In evaluating the resources comprising the “Commonwealth” of Vermont,
we made a disturbing discovery: Most of the valuable resources in
Vermont, including minerals, groundwater, surface water, hydro sites,
airwaves, etc., are owned by out-of state corporations.  Vermont is a
banana republic without the bananas...Gary Flomenhoft teaches energy technology and policy at the University of Vermont.

Creating an Energy Descent Action Plan, launching local currencies,
organizing energy co-ops: these are all important parts of Transition
work....Carl Etnier is director of Peak Oil Awareness in
Montpelier. He hosts two radio shows and blogs on the subjects of Peak
Oil and relocalizing.

Off to Cali for a few days, a work-related trip that promises to be nasty, brutish, and short...‘The Greenneck’ lives and writes in the rusted-out shell of a one-ton Chevy pickup somewhere in Cabot.

Good design is design for change. Good design is structurally diverse
and not dependent on any single element for its overall success...Ben Falk grows food and fuel in the lower Mad River Valley, and develops post-petroleum human habitats with Whole Systems Design, LLC.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Ripton, Vermont - February 14, 2010 - Vermont State Senate independent candidate Robert Wagner has exposed the deep links between the offices of Bernie Sanders, Monsanto and the USDA.  A Monsanto insider, lobbyist & litigator, Tom Vilsack is the US Secretary of Agriculture and gave the keynote speech at the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) convention yesterday.

Do you know who will deliver the keynote speech at NOFA, the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont this weekend? A Monsanto man who was put in charge of the USDA. Yet another case of the fox entrusted to guard the hen house. Remember James Watt?

This is a slap-in-the-face to every small farmer in Vermont.

Today I learned that I have been censored from asking any questions in the staged Q&A session after the Monsanto keynote speech.

The USDA has opened a public comment period about whether or not to allow "field trials" of genetically engineered eucalyptus trees in southeastern US. What the USDA decides in this case will set a precedent for other GE tree species. Pine and poplar are in the works, and one of the major traits the eucalyptus are being bred for is cold hardiness.

Even if you are a chronic procrastinator living off the grid without a root cellar, there is still time to preserve some food for this winter and it doesn’t require energy inputs or special equipment.  All you need is some of the least expensive of all local vegetables – cabbage and/or root vegetables – and it is likely that you will find these in ample supply at one of the many winter farmers’ markets throughout the state. 

The season’s first big snow found him on the shed roof by 7 a.m., trying to nail down the last few sheets of tin before the storm begins in earnest. Already, the air is thick with snow. He sees the cows, bent to their feed, broad backs coated with white. He sees the boys, sleds in hand, trudging through the accumulating snow. They are yelling. Maybe they are arguing, maybe they are just yelling to notice how the snow hushes their voices. He yells, too, but they don’t hear or, if they do, don’t acknowledge hearing. They are getting older, learning that he can be ignored.

This issue’s Homestead Security column continues our series, Oil to Soil and Back Again. Part I (“Rapid Topsoil Formation in the Solar Age”) appeared in our Fall 2009 issue; Part II (“Harvesting Value from Your Leach Field”) was published in our Stick Season/Holidays issue (November 2009).