To those in the know, December is when the latest “Vermont Almanac: Stories From & for the Land” (For the Land Publishing, Corinth, Vt.), comes out, as Volume V just did. These beautiful, high-quality, softcover books, edited by Dave Mance III and Patrick White, celebrate living a good life — not one based on the superficiality of social media or materialism, but on appreciating and connecting with the natural world.
The books encourage us to make the most of living, particularly in rural Vermont. Volume V doesn’t begin with a typical introduction; it begins with a preamble — an introduction with an attitude.
“We have only one mind — it’s the one we’ll have to live with for the rest of our lives. So we need to make sure it’s a mind that we want to live with,” Mance and White write. “How do we feed our heads? … seek out things that are real and hard … cultivate an inner life … choose scarcity. Loosen up on your judgements about the way things ought to work. Nurture a contrarian opinion or two. … Gravitate towards things that are beautiful. Lean in to things you cannot understand …”
The almanac flows through the seasons, following a traditional harvest cycle, from October through September. Each of the 12 monthly sections begins with an essay or poem, a summary of the weather from that month the previous year, and nature notes, with photos, tips, and insights about what is happening in the woods and fields around us.
The book also includes home sections (staying active, food, gardening, caring for property), looks back to historical events, and articles about farming, logging, and other aspects of Vermont industry connected to the land. There are poems (including by Mary Elder Jacobsen of North Calais and former Montpelier High School teacher Kerrin McCadden) and how-to articles (like how to carve a wooden spoon, build a wood-fired sauna, make flower jelly).
“Faith on the Vermont Landscape” introduces fascinating accounts about Christian, Muslim, and Jewish groups with special connections to the land. An article about the 1927 flood and the building of the Waterbury Reservoir Dam is followed by one about how some past actions make flooding worse today.
Tunbridge shepherd Mary Lake writes a touching personal essay about how her nine-year-old son learns about life and loss, with sheep and with people. Naomi Heindel, executive director of the North Branch Nature Center, writes about the discoveries she makes as she restores the overgrown yard and gardens of her Worcester home, and the fellowship she develops with the original gardener, whom she will never meet.
Of the more than 60 Vermonters who contributed, some are professional writers, while others are people with much to share, who with the guidance of Mance and White, find their voice. Expertly chosen photographs and artist and pastoral paintings by artist and farmer Hannah Session at the beginning of each month prove true the saying, a picture is worth a thousand words.
In addition to being available at vermontalmanac.org, the book is stocked in Montpelier at Bear Pond Books and the North Branch Nature Center; in Barre, at New Chapter Books; and in Middlesex at Farmers to You, 31 Welch Park Drive.
This post was originally published on here
