Another “North Danville” recipe served in the North Danville School/Community Building on Saturday, October 8, at 6 PM. Please make reservations by calling: 748-1456 or 748-7249. The menu: Treasure Island Chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, green salad, bread, cranberry sauce, beverage, and cake for dessert. Adults $12.50; children 6 years & under $6.00.

At right is a poster for the scrumptious dinner at the old North Danville School right in the unique village of North Danville. This dinner is limited seating and only one seating so no need to rush to finish, stay and visit, and support the library in the old school building which is now a Community Building.  The North Danville Brainerd Memorial Library has been updated and we are trying to raise funds to keep it going and our books updated. Be sure and also see our adorable children’s chairs painted by Idle Time Crafts! The North Danville Historical Room will also be open. This promises to be a wonderful evening of delicious food and conversation.

Liz Sargent

529 Jamieson Road

Danville VT 05828

802-748-1456

The weather promises to be nice again today - bright sunny start, at least.  The sky seems to be cloudless, at least from my office window.  I think there's some less than perfect weather heading our way by Friday and over the weekend, but not much rain until next week.  

It looks as it it might be chilly for the Autumn on the Green event in Danville on Sunday, but with all the tents and people around, it will still be fun - just wear an extra layer of fleece.  The food will be great and there will be lots to see and neat products to purchase.

On October 15, the Apple Pie Festival in Cabot has lots to offer, too - and that will be in the gymnasium, so the weather is of little consequence once you're there.  If you enjoy baking, enter your pie - or more than one, if you wish - and you could win a great prize, plus the honor of getting a nice ribbon for your trophy wall!  Or if you don't bake, bring home a really delicious home-made apple pie for the family.  There's always lots of great food available for lunch, so plan to spend the day.  Lots to do,  crafts to discover, and something for everyone.

 Karen Morris sent this picture of the morning sky over Joe's Pond.  It was taken last week by their daughter, Monique, who was visiting from Florida.  Really nice photo, and thank you, Karen, for sharing this with us.

We were noticing the increasing color showing up on the hills around the pond yesterday.  The colors are brightening and increasing every day now - and in about a week we should be seeing some spectacular color.  I'm not sure if the color is appearing a little later this year or not.  I don't keep close track of that.  It seems as if Fall Foliage Week was scheduled a little earlier than usual this year and may have missed the best of the color.  It's always hard to predict when the best color will be.  We are seeing more tour buses on the highway now, but they may have to come back in a week or two for the best foliage views. I don't think any of the visitors will be too disappointed, though.  The weather has been so nice, I'm sure they've all enjoyed being here.

We saw Garey at Hastings Store yesterday and he said he has only a few left of those nice throws with the imprint of Joe's Pond - picture on left.  If you want one for a Christmas gift or for yourself, better get in touch with Garey - 802-684-3398.  With so many tourists stopping at the store, they will be gone soon.


Click on the images above to enlarge for better viewing.

I can't believe what beautiful weather we've been having.  This has been near perfect for the Fall Foliage Week - except that there's so little color!  Each day brings out a little more, but there are still only occasional pops of color.  We went to Cabot Village this afternoon and everything is still pretty green.

The color will come, and in the meantime, there are beautiful scenes like this picture taken by Marty Talbot on West Shore Road.  (Thank you for sharing, Marty!)  She took it Sunday morning as the sun was coming up over fog bank that covered the pond.  On cold mornings, the water is warmer than the air and causes a layer of fog.  Within a few minutes it was gone, and the day was sparkling clear.  The air remained pretty cold on Sunday, but the sun was warm.  We had frost for the first time this season on Saturday night, and it was below freezing again on Sunday night.  Last night (Monday) was warmer and we got a little rain (.11 inch) - enough to wet things down, but not enough to make up for the dry summer.

I was interested today in a program on WCAX's Across the Fence.  A young woman, Sarah Flack, has written a book, "The Art and Science of Grazing," about rotating farm livestock in pasture areas.  She studied this at UVM - it is apparently a new concept for modern day farmers.

I know farming has changed tremendously over the span of 80+ years, and goodness knows, I haven't "kept up" with the trends, but I know farmers who never turn their cattle out to pasture. They feed "haylage" or silage plus meal supplements year around.  That was the latest new concept in farming a while back.  I've always felt sorry for those animals that never get the opportunity to roam through belly-high grass or feel the shade of a big bull spruce tree, or smell the earthiness of a pasture after a  summer rain.  Our cows were outside except for a couple hours twice a day for milking.  It's more labor-intensive, having them in pastures, especially the mile-away, multi-acred pastures my grandfather used.  He had ample acreage to allow for rotation from one to another every few weeks, plus grand kids to fetch the beasts night and morning. So our big good-natured Holsteins lived outdoors until the nights got cold; then they were only turned out in the daytime until the first snowflakes fell.  

The idea that "grazing" and rotating stock in pasture areas is some brand new discovery made me smile.  I'm sure Ms. Flack has put a lot of time and effort into studying the effects of grazing, and her book will help people new to farming figure out how to fence areas, plant the right grasses, and figure how often to rotate to keep from over-grazing an area.  However, when I was growing up, every farmer I knew put their cows, horses, sheep or goats out to pasture as soon as the weather turned warm - and the animals grazed at will, in fenced sections, moving in and out of those pastures regularly.  It was just the way it was done.  As they say, what's old is new again.
 

Another chilly but beautiful fall day!  The leaves are beginning to show some nice color in isolated spots.  The colors seem to be very intense and kind of pop out at you from unsuspected places like in between big evergreens, or just the very top of a huge old maple.  I think the progression will be rapid now we're getting colder nights and have had a little rain.  Another week or two will make a big difference and there should be wonderful color everywhere.

We had chicken 'n biscuits from the North Danville Baptist Church tonight.  Sooooo good, but we're both stuffed.  We look forward to their fall dinner each year.  Next is Cabot's turkey dinner on Tuesday.  It's a great time of the year for great food, but forget about sticking to any sort of reasonable diet.  Enjoy now, diet later.

Here's another not-to-miss event:

October 1, 2016

The Danville Congregational Church is re-dedicating our organ at 4:00.  It’s been completely restored.  Several area organists will participate.  This event is free…

At 6:00 is our Annual Harvest Dinner with roast pork and all the fixings—for a mere $12.00 pp.

RESERVE your tix now, by e-mailing me.  You can pay at the door.

Happy First Day of Autumn!

Today certainly hasn't felt like autumn.  We're still very much in summer mode, but that's due to change starting tomorrow, according to the weather folks.  We really do need the rain, so I hope the change brings a nice gentle soaking.

I took a walk down onto our lower lawn this afternoon, needing to stretch my muscles and clear my head after spending several hours non-stop at my computer.  The normally wet spots that I usually have to avoid are simply not there.  The ground is almost as dry as our upper lawn, and that's downright dusty where we sowed the new grass earlier this summer.  I made the mistake of running the lawnmower over a little piece of that new lawn yesterday and raised a big cloud of dust.  I don't expect I did the struggling new grass seedlings much good.  We may have to toss out more grass seed to get a good catch since I haven't been faithful about watering the newly seeded area.

I was looking for apples on my walk.  We didn't have a bumper crop like last year, but last week there were a lot on both of our  trees and plenty on the ground.  Today I couldn't find a single one on either tree, and there were only a handful of half-eaten ones scattered underneath.  I'm thinking the deer had a banquet some night last week - or perhaps the bear helped.  The ground was picked as cleanly as I've ever seen.  So no applesauce this year!   Actually, we still have some from last year in the freezer.  We pulled out a container a few days ago and it was just as good as when it was freshly made.  

Woody, our cat, is adapting pretty well to the new rule of not being outside at night.  After his paw was injured a while back by goodness knows what sort of predator, we've been keeping him in at night.  He is still gone for long periods during the daytime some days, but lots of days he just sleeps until it gets dark and then teases to go out.  We let him into the garage where he can hear the night sounds and perhaps catch a glimpse of something through the windows, but he's safe.  Most nights he knocks to come back in and curls up in a convenient lap or on my desk, if I'm working at the computer.  He's here with me now.
 
I think I mentioned that I received a lovely woven bowl from Monika's sister in Namibia.  Actually, she sent a matching mat with it.  I took these pictures.  The women weave these from grasses and they are just beautiful.  It's very strange, but Woody took an immediate fancy to the bowl.  He sneaks up onto the table at night and we hear when it thumps against the back of the chairs.  He rubs his muzzle on the edge and it scoots over to the chair.  He hasn't damaged it or anything - he just wants to leave his scent on it, I guess.  This from a cat that ignores catnip! 

Upcoming Events in October at the Jaquith Library

All events are free and held at the library (unless noted otherwise): 122 School St. RM 2, Marshfield, VT. For info: 802-426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com or visit our website: www.jaquithpubliclibrary.org

Remedies for Anxiety and Sleep: Friday, October 7 at 7 p.m.

 Join Baylen Slote of Black Turtle TCM for a dynamic evening of conversation and practise. Drawing on the tradition of Tao, Baylen will share a variety of holistic healing tools that can help balance the body of anxiety and facilitate deep and restful sleep. Discussion will include acupressure points and herbal home remedies. Practise of simple Qi gong exercises will be followed by Q &A over tea. All are welcome! QUESTIONS & MORE INFO: contact baylen e-mail: black@turtleTCM.com phone: 310-1400.

                                            Marshfield Harvest Festival: Sunday, October 2
11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free Family Friendly Activities: face painting, cider pressing, pop-corn popping, arts and crafts, and field games. Music with Singer/songwriter Myra Flynn and a local student jazz quartet. For Sale:  books, baked goods and horse and wagon rides.

“Chili-Cook-off”: from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in our “Chili tent” ---- then vote for your best tasting chili and the cook will win a prize!!  Salads and corn bread will complement the chili. $8 adults and $4 children.  If you don’t like chili:  barbecued hamburgers (from a local farm), hot dogs and veggie burgers will be for sale.

There will also be a slide show: Marshfield “Before and After”: 100 years ago Marshfield's Main Street looked entirely different than it does today.   Did you know multistory commercial buildings lined the Streets until they were destroyed by major fires in 1905 and 1909?  Upstairs in the Hap Hayward History Room.

Seeking: Vendors for Marshfield Harvest Festival on Oct. 2: We’d like to invite any local vendors to sell craft items, antiques, flea market items, or local produce.  Local non-profits:  If you are a 501c3 organization and would like to participate, you are welcome to do so free of charge.  Call Liza at 426-2018.

Jaquith Classic Film Series: First Wednesdays at 7 p.m.

Rick Winston will introduce each film, and afterward will lead a discussion.

For more info contact Tom Blachly at 229-5290 or at blachly@together.net

October 5:  Best in Show (2000) A colorful array of characters compete at a national dog show. Director: Christopher Guest. Stars: Christopher Guest, Parker Posey, Fred Willard, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Ed Begley, Jr., Michael McKean, and Bob Balaban.

Moving Pictures: Films about Immigration

Third Wednesdays at 7 p.m.

October 19: Men in Black (1997) Comedy with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as agents of a secret immigration department that deals with immigrants far more alien than anyone who is simply from another country could ever be.

The Hidden Half of Nature: Microbial Ecology

Tuesday, October 25 from 7 to 9 p.m.

MacArthur Fellow and geologist David R. Montgomery and biologist Anne Bikle, authors of The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health will present exciting new information about the microbial ecologies in the soil and in our bodies. Farmers, gardeners, foresters and all those who have a body will find this fascinating. By donation.

Intro to Ham Radio Workshop: Wednesday, October 26 at 7 p.m.

Join David Hale (ham radio operator for 26 years in Central VT) and David Ferland (28 years in Central VT) with their fascinating ham radio equipment and learn about the art of the ham radio. For people of all ages.

Ongoing Events:

Natural Marshfield: Monthly walks and talks about the local environment with Vermont naturalists: Usually third Thursdays but consult website schedule.This year’s topics include origin of Vermont fishes, winter tree identification, rare plants of Vermont, invasive plants and other fascinating topics. Stay tuned!!

Storytime and Playgroup: Wednesdays from 10 to 11:30 a.m.
Join Sylvia Smith for story time, and follow up with playgroup with Cassie Bickford. For children birth to age six and their grown-ups. We follow the Twinfield Union School calendar and do not hold the program the days Twinfield is closed.

Monthly Book Group for Adults: Fourth Mondays at 7 p.m. starting on September 26. For copies of the book, please stop by the library. New members are always welcome, and it’s only one hour a month!

Oct. 24, 2016: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Susan Green

Director

Jaquith Public Library

122 School St. RM 2

Marshfield, VT 05658

802-426-3581

Autumn is happening quickly among our Kingdom maples!  Every day there is more color - some brilliant reds and tinges of yellow that seem to predict a very nice  foliage season coming up.  And just about on cue, too.  Fall Foliage Week begins next Monday, Sept. 26, and runs through October 2, but that doesn't mean the color display OR the entertainment will be finished.  There will be a lot going on for weeks to come, and unless we get high winds, the foliage should last a while, too.  Then there's our second "foliage" season when the oaks and tamaracks are featured.  We often plan our trip to the Maine Coast about that time, and it's usually lovely through the mountains and at the shore.

This weekend don't forget the chicken pie supper at North Danville.
 You still have time to reserve delivered take-outs if you do it today.

Chicken Pie Supper

           Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016

           North Danville Baptist Church

Eat in or order a delivered Take Out. Delivered take-outs available in the Danville /St. Jay area. To order your delivered take-outs (must be reserved by Sept. 21), call Betty @ 684-2183 or Judy @ 748-8519.   

Dining Room seating is “first come, first served” ~ No Reservations taken for Dining Room.

We are handicap accessible

4 Seatings starting at 5:00 PM

Menu:  Chicken Pie, mashed potato, gravy, squash, apple rings, coleslaw, rolls, cranberry sauce, pickles, apple crisp, and beverage.

Adults - $12

Children 12 + under - $6

Preschoolers - Free

Benefit: North Danville Baptist Church Ladies Aid

Then on Monday at Walden a BBQ beef supper - $12, starting at 5:30.  Call Judy Clifford at 802-563-2777 (evenings); 802-793-5011 (daytime) or on the day of the event, 802-563-2265.

Cabot's Corn Chowder/Chili Luncheon ($6 adults, $2.50 children) will be part of Fall Foliage Festival on Tuesday at noon, and a great turkey supper ($12 adults, $5 children) served in the evening - all at the church starting at 5 p.m.  Call 802-563-2715 or 802-917-2992  for reservations or information. 

On Wednesday, Plainfield is serving up cafeteria style luncheon and then at 5 and 6 p.m., BBQ chicken, Mostaccioli and beans.  Call 802-454-7301 or 802-454-8306 for reservations.

On Thursday, Peacham has their famous Spaghetti Supper at the church - tickets at the door.  For more information call 802-592-3320 or 802-563-3113.

Friday in Barnet there will be a soup &  sandwich lunch and then a ham dinner ($10 - take-out available) starting at 4 p.m.  For reservations, call 802-633-2242, or that day - 802-733-4397.

Saturday Groton offers a Lumberjack Breakfast beginning at 7:30 at the Methodist Church; then their World Famous Chicken Pie Supper with servings at 4:30, 5:30, 6:30 and 7:30 p.m.  Take-outs are available by reservation.  Call 802-584-3020 for tickets for either.

Sunday the festivities shift to Marshfield where there will be a Chili-Cook-Off, BBQ, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs and Veggie Burgers available starting at 11:00 a.m. - all at the Old Schoolhouse Common.

The above listings of meals are only a small part of what will be happening in these seven towns next week.  You'll find full information HERE.  Play your cards right and you won't have to cook all next week!

Fred and I are saddened to learn of the death of young Alex Paduch yesterday in an automobile accident.  Alex was a senior at Lyndon State College and we met him last spring when he interviewed us for Channel 7 about the Ice-Out Contest.  We have met many very nice young people through these interviews, and each has brought something slightly different to the process of keeping our contest alive locally.  Alex impressed both of us as an exceptional personality and was very much the professional, completely poised and at ease as he handled both the camera and the questions.  We are so very sorry the life of this young man with such potential has been snuffed out.  Our thoughts are very much with his classmates at LSC and especially his family.

 

Chilli Cook-Off!!

The Friends of the Jaquith Library is gearing up for its third annual Chili Cook-Off during the Marshfield Fall Festival on October 2nd.  Last year we had 13 chili entries and 75 tasters - really fun and a great fundraiser for the library.  Would YOU like to contribute a Chili?  If you are interested, please reply by September 23rd. The chili entries should arrive by 10:30am on the day of the festival, in a crock pot, contain approximately 25 servings (a 5qt or 6qt crock pot with extra chili so we can top off your crock pot as it empties would be great) and be accompanied by an easily legible ingredients list. The tasting/voting piece of the chili competition is from 11-until the first chili runs out.  After the first chili runs out we will be selling bowls of chili without the voting.  Last year the competition piece lasted from 11-1pm.  The announcement of winners will be at 2pm.  We'll have five gift baskets - the top three winners, a vegetarian winner and a children's winner.  This year the first prize basket will include a $50 prize as well.  Look for upcoming announcements on Front Porch Forum, ask at the library or contact the Friends at friendsofthejaquith@gmail.com.

--

Susan Green

Director

Jaquith Public Library

122 School St. RM 2

Marshfield, VT 05658

802-426-3581

Usually about this time of year things quiet down at our house, but it hasn't worked that way so far this year.  With cooler weather, I think more people are staying inside and playing with their computers.  I'm getting more mail than usual - a good share of it people looking for information of some sort.  So far this week I've helped reconnect two high school friends from the 1950s; received a message about a clothing donation for the historical society - vintage clothing that belonged to Eliza Fisher in the 1800s, which we are happy to accept; received a digital photo of a store in Lower Cabot and was able to identify it's former location and owner; confirmed dates on people buried in Cabot cemeteries . . . and it's only Wednesday.   In between, there's been the usual daily stuff like getting together meals, doing the usual walk up the hill at noon and putting in a little time sorting the abundance of "stuff" we've collected in the basement into "give-away" and "throw-away" piles.  Plus we had a meeting of the West Danville History Committee on Monday that was very productive.  It's been a good week so far.

We're in the process of getting things put away for the winter - the deck furniture, lawn mowers, gardening tools, etc., and yesterday I brought in two Christmas cactus plants that had spent the summer hanging in the grape arbor.  I had a feeling the nights were getting too cold for them, and I was right - they were somewhat water-logged and I'm not sure they'll make it.  They don't like being soggy and cold any more than I do.  I wish I'd checked them sooner . . .

In the process of gathering the plants, I noticed a fairly large pile of bear scat in front of the grape arbor.  The grapes haven't done well this year, so perhaps leaving a "calling card" was bruin's way of showing his disappointment.  I'm glad the grape crop was not good - if it had been, our old rustic arbor would no doubt be in shambles.  There are still plenty of apples and choke cherries for the bears, deer, turkeys and various other critters.  

I'm trying to spend a little time each day in the flower gardens, cutting back, weeding and mulching for winter.  Every year I say I'm going to make smaller flower beds, but so far that hasn't happened.  Fred is cleaning out brush on our lower lawn and I expect next spring there will be flowers showing up that my mother planted years ago that have become overgrown by goldenrod and bushes. This top picture is where Fred started a couple of weeks ago - we hadn't seen these stones for literally years.  There was some willow in there, red osier, and weeds.  He hopes to be able to mow most of it next year to keep the weeds from growing back again.
He's trimmed out other spots and it's looking really nice.  He also cut out bushes by our mailbox (see above) so we can now see it from the house.  There were some fall flowers in there he didn't know about - they hadn't flowered yet - but that's ok, they and the lupines will come back next year, I'm sure.  Slowly but surely, we're getting ready for winter.  That's what's nice about fall - the cooler weather gives us a push to get things done before snow flies.



 

Kingdom Animal Shelter

This came from Helen Morrison this morning:

I have been accumulating bottles in my garage that people have donated over the past months.  Yesterday I took them in to the redemption center.  There were 1414 bottles and cans, amounting to $70.70.   Stunning.  That will take care of a spay/neuter and vaccinations for one Kingdom Animal Shelter cat.  We so appreciate the support of Joe's Pond folk.  Thank you!!  And if you have returnable bottles and cans to donate to Kingdom Animal Shelter, we would love that.  You can drop them off at my garage, 936 West Shore Road...or give me a call and I will come get them.  563-2488.

Helen said they can use wash cloths (face cloths) and hand towels at the shelter if you have some that aren't in too bad shape and you are ready to replace.  You can leave them off at her garage or give her a call and she'll pick them up, same as with the bottles/cans.

Karen Gruggel Cobb sent this photo taken this morning by their friend, Roger Beeker, who with his wife, Myra, had spent a few days as guests of Karen and Lee at Joe's Pond.  Karen said the Beekers hail from Virginia, and headed out this morning to explore New Hampshire before heading home.  Really nice shot of the sunrise.

Mark your Calendars!

Chicken Pie Supper

           Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016

           North Danville Baptist Church

Eat in or order a delivered Take Out. Delivered take-outs available in the Danville /St. Jay area. To order your delivered take-outs (must be reserved by Sept. 21), call Betty @ 684-2183 or Judy @ 748-8519.   

Dining Room seating is “first come, first served” ~ No Reservations taken for Dining Room.

We are handicap accessible

4 Seatings starting at 5:00 PM

Menu:  Chicken Pie, mashed potato, gravy, squash, apple rings, coleslaw, rolls, cranberry sauce, pickles, apple crisp, and beverage.

Adults - $12

Children 12 + under - $6

Preschoolers - Free

Benefit: North Danville Baptist Church Ladies Aid

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Treasure Island Chicken Dinner

          Saturday, October 8, 2016, 6:00  P.M.

          North Danville School/Community Building

One seating only at 6:00 P.M. with only 65 tickets sold – reservations strongly encouraged: Liz 748-1456 or Debby 748-7249.

Menu: Treasure Island Chicken from the Bentley Farm Cookbook written by one of North Danville’s great cooks Virginia Bentley, carrots, mashed potatoes, green salad, bread, beverage, and cake.

Tickets: Adults: $12.50

          Children 6 years and under: $6.00

Benefit: North Danville Brainerd Memorial Library

         

Correction to the Jaquith Library schedule:
 

Dear Friends,

Please note the following change: Moving Pictures: Films about Immigration is on the third Wednesdays, not the Third Thursdays. Sorry about the mistake!

Susan Green

Jaquith Public Library

This rubber boat washed ashore a while back at George and Peace Baxter's on North Shore Road.  They are hoping someone will recognize it and claim it.  Contact them at 802-684-1083 if it is yours.