I lived in that lodge for a couple years. Hidden gem of Vermont

Depends on where you are. Front porch forum is the best in smaller towns. Chittenden co. Is different.

Noyes pond in Groton ( but you have to rent their boats)

Here in Lincoln at 1300 feet I’ll give it a 5/10 meaning at no point between the pavement and my house so I sincerely fear for my undercarriage. Mostly just frozen ruts, can’t drink coffee and drive kinda thing. After an inch of rain tomorrow we’ll see.

You’re not going to get rare varieties in the stores, pretty much have to order online. Fedco out of Maine is my favorite but Jonny’s and High Mowing are good northern suitable sources. Baker Creek out of Missouri is great for heirlooms. Also post on your local FPF for seed Swaps, that’s a great way to get your hands on rare stuff without having to buy much quantity

It's easily a 90 minute trip and you have to go over bethel mountain and middlebury gap. It's the same distance as going to burlington from middlebury but it takes almost twice as long to drive it.

Oh just saw you're interested in Local food. If you're in Newbury probably Hunger Mountain in Montpelier is your best bet. There are some good farm stands around but they are pretty seasonal. There's been an on again off again coop in St Johnsbury which right now seems off again. If you're in Eden, Morrisville Coop is your best bet, which is only a few years old but looks really nice (I stop there on my way up to my folks place in the NEK). The school situation is tough, in theory we have equalized funding from the state, but you still have to attract good teachers and the physical infrastructure is still dependent on local bonds a lot of the time. We have an amazing local school in Lincoln where I live but we've had to fight tooth and nail to keep it open.

Well I grew up in Newport (near Eden) and Lived in Groton (Near Newbury). Newbury area is nice, you'll probably end up in Woodsville NH for your groceries and hardware store runs but Montpelier is a reasonable drive for food/time out. Groton State forest is right around the corner and the Whites are really close for hiking/camping. You're close to 91 so a lot of the Upper Valley is accessible that way. The major downside is a lot of towns right around it are pretty dismal (Washington, Corinth, Wells River, Topsham), but the area is beautiful-not sure about the schools.

Eden seems more central but i think you'll end up driving further to get your groceries and other essentials- Johnson has a good grocery store now which is nice and you've got the college/Studio Center scene there. Similar to Newbury the towns nearby (Lowell, Belvedere, Irasburg) are pretty sad and Again guessing the schools are rough. Definitely an easier commute to Stowe though.

Wrj and Middlebury in the same day? Really going hard on the “can’t get there from here” experience.

seems like this dude was looking to pick a fight with his local government, give himself a profile in the rightwing circles that his customers come from and make some money that way but he just doesn't seem to have the charisma to pull it off. Now the story is basically "guy with lots of guns builds stuff without permits, judge tells him to take down the unpermitted buildings". It's just kind of funny that instead of filing a couple of pieces of paperwork and paying the town a couple hundred bucks he's throwing away tens of thousands in construction and legal fees.

It kind of depends on the age of your roof, the roof materials and the pitch. So i live in an old farmhouse with a 1.5 story setup, back when we had a shingled roof, snow wouldn't shed off of it, then if there was a fair amount of snow 2-3 feet it would pile up on the roof. Then ice starts to form underneath the snow from the heat of the house. Plus then sometimes (like as I'm typing) it rains, all that snow and ice on the roof soaking up water can get heavy enough to make an older roof sag especially on outbuildings. Also with the freeze thaw on a shingle roof it shortens the life of the shingles. Now we have a standing seam metal roof, the snow sheds right off and I never think about shoveling my roof again.

I regularly travel between Middlebury and barre and completely agree. 89/7 is the only route I’d recommend for someone who has no winter driving experience. Route 17 between Waitsfield and Barre is one of the most challenging sections of road in the state I grew up here and drive an awd vehicle and still avoid this drive if the weather is dodgy.

Interesting points for sure. Mass isn't anywhere near signing onto the compact, so for now it's a bit of a moot point. I think the bigger question is telehealth-practitioners won't actually have to move to serve clients in other states. Or it's possible that professionals in urban areas will move here for a better quality of life but continue serving their clients who live elsewhere. It's a huge unknown. I'd love to see some better data. Here's the link to the states who are in process or have already signed onto the compact: https://counselingcompact.org/map/ I think counseling is unique from a telehealth standpoint and this type of massive interstate market doesn't really exist for other types of healthcare yet, so there may be unintended consequences. I'm not saying it's a negative, just an unknown.

There’s obviously a huge shortage of mental health workers here so in theory this could help, however it could also be the case that therapists will simply serve the clients who reimburse the highest-and I’m going out on a limb and guessing that it won’t be Vermonters. I can imagine that it will increase access to therapists who specialize in certain areas where there isn’t a huge population here, can also see this as a good thing for people of color who want to find a counselor with a similar background. I noticed they didn’t quote any mental health worker groups or agency reps in support of this proposal…

Well if a significant chunk of the housing that opens up due to the oldest Vermonters dying is snapped up by investors, second home owners or converted to short term rentals, it’s not going to help the cost of housing for the average person is it? If we are going to have any chance of getting the cost of housing under control we need policy that prioritizes primary occupants and renters not second home owners and air bnb. Also most people who will Be dead in 10 years aren’t in the labor force I’d guess.

I do think the quickest solution to our housing crunch is to crack down hard on second homes. Given the cost of construction and the ability for locals to block development-it’s going to take a long ass time to build our way out of this situation-it’s kinda crazy that Vermont’s population has barely changed in the last century but we have a massive housing shortage. I say tax the shit out of second homes and create a fund for retrofitting and new affordable housing in town centers. If 2nd home owners decide they don’t want to pay the taxes they can sell to someone who wants to live there full time. Either way we get more housing for locals. Also really rein in investor ownership.