Free • Statewide Calendar of Events, Map • Inns, B&B’s, Dining, Real Estate • Plenty of Good March 2014 Reading! WEDDINGS • REUNIONS • RETREATS • CONFERENCES FITNESS CENTER • SAUNA • WHIRLPOOL • GOLF BIKING • FITNESS CENTER • SAUNA THREE STALLION INN at the Green Mountain Stock Farm “The Best Lodging & Dining in Central Vermont” o Centrally located, only 2 miles from Exit 4, I-89. o Willy B’s Tavern is open at the Inn for dinner on Friday & Saturday nights. o A delicious breakfast is included in room rate. o High-speed wireless Internet access. o Nightly rates start at $125. Weddings ~ Family Reunions 802-728-5575 • www.ThreeStallionInn.com • 665 Stock Farm Road • Randolph, Vermont X-C SKIING • SNOWSHOEING • 1,300 ACRES • 1,300 X-C SKIING • SNOWSHOEING The Sammis Family, Owners “THE BEST LODGING & DINING IN CENTRAL VERMONT” Th e Secret Code Half is Whole by Bill Felker An inevitable dualism and by blowing them all out bisects nature, so that of proportion. each thing is a half, and John Burroughs makes a suggests another thing to drama of this annual process: make it whole. “We are eager for Winter to —Ralph Waldo Emerson, be gone,” Burroughs writes, “Compensation” “but he will not abdicate These days pull time one without a struggle. Day after way and then another. It is day he rallies his scattered spring but winter. Signs of forces, and night after night change accumulate, but they pitches his white tents on the are still completely over- hills, and would fain regain whelmed by the cold fi elds his lost ground; but the young of their nemesis. prince in every encounter pre- I am compulsive about vails. Slowly and reluctantly ignoring the dominant brown the gray old hero retreats up and gray of late February. I the mountain, until fi nally the only watch the movement, south rain comes in earnest, not the stasis. I see what I and in a night he is dead.” choose, the suggestive blush Throughout the skirmishes of color or the swelling of of early March, I unfairly one bud or another. watch for the isolated stan- The real dualism of which dards of resurrection: white photo by Stacy Birch Emerson writes is still a tips of the snowdrops, the Bud Bemis leading the bucket brigade on his beloved bulldozer in Whitingham, VT. month or so away. In April, fi rst crocus leaves, daffodils I can look both ways; the an inch high. If I were to Whitingham, VT sides are almost even: bright judge by the appearance hepaticas, twinleaf, blood- of the land around them, I 16th Annual Maple Festival March 22–23 root on the one hand—bare would have no hope. But I For the 16th year in a row, the mountainous town of Whit- Schedule of Events—Saturday, March 22 branches and dead grass on remember that “each thing is ingham will host it’s annual spring celebration of Vermont’s the other. a half.” I cheat, knowing the 7–10 a.m. Pancake Breakfast by Lions Club at the Jackson- most famous export—maple sugar and maple syrup. This ville Municipal Center. $8 adults, $6 for 65+ years, children But now, I have to compen- simple code of half: Every year, the festival will be held Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, sate by collecting fragments thing is also whole. under fi ve free. March 23, 2014. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Information Booth is open at the Municipal Whitingham, VT, a town of 1,500 residents nestled in the Center in Jacksonville. Sugar-on-Snow Supper at the southern Green Mountains, takes it’s maple seriously. It is 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sugar House Tours at seven local sugar in the blood; the fi rst 14 settlers arrived in 1770, and by the houses open to the public. Hours vary. Self-guided auto tour Guilford Church on March 15 early years of the next century, there were 45 sugar makers maps available at the information booth. working nearly 40,000 taps. Today, there are still around Hours vary. Self-guided Artisan’s Tours in Whitingham. The Annual Sugar-on- and under, and $3 for pre- 18 sugarhouses in town, turning out some 8,000 gallons of Snow Supper at Guilford schoolers. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Craft Fair at the Jacksonville Fire House. syrup in a good season. Many of the town’s families have 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Local Shops open in villages of Jack- Community Church, Guil- Directions: Take 1-91 to lived and sugared here for generations. ford, VT will be held on Vermont Exit 1 (Brattleboro), sonville and Whitingham: a winery, crafts, pottery and more. Several of their eighteen Whitingham sugar makers have Ask at the Information Booth at School. Saturday evening, March 15. go south on US Rt. 5 just past graciously opened the doors of their sugar houses so that The menu features ham, Guilford Country Store, left 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Horse Drawn Sleigh Rides, snow or no residents, visitors and guests alike can learn about “the art and snow. Donations appreciated. Across Rt. 100 from Twin baked beans, deviled eggs, on Bee Barn Rd., then left science” of maple syrup and sugar making and the historical potato salad, coleslaw, fresh- again on Church Dr. Valley Middle School. importance of “sugaring” in Whitingham. 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lunch by the Whitingham Ladies ly baked rolls, sugar-on- Plans for this year’s festival include self-guided tours of lo- snow, homemade donuts, Guilford Community Benevolent Society at the Municipal Center in Jacksonville. cal sugar houses (with plenty of opportunities for sampling), 5–7 p.m. Sugar-on-Snow Baked Ham Dinner by Unity pickles, and coffee, tea or Church is located at 38 pancake breakfasts and luncheon on Saturday and Sunday, milk. Church Rd in Guilford, VT. Lodge #89 A & FM at the Municipal Center in Jacksonville. horse-drawn sleigh rides and a craft fair both days, sugar-on- $12 adults, $6 children 5–12, children under fi ve free. A half gallon of maple (802) 257-2776. GCCUCC@ snow baked ham dinner Saturday night, and more. Artisans syrup will be raffl ed off dur- sover.net. www.guilford- around Whitingham will be open on Saturday for tours. ing each seating. church.org. Schedule of Events—Sunday, March 23 You can pick up a map for the Sugar House Tours and 7–10 a.m. Pancake Breakfast by the American Legion and There are three seatings to For reservations, please check the latest schedules at the Information Booth at the choose from, at 4:30, 5:45, call (802) 254-9562 or email Legion Auxiliary at the Municipal Center in Jacksonville. $8 Municipal Center in Jacksonville. adults, $6 for 65+ years, children under fi ve free. and 7 p.m. Prices are $10 guilfordchurchsupper@ Visitors with a penchant for history might be interested to adults, $5 children age 11 gmail.com. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Information Booth open at the Municipal know that Whitingham is the birthplace of Brigham Young, Center in Jacksonville. the Mormon leader. Two monuments (one rather infamous 2 VERMONT Open To The Public 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sugar House Tours at seven local sugar Handicap Accessible locally) note Young’s roots in the town, and are worth a VERMONT Clean, Family Friendly houses open to the public. Hours vary. Self-guided auto tour Environment side trip. maps available at the Information Booth. GUN Free Parking Whitingham is located on Route 100 in southern Ver- Saturday 9am to 5pm. 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Craft Fair at the Jacksonville Fire Sunday 9am to 3pm mont—between Bennington and Brattleboro, about nine House on Rt. 100 South. 802-875-4540 miles south of Wilmington, VT and about 20 miles north of SHOWS www.greenmtgunshowtrail.com 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Horse Drawn Sleigh Rides, snow or no Greenfi eld, MA. Jacksonville is a village in the town of Whit- March Is Gun Show Month In Vt! snow. Donations appreciated. Across Rt. 100 from Twin ingham. There are a number of Bed and Breakfasts and small Valley Middle School. • March 8th & 9th: Carl M. Dessaint VFW #1034 inns in and around town. Activities at the festival are free. 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lunch by the 8th grade class at 40 Black Mtn. Rd, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301 • March 22nd & 23rd: Franklin Conference Room at The Howe the Municipal Center in Jacksonville. 1 Scale Ave, Rutland, Vermont 05701 AMMO 2014 Maple Syrup! New & Used • Antiques & Collectibles Please check latest changes in operating times and sched- Rifles, Pistols, Shotguns, Knives & More Visit Harlow’s Sugar House ules at the Information Booth at the Municipal Center in GUNS & • BUYING Jacksonville. • SELLING 2014 Fresh Maple Syrup KNIVES • TRADING For more information call Carol Mandracchia at (802) Vermont Cheeses, Jams 368-2658. E-mail [email protected]. Visit www. FREE GUN APPRAISALS & Jellies. Gift Shop. whitingham-maplefest.us. Open Weekends • Daily During Sugaring Harlow’s Sugar House Horseshoeing Rt. 5, 3 miles north of Putney, VT & Cattle (802) 387-5852 Trimming Specializing in Draft Shoes for Hayrides, Sled Flames Stables Rides, and Woods Work. Vermont Country Sampler Route 100 South, Wilmington, VT March 2014, Vol. XXX We Trim Anything with Feet! (802) 464-8329 The Vermont Country Sampler is distributed free over-the- counter in and out of Vermont. Back issues, $2 per issue, fi rst Goats, Sheep, Cattle, Pigs, Llamas, Oxen, class.