Many years ago, my wife imparted to me the idea that “there is no such thing as a weed,” and from then on, I've tried to follow the assertion of Ralph Waldo Emerson that a weed is “a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”
As a practicing herbalist, with training in Chinese and Western herbal medicine, I recognized these prolific plants deemed “invasive” as valuable healing remedies that have documented medicinal uses over thousands of years. A few years back, I began venting my frustrations in order to counter the mainstream version of these plants as insidious, noxious species sweeping over our lands with vengeance and malice, bringing no benefit to the landscape.
Through deepening my knowledge of these plants, I learned that these opportunistic species are providing essential ecological functions for the Earth by protecting, enhancing, and cleaning the soil, water, and air in which they live. This realization has lead to my adventure into writing a book to demonstrate the benefits of “invasive” plants, and to uncover the origins of this fallacy of the “bad” plant.
Today's war on invasive species is full of “scientific” theories and far-reaching policies based on opinions about “good” plants versus “bad” plants, in which the federal government, various corporations, nature-based organizations, and the puritanical public allocate billions of dollars trying to control the wilds of Nature.
On behalf of the staff and Board of Directors of Our Place Drop-In Center, I would like to express our heartfelt thanks for your generosity during the recent Stamp Out Hunger campaign. Many of you took the time to place non-perishable goods near mailboxes for pickup by your letter...
In a cynical move calculated to take advantage of all of the power and perks that large American corporations currently enjoy and abuse in this country, Entergy Nuclear of Louisiana has decided to go to the federal courts to ask to be relieved of its duty to obey the...
Starting in the middle of June, Dr. Kari Dickey will be joining current and long standing practice providers Richard Fletcher, FNP and Maggie Lake, FNP, in the Putney Family Healthcare, a family practice office that is now owned by Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. Dickey, a family medicine physician, is a Doctor of Osteopathy Medicine (DO), having received her medical degree from the University Of New England College Of Osteopathic Medicine and then doing residency at Dartmouth (N.H.) Family Practice. Prior to...
Obituaries Editor's note: The Commons will publish brief biographical information for citizens of Windham County and others, on request, as community news, free of charge. • Daniel G. Blake Sr., 68, of Westfield, N.Y. Died May 16 after a lengthy illness. Husband of Catherine Blake. Former husband of Donna Caoette of Hinsdale, N.H. Father of Daniel Blake, Jr. and his wife Rebecca of Brattleboro; Steven Blake and his fiancee, Jana, of Swanzey, N.H.; and Sheri West and her husband, Donald,
The end of a legislative session always brings mixed reviews - some of them on the outcomes, some on the process itself. From my perspective, this was a successful session on both counts. First the process. We had a new governor, cabinet, and staff. In the Senate, we had six new senators; a new lieutenant governor presiding over the Senate; a new secretary of the Senate, and a new president pro tem. We had two new members out of three...
This summer, Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center (BEEC) will present its very first environmental education “How To” workshop series designed specifically for adults. The program is being directed by Anna Harris, an Antioch University New England graduate student studying environmental education. The series kicks off on Saturday, June 11, at 10 a.m., with “How to Live With Bears.” Workshops will be held on Saturdays in either the mornings or evenings, and will run from June to August. Check www.beec.org for details.
Five of our local high school teams advanced into their respective semifinals, but the only one that will be playing for a championship this weekend is the Brattleboro Colonels softball team. The defending Division I champions advanced with a 1-0 win over the No. 3 Essex Hornets on Tuesday at Sawyer Field. The 18-1 Colonels will face the undefeated top seed, BFA-St. Albans, in the championship game in Poultney this Friday night at 7:30. No. 2 Brattleboro pulled off the...
The Brattleboro Development Credit Corp. (BDCC) and Strolling of the Heifers awarded more than $67,000 to 20 finalists on June 1 in the 2011 Business Plan Competition. The competition came to a grand finale at the Marlboro College Technology Center, where awards were presented by Chuck Ross, Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, Food, and Markets, and by Pat Moulton-Powden, Vermont Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Community Development. Thanks to the new collaboration this year between BDCC and Strolling of the Heifers,
Regular readers will notice that this issue of The Commons is demonstrably thinner than the papers we have been publishing for the last couple of months. Over the past few editions, we have been blessed with a surge of advertising, but for whatever reason - or maybe for no reason at all - our advertising this week has fallen significantly short of the mark. Consequently, many of the features you've come to enjoy - and certainly many of the stories...
May 8: Tommy, our gosling, came as an unexpected delivery. A Canada goose, only two to three days old, he was found by employees of the Snow Goose Inn in Dover. He was cold and had been left for dead. Lisa Thomas, a friend, didn't know what kind of “duck” he was. I thought he was a grey goose. Max, my husband, went online and found he was a Canada goose. I called Fred Homer, a wildlife rehabilitator in Williamsville,
It's that time of the decade again. Vermont's political boundaries for House representatives and Senate members are being redrawn to match new demographic information from the U.S. Census. The process is known as apportionment. District lines for members of the General Assembly are subject to new interpretation, based on shifts in population. Areas of Vermont that have a growing number of residents, such as Burlington and towns in the Upper Valley, could gain more seats, while those municipalities with fewer...
While at the Strolling of the Heifers this weekend, just for whistles and grins, I picked up a copy of The Commons. I was quite amused by Joyce Marcel's account of her close encounters with the ursine kind [“We fought the bear, and the bear won,” June 1]. I have seen only two bears near my place, but I know they come by more frequently, because I see evidence of them in the blackberry patch. So far, however, they have...
Cars cause air pollution, which causes lung cancer, which kills thousands of people every year. Cars also cause global warming. People who are too young, too old, or too poor to own a car are often stuck at home. These are among the reasons why the Dummerston selectboard should ask the company that the town of Brattleboro hires to operate the BeeLine bus how much it would cost to run the bus through Dummerston. The BeeLine now goes from downtown...
Both the Vermont Telephone Co. (VTel) and Sovernet Communications are working on projects to expand broadband Internet access in Vermont, but it looks as though Sovernet might be the first to start stringing fiber optic lines around the state. Last week, the Bellows Falls-based firm announced that its Vermont FiberConnect project recently cleared a significant environmental review. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) regarding the environmental impact of the project. With...
Buzz words like “slow money,” “self-interest economy,” “common-good economy,” and “new economy” zipped around last week's Slow Living Summit that kicked off the annual Strolling of the Heifers weekend. But what do these phrases mean, anyway? “New economy” refers to a set of financial values that embrace caring for local communities, food systems, and the environment, explained John Cavanagh, director of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. Cavanagh, who spoke at the event, said these...
When you hear the word “exotic,” you think of faraway places, different cultures, or unusual food - unless, of course, you are considering exotic flora or fauna. Then, from an ecological point of view, “exotic” has a decidedly negative connotation. The way exotic species get from one place to another is by a vector, defined as a carrier or a bearer. In most cases, the vector is human. There are no treatments once exotics are in our waters. Preventing the...
Join the Brooks Memorial Library for One World, Many Stories, this year's Summer Reading Program. All children, including children who are read to, are invited to participate. Each participant will receive a reading record, a book bag and a bookmark at registration. Registration runs from Monday, June 13 through Saturday, June 25 in the Children's Room. One World, Many Stories was developed by the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP), a grassroots consortium of 48 states, and is sponsored locally by...
One of Brattleboro's oldest businesses teamed up with one of its newest to create a world-record breaking maple-yogurt smoothie at the Strolling of the Heifers' Live Green Expo on June 4. Yogurt and milk for the smoothie came from Brattleboro's brand-new yogurt producer, Commonwealth Dairy. It was sweetened with Vermont maple syrup from seventh-generation local producer Coombs Family Farms. It also contained apples and cider from local sources. The smoothie measured 327.58 gallons, beating by 63.41 gallons the previous record...
A bagel sandwich that includes Vermont cream cheese, Vermont chocolate-maple flavored peanut butter, and slivers of Vermont honey crisp apples was crowned the winner on June 3 at the the Strolling of the Heifers Ultimate New England Sandwich Competition. The top prize, which includes a trip to Australia, went to Lynn Perna of Marlboro, for her “Vermont Happy Hiker” sandwich. Perna will go to Sydney, Australia, courtesy of the Australasian Sandwich Association, to compete in October at the World Sandwichship...
A day before Entergy is due back in federal court to seek a preliminary injunction to allow the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to continue operating past March 2012, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will hold a public meeting to discuss its 2010 safety assessment of the Vernon reactor. The NRC's meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 22, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., at Brattleboro Union High School. It comes on the eve of two scheduled days...
Most people agree that the U.S. economy needs rebuilding. But what should the post-2008 credit crunch economy look like? More than 200 people gathered at the Strolling of the Heifers' first Slow Living Summit last week to swap ideas and build relationships that embraced values for a “new economy.” The Strolling of the Heifers celebrated its 10th anniversary this month. The event has had a dual purpose of providing fun for the community while raising funds to support local farmers...
Gary Hirshberg disputes arguments within the organic food movement that only small organic is good organic. Hirshberg, the CEO of Stonyfield Farm, the world's largest organic yogurt company, outlined his views on the organic industry to Slow Living Summit participants last week. He said now is the time to shift from big agribusiness to sustainable farming practices. “We're at a very poignant moment. We not only need to expedite our evolution, but address our M.O. within the progressive movement itself,”
Hugh Keelan wanted to conclude his first season as director of the Windham Orchestra with a piece that uses music to reflect the spirit of the state. So he went out and commissioned one. On Sunday, June 12, at 3 p.m., on the lawn of the Brattleboro Retreat, the Windham Orchestra, with Impulse Ensemble, will present a new work that organizers say was inspired by the composer's love for Vermont - the world premiere of Derrik Jordan's Windham Loops. The...