve seen or been lucky enough to meet owner Nick Cowles. Nick has spent most of his life at the orchard, which his father purchased in the 1950s. Nick loved growing up there, and when you visit, it’s easy to see why.

Host Erica Houskeeper met up with Nick to talk about apples, brandy, and how running the orchard changed his life for the better.

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The summer she turned seven years old, Charity Clark's first outing on Vermont's Long Trail was at Little Rock Pond in Mount Tabor. Years later, she completed the 272-mile footpath across the Green Mountains, the oldest long-distance hiking trail in the United States.

Today, Charity is Vermont's first female attorney general. Even with a busy schedule in Vermont’s highest law enforcement office, she spends as much time as she can outside—hiking, skiing or exploring the woods.

In this episode of Happy Vermont, Charity shares her love for hiking and the outdoors and why Vermont is her forever home. 

Read the story: https://happyvermont.com/2023/08/29/hiking-the-long-trail-charity-clark-podcast/

Happy Vermont podcast host Erica Houskeeper shares ways to explore Vermont this summer and fall. She also weighs in on why we can't take Vermont communities for granted. 

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Terri Armata of Bennington is one of Vermont’s most dedicated butterfly watchers. A retired hospital employee, Terri has seen about 100 species in Vermont, nearly every kind ever found in the state. 

Host Erica Houskeeper met with Terri at Merck Forest in Rupert to talk about good places to find butterflies, her passion for butterfly watching, and Vermont's second Butterfly Atlas Project survey.

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vermont-butterfly-atlas

merckforest.org

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Spencer Potter created Woodchuck Golf in his backyard in Waitsfield in 2004. The six-hole course, which runs on donations, attracts golfers from near and far looking for an offbeat and challenging experience.

Happy Vermont podcast host Erica Houskeeper met up with Spencer to find out what motivates him about running a public backyard golf course in Vermont's Mad River Valley.

www.woodchuckgolf.com

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Most of Vermont's forests and hillsides were clear-cut in the late 1800s. But in a few places, like Gifford Woods State Park in Killington, old trees were spared and continue to stand tall today. Host Erica Houskeeper talks to Vermont State Parks regional manager Rebecca Roy about ancient trees—some more than 300 years old—that visitors can see up close at Gifford Woods State Park. 

 

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A question host Erica Houskeeper often asks people is, how did you end up in Vermont? 

As she gets older, Erica thinks more and more about how she ended up in the Green Mountains more than 40 years ago. In this solo episode, she shares some personal memories of her family's early days in southern Vermont (a bittersweet, challenging time), and answers a few lighthearted questions from Happy Vermont readers and listeners. 

 

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After moving to Vershire in 2020, Justin Willeau was eager to find ways to meet people in town and contribute to the community. 

Vershire, a hard-to-get-to place in Orange County, doesn't have a coffee house or a bar. So Justin decided to create weekly get-togethers revolving around coffee and beer.

Justin started a Coffee Bar on Saturday mornings and a Beer Exchange on Thursday nights at the Church Orr House on Route 113.

In this episode, host Erica Houskeeper talks to Justin about serving in the Navy, getting involved in the community, and finding a place like Vershire to call home.

 

VerShare and the Church Orr House https://vershare.org

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Butternut Mountain is the tallest peak that falls entirely within the town of Johnson. On the mountain's southern slope, the Marvin family owns 600 acres where they produce maple syrup for their business, Butternut Mountain Farm.

David Marvin started Butternut Mountain Farm in the early 1970s on land owned by his father, Dr. James Wallace Marvin, a botanist and the co-founder of UVM's Proctor Maple Research Center. 

In this podcast episode of Happy Vermont, Butternut Mountain Farm's David Marvin and his children, Emma and Ira, talk with host Erica Houskeeper about the history of maple sugaring, how Butternut Mountain Farm came to be, and their hopes for the future.

https://happyvermont.com/2023/03/23/butternut-mountain-farm-maple-syrup-podcast/

https://butternutmountainfarm.com

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