champlain sounding

The Farm as a Gathering Space

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:18:30 -0400

Vermont’s dairy market may be souring for many farmers — but it doesn’t mean the land is going bad.

This story about a family farm in transition aired on Vermont Public Radio’s Vermont Edition on August 18, 2011. To stream the story, click here.

Hundreds of people gather at Bread and Butter Farm’s Burger Nights for farm raised eats and live music.

A New Direction for an Old Farm

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:58:00 -0400

“Get big or get out” is a common wisdom in the dairy industry. And many small-scale farms have gotten out. Northern New York has half the dairy farms it did 20 years ago, and the remaining farms are generally much bigger. Some are much, much bigger.

In Vermont, the number of dairy farms dropped below 1,000 in May. But not everybody getting out of dairy is leaving farming altogether. One family operation in Ferrisburgh is repurposing the farm, and starting small.

Joe Birkett, left, and his father Joe with a healthy hop vine.

This story aired on July 13, 2011 as part of North Country Public Radio’s series, Farmers Under 40. To stream the story, click here.

Chasing Vermont`s Butterflies

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:11:00 -0400

The Vermont Center for Ecostudies has released the first comprehensive butterfly atlas for the state. It was almost ten years in the making, and long overdue. According to Kent McFarland, co-founder of VCE, the atlas will serve as a good reference point as climate change alters butterfly habitats and populations in the future.

Banded Hairstreak. Photo courtesy of Kevin Hemeon.

This story aired on Vermont Public Radio’s Vermont Edition on June 13, 2011. To stream the story, click here.

Tracking the elusive West Virginia White

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:19:00 -0400

If you want to find a butterfly, look for its host plant — the place where it lays its eggs. Still need help? Ask Kevin Hemeon. They call him “Sweet Nectar.”

This story aired on North Country Public Radio’s Heard Up North series on May 27th. To stream the story, click here.

Bikes Break Down Migrant Worker Barriers

Mon, 23 May 2011 14:03:07 -0400

It’s practically a given that you need a car if you want to live in a rural place. Not all towns have grocery stores or pharmacies. Work can be miles away. The distances and empty landscapes are particularly isolating for the hundreds of undocumented workers on dairy farms in the region. Undocumented migrant workers can’t drive - they’re not eligible for driver’s licenses.

A group of Middlebury College students is providing local farm workers with a two-wheeled alternative.

This story aired on May 20, 2011 on North Country Public Radio. To stream the story, click here.

Burlington Works Toward Inclusive Schools

Mon, 09 May 2011 13:22:37 -0400

Vermont’s Burlington school district is the most diverse in the state. More than 60 countries are represented in the student body, and 27% of the students are of color. It’s a multiracial, multicultural environment — and one that the district works hard to make inclusive.

This story aired on May 6, 2011 as part of Vermont Public Radio’s series, Vermont Reads: To Kill a Mockingbird. The series was a collaboration with the Vermont Humanities Council’s statewide reading program. To stream the story, click here.

Burlington students perform at “Shades of Ebony.”

Barred Owls Where They Shouldn't Be

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:36:00 -0400

This winter’s record breaking snows have taken a toll on our roads, our roofs and our psyches. But we humans aren’t the only ones suffering. Vermont’s Barred Owls are struggling to hunt their prey under the deep snowpack. So the nocturnal creatures are getting creative - and showing up in unexpected places.

This story aired on Vermont Public Radio’s Vermont Edition on March 23, 2011.

It also aired, in another incarnation, on North Country Public Radio on March 20, 2011.

The Spirit of a Mining Town

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:28:00 -0500

Sierra Crane-Murdoch and I co-produced this story for World Vision Report. It aired on NPR member stations across the country during the week of February 19, 2010.

“Americans around the country are struggling through this recession. But in southern West Virginia, coal-mining communities have been living with economic downturn for decades…Discouraged by the dangers of mining and the lack of alternative jobs, many working-age people have moved away. In some towns, the elderly are the only ones who remain.

Sierra Crane-Murdoch reports from one town along the Coal River where more than a dozen older women raise their spirits with weekly dances.”

To stream the story, click here.

Faith & Environmentalism Catholic sisters have long been...

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:22:00 -0500

Faith & Environmentalism Catholic sisters have long been associated with activism - from fighting poverty to promoting education and social justice. Today, sisters around the country are uniting around a new cause: healing the earth. Sisters Gail Worcelo and Bernadette Bostwick have brought “green” Catholicism to a monastery in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.

A version of this story aired on North Country Public Radio on February 24, 2011.

At the Green Mountain Monastery in northern Vermont, the nuns...

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:22:28 -0500

At the Green Mountain Monastery in northern Vermont, the nuns don’t wear habits - they wear work pants and mud boots. Their chapel is a yurt, and the bread they break is local and organic. Here, the “scriptures of the natural world” are as important as the scriptures of the Catholic tradition: climate change is real, and it is exacting a harsh toll on our sacred community.

Is this a dangerous collision of beliefs, or a new theology for our cultural and ecological moment? An upcoming radio story and audio slideshow may help you decide.

Whither Green Embalming?

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 10:31:26 -0500

Whither Green Embalming?:

We’ve heard it all: Green jobs. Green energy. Green building.

But what about green embalming?

This story about an eco-hopeful funeral home in Randolph, Vermont aired on Vermont Public Radio on November 26th and November 27th.

Greening the Afterlife Part IV Dick Bentley dealt with...

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 14:47:00 -0400

Greening the Afterlife Part IV Dick Bentley dealt with death on both sides of Lake Champlain. His mother died in Vermont; his father died in New York. In both cases, he wanted to keep things simple - and in the family. Turns out that different state laws made for very different experiences.

A version of this piece aired on North Country Public Radio on October 19, 2010.

Moth Storytelling Inspires Students

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 14:22:00 -0400

The public radio show “The Moth” has inspired Vermonters to get up and tell their own stories. This story about a Moth event at Middlebury College aired on October 10, 2010 on Vermont Public Radio. To stream the story, click here.

For the Love of the Fish Rich Greenough has been a...

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:36:00 -0400

For the Love of the Fish Rich Greenough has been a full-time charter captain on Lake Champlain for almost thirty years. He knows where and when the fish will bite, and for a fee he’ll take you out there and share his secrets.

Rich is selling his operation this year and retiring, but that doesn’t mean his days on the water are over. If anything, he’ll have more time to devote to controlling the invasive sea lamprey and cormorant that devastate the fishery. He works with groups on both the state and federal level.

Here’s Rich’s problem. In order to deal with these invasive species, he wants to use lampricide and legalize cormorant hunting. This puts him at odds with environmental groups whose methods are, shall we say, a little more benign. How does he influence the policy makers? That’s a secret he won’t share.

This piece aired on North Country Public Radio on September 30, 2010.

Gary King always knew that he was going to be buried on his...

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:42:00 -0400

Gary King always knew that he was going to be buried on his property in Sheldon, Vermont. But when he passed away in 2009, his wife Debbie and his son Jeremiah were the ones who did the heavy lifting.

Photo courtesy of the King family.

This piece aired on North Country Public Radio on September 2, 2010.

Greening the Afterlife Part II Richard Winter builds...

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:15:00 -0400

Greening the Afterlife Part II Richard Winter builds coffins, but he isn’t a morbid man. In his mind, death is just the part that comes before decomposition. That’s why everything he builds is completely biodegradable. It’s “back to land” brought to a new level - a philosophy his customers appreciate. Winter runs Vermont Coffins from his wood shop in Calais, Vermont.

Greening the Afterlife Part I Elinor Randall isn’t...

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:01:00 -0400

Greening the Afterlife Part I Elinor Randall isn’t planning on dying any time soon. But that hasn’t stopped her from establishing a private cemetery up the hill from her house in Plainfield, Vermont.

Greening the Afterlife

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:11:00 -0400

There was a time in this country when natural home births were standard practice. Then came the rise of institutional medicine, and even though being pregnant is not always the same as being sick, hospitals became the site for all things reproductive. Today, less than 1% of all births in the U.S. take place in the home.

Interestingly, the same fate that befell those entering this life also affected those leaving it. Death care has been equally institutionalized, with strange interlocutors bowing in and out at every step. It’s also been commodified. The average funeral costs about $6,000, according to the Funeral Consumers Alliance, and often takes place at that other home - the funeral home.

And yet, just as midwifery recaptured a small portion of the expecting demographic, simpler burial and funereal methods are making their way back into the outskirts of the funeral industry. Green burial grounds prohibit toxic embalming fluids; conservation burial grounds nestle inconspicuous burial sites into the landscape of a nature preserve. There is an emphasis on decomposition like never before, wherein the biodegradable casket is second only to the fibrous shroud, or nothing at all.

These alternative methods are often cheaper than their mainstream cousins, although not by much. A 20’ by 20’ plot at the White Eagle Memorial Preserve in Washington costs $2200. Meanwhile, home burial – literally burying a body in the back yard – can cost just a few hundred dollars. But it’s not legal in all fifty states.

So what’s the best way to return to the earth, to green the afterlife? And who is partaking?

Every producer takes the plunge with her first radio story....

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Every producer takes the plunge with her first radio story. Here’s mine, about a craft beer festival held in Vermont. It aired on North Country Public Radio on July 22, 2010. You can stream it here, and read my blog post here.