Archive for the 'Living in Vermont' Category

Vermonters are no strangers to the powerful connection between love, sex and food. Vermont cuisine is known for its luscious wholeness: think heady craft brews, mouth-watering gourmet truffles, succulent ice wines, fragrant farmstead cheeses and chewy artisan breads. Just take a look at the Middlebury Farmers Market, even in winter it is a hedonistic journey of sensual delight.

History and Psychology Today tell us that there is a very close relationship between love, sex and food. “The human need for food and sex are basic, part of the foundation of our nature, which makes it sensible that they are so closely knit together.”

This is why the kitchen is the heart of the home. Think about the exciting scenes in Tom Jones, Like Water for Chocolate and 9 1/2 Weeks…all the passion starts in the kitchen.

Let me suggest a few sexy kitchens in Charlotte and Addison that might fuel such fires this Valentine’s Day (click on each image for full property details):

	The gourmet kitchen in this magnificent Adirondack Style home in Charlotte features granite counters, custom tile & top-end appliances, and a fireplace, not visible from this view. Wait until you see the dining room. From here, you’ll have spectacular unobstructed views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks.
	This cook’s kitchen in Charlotte is the ultimate room for entertaining a large party – or just one. 68 private acres, expansive Adirondack views, 400+ feet frontage on Lake Champlain abutting conservation land, and a 4-bedroom guesthouse complete this picture of paradise.
	This absolutely beautiful home on Mountain Road in Addison is on 132 acres. It features panoramic views overlooking fields and woodlands stretching over the Champlain Valley to the Adirondacks…and a fabulous dream kitchen. This historic home, built in 1800, was restored to perfection in 1993.

Perhaps oysters are on the menu? Followed by Foie Gras, famous for its aphrodisiac qualities. And fresh figs (ala DH Lawrence) for desert?

Every fruit has its secret. Ooh la la!

image credit: http://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com

In Vermont, January is the month that tries men’s souls (women’s, too). We resolve to improve, abstain, reduce and conserve. A great percentage of us vow to finally get outdoors and find fitness this year (CNN even voted Vermont the most fit state in the union). But the weather has not yet fully gelled into winter: skiing is sketchy, skating is treacherous, snowshoeing is impossible except in most elevated corners of the Northeast Kingdom.

So we dust off our treadmills and determine to find fitness indoors. Middlebury alone has dozens of indoor fitness options. Topping the list are:

• Middlebury Fitness
• Vermont Sun
• Otter Creek Yoga
• Vermont Classical Pilates

Middlebury College has the Field House. There you’ll find a pool (natatorium), a climbing wall, a skating arena, indoor tennis and soccer, and a recreation center. 28% of students participate in varsity sports, so you’re bound to find some inspiration there.

Heading to the gym is a great option, unless the weather intervenes, as it seems to do more and more often. This is when we need to find fitness at home. Here are some great Addison County homes with exercise rooms and/or exercise room potential. Take a look. These thumbnails are of the fitness spaces, click on each image for the full listing details of these amazing Addison County Properties:

Billiards may not get you into the best shape physically, but having fun is good for the soul. This Lake Street home in Addison features a family room, a study, and a great room: plenty of room to move.	This New Haven home on Dog Team Road features a sauna, hot tub, and whirlpool bath. The family room is perfect for a workout space. The library is a great place to meditate.	Dog’s love fitness. The family room in this Panton, Vermont lakefront home has great potential for exercise. The guest house would make an incredible yoga studio with lake views.

This time of year reminds me of a story Rusty Dewees (Vermont actor and story teller) tells about his wife on her treadmill. In the story, she is huffing away at the treadmill that has been thoughtfully positioned in front of the bay window. She has a great view of the Vermont landscape as she burns calories. The weather suddenly changes and the power goes out. She marches full-tilt through the window into the yard.

Place your indoor exercise equipment with care.

An Elegant dressing room might seem the antithesis of the traditional Vermont home where mudrooms and woodsheds predominate, but in history and in Vermont there is a place for such refinement.

The dressing room in Vermont’s MLS listings has taken on many different names, but none quite evokes the sumptuous origins of the dressing room, the boudoir.

Historically, the boudoir was a suite of rooms, adjacent to her bedchamber, where the lady of the house bathed and dressed. During the Victorian era in the United Kingdom, the boudoir (somewhat distinct from the dressing room) was a lady’s sitting room, not unlike a gentleman’s cabinet or study, where a person enjoyed gender-specified activities such as embroidery or cigar smoking (perhaps both at once?). During this same period in the States, the term ‘boudoir’ often replaced the term ‘dressing room’ because of the prestige and sophistication conferred by the use of French.

Today the term boudoir tends to refer to Renaissance and French inspired bedroom styles, but let’s stick to the concept of the dressing room as a place to get dressed for an evening out (or a lavish evening in). It’s a room where style, luxury, and practicality come together.

This lovely room seems to have fallen out of the Vermont vernacular, both in terms of language and architecture, in Addison County. Instead the MLS property descriptions and architectural plans refer to walk-in closets, master suites and sitting rooms. But the once beloved room is coming back into vogue in Vermont. Small rooms that once held cribs and stuffed toys are finding new purpose housing Jimmy Choo sandals and Brioni suits.

The following Vermont homes feature wonderful dressing rooms, sitting rooms or incredible walk-in closets:

• This Hartland Vermont home on 94 acres has a Four and a half baths, five bedrooms and a sitting room off the master bedroom.
• This Stowe home on Cottage Club Road has a bright, open floor plan, en suite bedrooms, and a Master on the main floor with sitting room, dressing room/walk in-closet and spacious full bath.
• Stonemeadow in Barnard features a master bedroom suite with his and hers dressing rooms and separate laundry.
• Here is another Stowe home. This one features a main-floor master suite with fireplace, spa bathroom with sauna, hot tub and over-sized dressing room.
• This Dorset Vermont home features a spectacular oval-shaped dressing room.

Here are some wonderful dressing room links to inspire you:
The Enchanted Home
Architectural Digest
Fabulous Dressing Rooms and Closets

Dressing room images credit: www.theenchantedhome.blogspot.com

Sunrise today presented Addison County at its finest: hoar frost and clear skies. Wikipedia says “Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air as well as below the freezing point of water.” In the bright November sun, a rarity in Vermont, I say it’s breathtaking.

While many of the Vermont residential properties I represent feature open meadows (like this Chittenden property on Dam Road) and lakefront (like this historic home in Bridport), the frosty air made me think of the woods and wood stoves. These Vermont homes with sugar houses aren’t all in Addison County, but they do offer terrific Vermont mixed terrain, acreage and maple stands. Some might think it blasphemous, but sugar maples are a good source for heat, a fact that becomes more and more important with the approach of winter weather.

This winter poem by Vermont poet David Budbill, “Into the Winter Woods” might get you into the mood:

Lake Champlain played a major role in quenching the thirsts of millions of Americans. Not as a water source, but as a passageway. Lake Champlain has always been a thoroughfare for commerce. The opening of the Champlain Canal in 1823 gave Vermont access to New York City and launched us into the participation in the national economy. Timber, stone, iron, and agricultural surplus made their way up and down the Lake. During Prohibition, Canadian whiskey was the cargo of choice for many a boatman.

The ratification of the 18th Amendment took the wind out of many sails, but the more daring entrepreneurs of the era found some excitement on Lake Champlain. Its geography, number of inlets, islands and bays made Lake Champlain the perfect highway for smuggling booze. The lake became such a popular passageway for liquor, the law also learned to use its geography to their advantage. Because many Vermont smugglers could not afford the speed boats that could outrun the law, they had to be more stealthy – traveling by night or during inclement weather. Canoes, skiffs and iceboats were popular vehicles for bootleggers on Lake Champlain.

Though the Northern part of the Lake and the Inland Sea saw most of the action, North Hero in particular,

Filling small boats with Canadian whiskey, the bootleggers would motor down from Quebec through the Inland Sea, or Northeast Arm, section of the lake, past the Champlain Islands. Larger, faster U.S. patrol boats would often lie in wait. The bootleggers would counter by speeding west toward North Hero Island, lightening their boats by tossing the evidence—the liquor—overboard, and escaping to the Carry, a North Hero portage just a few feet wide that divides the Northeast Arm from the Broad, or main lake, to the west. The bootleggers could lift their smaller boats over the Carry and escape from the feds into the Broad Lake. (from Discover Magazine)

the Southern part of the lake provided some great vantage points for keeping tabs on the whereabouts of the boat patrols. The Lake Champlain Bridge at Crown Point was perfectly situated for a good view of the on-water traffic below.

Imagine what residents saw from this lakefront property on Arnold Bay. The views of the lake from this Panton Vermont home built in 1926 inspire all kinds of images. The multiple chimneys, guest house and Mother-in-law apartment would have made great places for hiding a few cases.

image credit: xpda.com

Vermont is famous for excellent food, crafts and craft brewed beer. This is part reaction against mass production part love of gourmet, local food, handmade products, and Beer. Vermont has a higher number of craft breweries per capita than any other state. More than 12 percent of beer sold in Vermont is brewed in-state. This is because people in Vermont have a huge loyalty to Vermont products and Vermont beer is just better.

MSNBC listed Burlington as the fourth best beer city in the world behind Amsterdam, Berlin, and Brugge in 2006. This would make it the best in The United States. Burlington is the best in some ways, but I love the alliteration of “Middlebury the Mecca” of  Vermont craft beers. And Otter Creek does make a great beer.

There are two types of breweries in Vermont regional and micro. The American Brewers Association defines a “craft brewery” or microbrewery as “small, independent and traditional”. These brewers brew less than 6,000,000 barrels per year. A regional brewery is one that supplies beer to a fixed geographic location (makes sense).

As a Halloween treat, I thought I’d compile a list of breweries and link to great local properties for sale nearby, as one should never drink and drive.

The Alchemist Cannery – Waterbury, Vermont
Fiddlehead Brewing – Shelburne, Vermont
Harpoon Brewery – Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, largest plant in Windsor, Vermont
Hill Farmstead Brewery – Greensboro Bend, Vermont
Lawson’s Finest Liquids – Warren, Vermont
Long Trail Brewing Company – Bridgewater, Vermont
Magic Hat Brewing Company – South Burlington, Vermont – Owned by North American Breweries – Rochester, New York
Otter Creek Brewing – Middlebury, Vermont (also produces Wolaver’s Certified Organic Ales brand) – Owned by Long Trail Brewing – Bridgewater, Vermont
Rock Art Brewery – Morrisville, Vermont
Switchback Brewery – Burlington, Vermont
Brewery at Trapp Family Lodge – Stowe, Vermont
Trout River Brewing – Lyndonville, Vermont
Northshire Brewery – Bennington, Vermont

According to Vermont Business People Magazine: Catamount Brewing Co. in Windsor became Vermont’s first microbrewery when it opened in 1986, followed by The Vermont Pub & Brewery in Burlington in 1988, and Long Trail Brewing Co. in Bridgewater Corners and Otter Creek Brewing Inc. in Middlebury, both started in 1989. Magic Hat Brewing Co. of Burlington joined the fray in 1994.

There is something about this beer video that reminds me of the old Saturday Night Live skit about Julia Child, but you get the picture.

Back in the day, Vermont was perfectly suited to Prohibition-era smuggling and adventure. Our proximity to Canada, where alcohol was enjoyed legally, and our rugged rural terrain made our little state prime bootlegging territory. In 1920 when Prohibition went into effect, Vermont’s population was 350,000. There were only 2,500 federal agents enforcing the law nationally, their eyes were focused on bigger prizes like Chicago and Detroit.

Suffice it to say that Vermont was not quite as dry as other states at the time. With some ingenuity and two fabulous waterways bordering Canada, Lake Champlain and Lake Memphremagog, plenty of glasses clinked in Vermont during the 1920′s, though not many fortunes were made. Like the characters is Howard Frank Mosher’s Disappearances, a novel about Prohibition-era Vermont, many Vermonters who became involved in rum-running were struggling farmers fighting to keep life and limb together. They were essentially good people who needed a little extra money.

One ironic legacy from this era is the powder room, or ladies toilet. Before Prohibition, drinking was a gender segregated activity. During Prohibition, caution was tossed to the winds and men and women imbibed together publicly. But of course they could not answer nature’s call together, that would be unseemly.

The sudden (and welcomed) influx of women into the Speakeasy necessitated the speedy construction of bathrooms just for the ladies. These facilities were usually built under stairs or in unoccupied corners of the establishment. These half baths were called powder rooms…for the girls. The irony is that the Anti-Saloon League, the greatest proponent of Prohibition, was organized to protect women and children from their drunken husbands and fathers. Instead it earned them a little privacy and respect in the saloon.

We can vicariously enjoy this dynamic history through the great Vermont historic homes built before 1920. If only the walls could talk…

Cheers!

image credit: http://www.diffordsguide.com

Hurricane Irene has had a powerful effect on Vermont. While it may not have spawned a new musical genre as Katrina did in New Orleans, it did rock us. While rivers changed course and roads disappeared, volunteer organizations and relief efforts banded Vermonters together. Organizations sprang up online (Vermont Strong, VT Irene Flood Relief Fund, VT Response) and Vermonters rallied.

While some Vermonters are moving back into their homes, others are still in limbo. Phish, Vermont’s Burlington-born band made a huge impact on flood recovery efforts. All the proceeds from their concert last night (their first in Vermont in seven years) will benefit Vermont flood relief efforts. This total approaches one million dollars.

The publicity surrounding the Champlain Valley Exposition Phish event made me wonder about the welfare of a significantly less visible aspect of Vermont culture: fish. Specifically, trout.

How did these fish fare after Irene? As it turns out, Vermont trout are as resilient as Vermont people. Trout have adapted very well over the millennia; spring flooding is part of their normal, natural cycle.

Trout hide. The ferocity of the surface waters of streams and rivers during such flooding belies the calm deep beneath. Fish find refuge close to the river bottom where the slow flow of water allows them to stay safe during high water events.The biggest threat to fish is often the recovery work that takes place after these storms. According to Drew Price at Orvis News:

There is an erroneous opinion that many folks share that dredging a river, removing obstacles, and straightening it will help to make flooding less dangerous in the future. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dredging and straightening rivers simply moves the water faster downstream, causing more intense flooding. Removal of in-stream materials, such as boulders and logs, also intensifies downstream flooding and removes critical habitat….This kind of human activity will have much greater long-term effects on fish populations than the flooding will. In many cases, this flooding has improved some degraded habitats. Some previously silted areas are now cleaned, pools have been scoured deeper, and much needed woody debris has been deposited into rivers.

He notes that while some favorite fishing spots have changed dramatically, the trout are rising again and the rivers are slowly clearing. When left to their natural cycles, it looks like Vermont rivers, like fish, Phish and Vermonters themselves, will rally, too.

image credits: ticketsinventory.com, pond.dnr.cornell.edu

This is the Bartonsville Bridge before the storm.

Covered bridges are iconic Vermont, hurricanes are not. If your power is back on and you’ve looked at YouTube since the unprecedented passage of Hurricane Irene through our Green Mountain State , you’ll know that we are a few covered bridges short this week.

According to  Governor Shumlin (quoted on DisaterSafety.org), “We prepared for the worst and we got the worst in central and southern Vermont…We have extraordinary infrastructure damage,” including power outages, communities cut off, hundreds of road closures, and the loss of at least three historic covered bridges (Bartonsville, Quechee, and Rockingham).

The is the Bartonsville Bridge after the storm.

There have been only eight hurricanes in the past century that created notable damage in Vermont, none as catastrophic as Irene. The New York Times is calling Irene the 10th costliest storm ever recorded. The Federal Government has declared a state of Emergency in Vermont and FEMA Director Craig Fugate is expected to survey damage in the state today. 30 state-owned bridges of all types were closed because of damage and access to more than a dozen towns was cut off.

The Governor promises to rebuild roads and bridges – including covered bridges. I’m not sure if history can be rebuilt, but it can be preserved. As unbelievable as it seems today, Vermont covered bridges have fared worse. The 1927 flood demolished about half of the state’s then-200 covered bridges. This demolition lead, in part, to historic preservation plans, bridge organizations, and committees.

Today there are covered bridge restoration best practices, charters for the preservation of covered bridges, a National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges, a local covered bridge society, and a covered bridge museum.

And then there is You Tube, preserving our most recent history. The following video might inspire you to contribute to Vermont’s historic preservation:

According to the Vermont Agency of Transportation’s Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Plan, “Towns provide the best opportunities for continued stewardship of covered bridges. Partnerships between towns and the State of Vermont should be established to assure consistent application of appropriate preservation practices.”

Here are two properties within walking distance of historic covered bridges. It’s high time to get involved in the continued stewardship of Vermont’s covered bridges.

image credits: cleveland.com, flikr

Yes, Middlebury College is magnificent. It charges the entire state with a deep sense of culture, art, language and history. Yes the location is magnificent: minutes to Burlington, slightly more minutes to Montreal, hours to New York and Boston. Yes, Vermont is the most beautiful state in the union; the Champlain Valley in particular is exquisite. But the very best reason to live in Middlebury is Saturday mornings in summer: The Middlebury Farmers Market!

Vermont’s best produce and baked goods are all here and they are gorgeous. About two-thirds of the vendors are local farmers selling perfect local produce – the colors will blow you away! The rest of the vendors sell art and Vermont crafts.

One artist in particular stood out: Kerry O. Furlani. She was at work carving stone under her 10×10 canopy. She is just back from studying stone carving in England and Wales. Her work has the mystical quality of dreams of Wales. Even her simple lettering on slate and marble is all Merlin and Dylan Thomas and sea cliffs. She carves terrific phrases like “Everything is Waiting for You,” and “Bless the Sheep.” All those phrases and ideas that are ‘not carved in stone’ really should be.

While I admired her work, there was a stir at the other end of the green. A Subaru station wagon was backing up into a crowd. It was Amos Baer of Good Companion Bakery, just outside of Vergennes. His bread is so spectacular, it sells out by 10:00 am. The line formed at the back of his car was like a cocktail party – happy people mingling.

His almond croissants are unbeatable. They are small and buttery and richly flavored without being too sweet. The Bakery and its companion farm, Boundbrook, grow their own wheat, harvest it with a team of horses, and bake it in a wood-fired oven. Their pain au levain and baguettes can not be beat.

The Middlebury Farmers Market operates May through October on Wednesdays and Saturdays with about 60 registered vendors in the historic Marble Works section of Middlebury village. It also operates as a winter market November through April inside the American Flatbread Restaurant at the Marble Works.