I LOVE CHARLOTTE!!!

Living in Charlotte, Vermont rocks! I do not miss anything about Burlington. Mitch and I are having so much fun living at the farmhouse and slowly getting involved with the community we live in. Last weekend we went to Spears Corner Store on the corners of Hinesburg Road and Spear Street for a free wine tasting of honey wines from Honey Gardens in Ferrisburgh. I bought some raw honey and have been using it in my garden fresh sun teas and on my toast. My friend Melissa, who owns Bee Well Massage - a massage and bee ally company - would be so proud. I wish I had a link to direct you to the store, because I urge all Vibers bouncing through Charlotte to stop by and visit our new friends. I love how every time I walk in there is some new handmade product, local produce, and fantastic beer and wine selections always catching my eye. Plus, the movie rental selection is top rate. I remember how much I loved Estes General Store growing up in Windsor, Mass and now I have a local store again to love (even though I did greatly enjoy my years supporting Dave's Deli and Grill in Burlington's North End).

A few weekends prior we went to the annual Charlotte Town Party. That was fantastic! We had many other activities planned that day so we didn't stay as long as I would have liked, but I guarantee Mitch and I will be in that parade next year with a band of hippies with blow up instruments in Mitch's new truck he's buying soon! I spent most of my time meeting folks in the community organization tent.

I learned about better ways to hay fields to promote the fantastic bird population I enjoy upon awakening every morning and have shared the info with my landlord to help encourage better haying procedures (our land isn't farmed so it's not affecting any livestock). This was courtesy of the Charlotte Conservation Commission. (of course I didn't tell them that moving to the country has caused my one cat Tela to turn into a bloodthirsty killing machine)

I chatted with the good folks on the Charlotte Trails Committee and learned about cool places Mitch and I can explore in Charlotte without the getting lost in our own backyard drama. More trail info for the Greater Champlain Valley can be found at www.localmotion.org/trails.

I spent a great deal of time learning about invasive species (and was pleased to know I was aware of a great deal of them already). There were some fantastic materials and alternatives to invasive species provided by the Vermont Chapter of the Nature Conservatory. I was still surprised to hear rumblings of long time gardeners talking about how they take care of their plants so the don't "invade" and I was sitting there thinking - "you are a huge part of the problem!" The thing is everything changes and at some point those people aren't going to be there to make sure the plants don't invade - not to mention that with bees hopefully coming back, pollen is being spread like baby mice to my cat's nostrils.

I also chatted a bit with the folks at the Lewis Creek Association, of which my first Charlotte afternoon tea outing, Kathy Blume, sits on the board.

I didn't have time to stop by the Charlotte Recreation Commission, but that's ok because both Mitch and I already have town beach passes and we have been enjoying our time there immensely - as you can see from the pictures!




Looking forward to much more Charlotte!