Archive for August, 2008

Without question one of the words which is already getting grossly overused and severely abused is green. Green as in building, green as in automobiles, green as in industrial development. It is clearly a word that all businesses want to tie their products and their image to. It demonstrates an attunement to what is happening globally and the responsibility of all of us to become better stewards of our environment. However, it doesn’t take too much exposure to mainstream media whether print, television or internet to see a gross misuse of what should be our mantra for the future.

Building green has become symbolic of an industry that uses green as a marketing tool to push highly manufactured materials that are very costly in terms of the environment to create and to use. Fortunately there are many professionals and concerned environmentalists that are using various methods  to bring this trend into a rational set of criteria. Foremeost is the establishment of LEED Certification. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Architects and products can achieve a certification of LEED that identifies them as truly being green. On a national scale this is great stuff and urgently needed. Here in Vermont we have the Vermont Green Building Network, which is a strong network of suppliers, designers and practitioners. We also have in Vermont perhaps the most readily available sources of natural building products of any state. Everything from building stone, to structural wood, to slate and cedar shingle roofing, to finish wood and to mill shops and skilled woodworkers that can fabricate windows, doors, cabinets, and furniture. All without having to leave the State of Vermont, and  all with keeping our local economies alive, by keeping money spent here.

One of the bad raps a local material has always had is slate roofing. Ask anyone and you will hear that it is cost prohibitive.  Just a couple of years ago, I was restoring a small cape in South Woodstock Village. I had called for a cedar shingle roof. However, as I priced out cedar shingles I also priced out slate. To my surprise, locally produced slate was very much on par with cedar, and even standing seam steel roofing. The simple reason is less demand has kept the price relatively stable. Also costs associated to quarrying the slate and to truck it short distances has helped to keep the price down. Compare that to the escalated price of steel roofing. I was supplied by Greenstone Slate Co and found them to be cost competitive and we ended up with as green a roof as can be had. Other sources can be located through the National Slate Association.

Building green in Vermont can be hughly rewarding. Not only will you end up with a superior building, but you will come to know and understand the true meaning of leaving in Vermont through association with local industry and individuals.

Posted by Wade I. Treadway

Sometimes I can’t imagine life without the internet, especially since arriving in Vermont 4 years ago. I had no idea how important, and how much I took for granted, the morning paper outside my front door when I arose at about 5:00. As Inspector Clouseau used to say, “not anymore!”. now I arise at 5:00, (sometimes 4:00 as advancing age hinders the quality of sleep), and I go right to my computer, check email, and then head to cnn.com followed by foxnews.com, (just to make sure I get a balanced perspective on things). I do miss the local news, which in Vermont is typically only available once a week, and usually features stories about lost dogs and rare animal sightings or, god forbid, a gas driveoff from Cumby’s. Even worse is the news of a village proprietors door found unlocked at midnight during “routine patrol”. But I was recently reminded of my first month in Vermont when I resolved to not read or watch news for a month. I viewed this as the initial clensing process I should go through in order to promptly transition to a more relaxed lifestyle. This endeavor was suprisingly effective but I ultimately succumbed to my addiction for information. I vowed to readdress this approach the other day when I made my once a month pilgrimage to see one of the most relaxed and content people I know, Donna @ the Village Barbershop. As often is the case in these bastians for bloviation, the talk turned to current events; the missing child in Orlando, smog at the Olympics, dismembered bus riders, and the general disintegration of morality and common decency. Donna, to our amazement, had absolutely no awareness of any of the terrible news we were discussing, although she did express extreme shock and a sort of naive curiousity that such things could actually be happening. She explained her ignorance on the subjects by saying she never reads a paper or watches the news on t.v. In fact, I don’t think she has a t.v.. (Can you imagine!) She said shes perfectly content to live in the present, (she must have seen a Tony Robbins infomercial at some point), and focus and the good news around her, that being her husband and kids, the outdoors, friends, and her job, which she claims to love. (Can you imagine!) Wow. Noone said anything for a minute. i wanted to cry because I new she meant every word of it. I thought, this woman has found true happiness without putting any particular effort into it! It was that elusive state of contentment the rest of us often take extreme, compicated and expensive measures to find. What’s the moral of the story? Turn off your computers and t.v.’s, spend alot more time with your spouse and kids, and MOVE to VERMONT! (And get your haircut, and some free therapy, from the village barber.)

Ken Felten

Old timer’s in Vermont like to say it takes three generations before one can be characterized as a “Vermonter”. Often, when describing someone’s house or referring to it as a landmark when giving directions, “Vermonters” will call it “the old Treadway property”, even though Treadway may not have lived there for 20 years and it has changed hands 5 times since. Since Treadway was the last “Vermonter” to live there, that’s how it will be known. There’s a certain charm and appeal to this and us new folks don’t get offended when our property is referred to as someone elses. I will say though that a swelling of pride arises when our property is referred to as ”the Felten” property. You know you’ve arrived in at least one persons mind. The harsh reality though is that about 60% of Vermonts current residents are first generation. This is due, in my opinion, in large part to unfortuante events both in state and out. Multi generational Vermonters are being driven out of this great state because the cost of living here has skyrocketed in recent years, particularly for primary residents. The perfect storm of rapidly rising real estate values coupled with tax happy legislators has made living in a home owned by the same family for 100 years or more unaffordable to it’s current residents. Property tax bills numbering well into 5 digit land makes it very challanging for a family who lives off the land. Vermont has never been a mecca for industry which limits job growth and opportunity. It is my sincere hope that our state government worry less about impeaching George Bush and focuses it’s attention on the real crisis at hand, which amounts to the preservation of the old adage, it takes three generations before you are a Vermonter. The out of state forces affecting this condition are self evident; crowds, smog, stress, terrorists and alike have no place and are not welcome in Vermont. Many people, like myself who always had a dream stored in the back of our minds to lead the lifestyle of a gentleman farmer, are making those dreams come true. Rarely are we/they disappointed, except if you came from Florida and it’s 10 below with the windchill and you can’t leave your house because the driveway is iced over. Believe me though, the good days far, far outway the bad.

Ken Felten

Vermont seems to have a proliferation of “coffee table books” that graphically illustrate the exceptional beauty of Vermont. A trip to any bookstore in Vermont usually includes at least a perusal of that section devoted to books specifically about Vermont. Just as it is important to get to know regions, towns and communities in Vermont before purchasing real estate, it is also helpful to have a bit of a background into what events forged the Vermont we know and love today. Although my list of favorite books about Vermont is long, there are two that I feel are the most relevant in terms of getting to know the true spirit and character of Vermont.

The first is “Hands on The Land” by Jan Albers. Published for the Orton Foundation by The MIT Press in 2000, this work is a must read for all who wish to better understand Vermont. A richly illustrated and profoundly written work, Jan Albers has done a masterful job at translating and analyzing the true spirit of Vermont.       “Albers shows that, like any landscape, Vermont’s is the sum total of human decisions that have been made about it. And she reveals how, as community strengthens, so does responsible stewardship of the land.”

The second book that I highly recommend is “Freedom and Unity, A History of Vermont” by Michael Sherman, Gene Sessions and P. Feffrey Potash, published by the Vermont Historical Society in 2004. This is a very comprehensive history of Vermont that skillfully integrates the past with a perspective on how it has molded present day thinking. This is one of those works that will be held as the standard for many years to come.

Posted by Wade I. Treadway