HGTV Dream House in Stowe for sale - WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-

HGTV Dream House in Stowe for sale - WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-



I know, I rant all the time about Vermont Property tax reform
How about this story by WCAX TV.......

How to help Vermont

http://vtresponse.wordpress.com/

Visit this website for how to help Vermonters.

Thanks to the web-masters for putting this up.

Rules, rules and more rules...Do you own your land?

Rules, Rules, and more rules.

No sensibility, no sensible person would set up a system like Vermont's "Act 250"...

it was no doubt a lawyer looking for job security.

Buried in the judge's papers (press link in this article by Law of the Lang Blog (awesome!)

are even words to the effect that the process is not supposed to be so complicated,

makes you dizzy!

http://lawoftheland.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/vt-supreme-court-holds-no-vested-rights-to-change-in-the-law-after-application-filed/

I cringed at reading what the judge wrote,

knowing the costs of lawyering.

Every line, more money that the victims had to spend to

clarify the process.

All they wanted to do is open a gift shop,

can it be this complicated???

reform now,

you do not own your property,

you cannot afford the legal costs to defend it,

not everybody is a lawyer-ly like Thomas Jefferson....

Idyllica

Idyllica
was the post I kept thinking about.
The Utopian paradise,
A Theme Park for adults,
Everything for you,
Oz-like.

Then I read Meredith's post about a judge ruling from the heart so to speak.
Sure to get him invites to great champagne parties,
his grandchildren will write of his epic decision.

Meanwhile,
in Vermont,
in the Jungle,
plant employees are preparing to be laid off,
find new places to live,
stores that sell them things are making new plans,
the school wondering how to pay their bills when all the taxpayers move out,
leaving a ghost town.

Unsuspecting rate payers,
by candle power,
will peruse their bill and accuse each other
of leaving something running,
when actually it was just the more expensive power.

The legal field should be stunned,
beware,
legislating from the bench makes all lawyers squirm,
a thrill and concern
someday it may go against them.

Read Meredith's article and if you get all happy about shutting down a nuke,
well,
there is more to the story,
and Meredith knows it.

Thank you Meredith,






http://yesvy.blogspot.com/2011/07/ruling-on-injunction-goes-against.html

Stick Season

When I moved to VT, it was about right now or so celestially speaking.
It was the beginning of Stick Season when
The Green Mountains are brown with some spotty evergreen trees.
This picture shows a very mild March day.
Still the sticks look like today, November, all dead looking.
Hard to imagine it all lush and green again but so goes the cycle.
Also that first year,1981, it was really hard for me to comprehend what the Green Mountains really looked like in summer. I was anxious to see, between stick season and snow on the ground until May, just what Katie had told me, what a beautiful place.

13 Artichokes

13 Artichokes we picked today and a few were large, a few small and the rest medium.
Glorious in spite of the problems this year. Tiny aphids trying to chew the tough stems.
More globes maturing every few days and multiple tiny artichokes sprouting in pairs.
Spiny pin like pain when I encounter a spike from the foliage or globe tips and I ignore it to get close to watching this miraculous event. Artichokes in Vermont.
I hope your day was special in some way.

Close up with our Artichokes

We are pleased with our artichokes. These photos will give you a better idea about what they look like.

Had a long day weeding the second planting beans, carrots and beets.

Hope your day brought a pleasant surprise.

Artichokes have arrived in Vermont

We were excited to find August bringing in our first 3 artichokes.
There are 3 here even though 2 are infantile.









We started our 40 plants indoors the third week in March after chilling the seeds in a cool room for a few weeks.
Then planted out beginning of June. The wind and cold were hard on the little plants but they persevered.
With the prolonged cold weather, we have now the beginning of our first globe.
We are eagerly anticipating the next 40 or so.
When we grew these before, we got 10-12 off each plant.
Here are some pic's from June 23rd-early plants.

Kodak ate my other pictures
from more recent views of what have become large beautiful thistle looking
plants. Savory to all Vermont bugs and subject to rotting diseases that plague the gardeners in this wet cold summer.



If we can pry out of the camera the images of the larger plants I will post those too.
Otherwise I am likely to just go snap a few more.
We are picking baby zucchini "Raven" variety, yellow squash "gentry" and red and yellow onions.
The onion plants we started in little cups and some had a few in the cup when I planted them. Now the small onion is pushing out the large one, leaving the smaller one to grow.
Happy we did black plastic mulch this year as these plants did best against the flooding rain we have had.
Hope to open the farm stand soon.
Enjoy!