Saturday, January 22, 2011

Pete's Greens

our garden beds at " a bit of earth" in Vermont
summer 2010 .

Like much of the US, Connecticut is in the grip of a cold snap. The sun is shining, but the snow is piled high, and the thermometer is hovering in the single digits.  Batman and I have hunkered in by the fireplace and we've been "thinking spring". We put together our first bulk order with NOFA-VT, and we placed an order with High Mowing Seeds. It's fun to envision filling our new beds with good things to eat! And we continue to work on our rural dreams, scheming our transition, bit by bit.  

I thought I might tell you a bit about one of our heroes who's in the midst of some tough times, and about how the good karma he has put out into the world is coming right back to him. We first learned about Pete Johnson at a NOFA-VT conference, then heard him speak at a Vermont Land Trust Annual Celebration. We read about him in Vermont Life magazine, twice, and The Town That Food Saved, by Ben Hewitt.

Pete is a really nice guy, doing what he loves in a very unassuming way. He and his band of buddies have inspired a renaissance in the agricultural life of Vermont. He runs the Good Eats CSA out of Craftsbury Common, VT and he also sells his products in Vermont grocery stores as "Pete's Greens". Ten days ago the farm was devastated by a huge barn fire.

Our youngest daughter, Gretta, in college out in Illinois, called yesterday in distress. She had just heard about the fire via the Greenhorns blog. And today, she gave me a "heads up" about an online auction to benefit the farm at Pete's Greens. Check out Bid For the Barn!

Last weekend, when we were in Vermont, I was able to make a donation to help rebuild the barn right at the cash registers at Hunger Mt. Coop. There are other fundraising efforts in the planning stages, and I look foreward to hearing more about them. Pete's tragedy is real and huge and disheartening...but the outpouring of help and goodwill says a lot about Pete the man, and the community of kindred spirits that has grown up around sustainability, food security, co-operation and HOPE.


2 comments:

  1. lovely greens.
    you make me smile with the fresh plants.

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  2. Thanks for posting about the barn auction. What a great idea. I love the idea of the community coming together to solve problems, rather than the individual failing because of bad luck. Craftsbury is heaven on earth. My brother went to Sterling College there.

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