A Chippers land enhancement woodlands project. Chippers is proud to sponsor this page and believes in encouraging and promoting environmental stewardship and protecting our green spaces above all else. Kudos to these Dartmouth students and Vital Communities for collaborating and taking steps to create real-world solutions to climate change issues.

Every year, Dartmouth College offers a two-term capstone class called the Senior Design Challenge, that combines interdisciplinary education with human-centered design to solve challenges identified by partner organizations in the Upper Valley. This year, a trio of students is working with the Upper Valley Adaptation Workgroup (UVAW) to find grassroots solutions addressing the problem of climate change on an individual level. The team hopes to build a technical solution that will have a real impact on the local community and, in some form or another, similarly engaged communities around the world.

Seniors Abby Drach, Gabby Hunter, and Jade Bravo wanted to do something about climate change. Jade is an environmental studies major; Abby and Gabby, who are majoring in psychology and cultural anthropology respectively, are passionate about sustainability and interested in finding creative, bottom-to-top solutions to the problems people face daily. Despite their disparate majors, the human-centered approach the class inspires drew them together, and their interests fit with the challenge proposed by UVAW, a group of individuals and organizations that meets under the Vital Communities umbrella and seeks to build climate-resilient communities in the Upper Valley. The challenge, as given to the students, was to answer the question: “what else can I [as an individual in the Upper Valley] do to combat climate change, and where do I start?”

The challenge, “to catalyze community-wide activity to mitigate and adapt to climate change” as stated in UVAW’s proposal, inspired the trio, and they set about interviewing residents of the local community, with support from Earth Sciences Professor Erich Osterberg and Vital Communities Climate Projects Coordinator Ana Meija. Starting from various climate-conscious sources including UVAW’s Climate Change Leadership Academy and a Building A Local Economy meeting, the team interviewed twenty-eight residents of Norwich, Hanover, and Lebanon. The questions were fairly broad, says Abby: in terms of pro-environment actions, they asked people “what behaviors they do daily, what they wish they were doing, and what’s preventing them from doing that,” among other topics.

The students’ results may not sound surprising, but they are certainly informative and highly useful. Analyzing the results of their interviews, they distilled their findings into four insights: first, that people often rely on community-based actions and resource-sharing mechanisms for change; second, that the decisions people make are based on individual motivations and priorities; third, that though money can be a barrier, people with resources intentionally invest in and explore tools ranging from electric vehicles to solar panels and weatherization; and fourth and perhaps most importantly, that individuals want to be more resilient than they are, but they often lack sufficient information and can be overwhelmed by the information that is available. That may sound confusing, but in short, it means that people want to find more ways to address climate change locally, and they do when they have the opportunity and support, but they may not know what to do.

Dartmouth students Abby Drach, Gabrielle Hunter, and Jade Bravo

This is where their work will continue in the second term of their project, which Abby is excited to begin. Their task, she says, will be to build “a decision-making tool to help people to choose and undertake the actions that make most sense for them.” Though this is a project focused on the Upper Valley and different populations may require different solutions, the team is hopeful this is a project that can ultimately be applied to numerous communities in Vermont and beyond. They are grateful to the friendly and helpful community members they interviewed – “you definitely can’t find that everywhere,” Abby notes enthusiastically – and expect that, with slight modifications, this sort of activity could be applied in communities elsewhere and the results could have broad and meaningful impacts on our world.

Still, Abby knows there are challenges. In analyzing their data, the team developed personae to broadly define their target audience: a retired person with free time and a desire, perhaps partially realized, to get involved in her community; a young professional doing what he can with limited impact and time; parents with young children who are conscious of the climate crisis but lacking the discretionary income to be able to do much more than make it through the day; and of course the environmental experts who understand the issues but may not always know the best solutions for the wider community. “We may need to choose one persona to focus on, or we may need different solutions for each of them,” Abby says, but they still hope to find effective solutions for as many people as they can, and use the community, or other people, as bases of knowledge or resources for building those solutions. As someone with a keen passion for sustainability (she is particularly interested in clothing sustainability) Abby hopes her experience will be applicable to her future endeavors; in any case, her work in collaboration with the Upper Valley community has already made steps towards meaningful change.

The road to becoming a Vermont gubernatorial candidate began a long time ago for Norwich resident Rebecca Holcombe whose childhood in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Fiji Islands, and Sudan had a direct impact not only on how she has perceived the world but how she has navigated through it. Even though her family “had the bad fortune of arriving in ountries just as political trouble was beginning,” Holcombe learned quickly from her mother that, in comparison with many global native inhabitants, she had a privileged upbringing. “In my own family, particularly on my mother’s side, access to public schooling gave her many opportunities,” said Holcombe. “She was always acutely aware that she was lucky and that those who weren’t, should have a chance.”

Opportunity. Education. Equality. Those are the words that encompassed Holcombe’s core values as a child and then as a teenager when she arrived in the United States. And those are the philosophies that are still ingrained in her as an adult, spouse, parent and politician.

Prior to that, Holcombe lived in Afghanistan from 4th to 7th grade, attending a government subsidized public school, until the Soviet invasion in 1979 forced her family out of the country. From there, they traveled to Pakistan where Holcombe attended the International School of Islamabad until anti-American unrest scared away nearly all the English-speaking students and teachers. Because Holcombe’s family stayed, however, she was home schooled.

“The power of living abroad is you have to look at yourself from the outside,” said Holcombe. “When you’re in one of those international schools, you’re going to school with children from so many different countries. That challenges you to think about things you take for granted. You realize quickly how important language facility is to doing well. It’s an incredibly privileged way to grow up.”

From the Mideast, Holcombe returned to the United States to attend the Boston preparatory Milton Academy. During vacations, she regularly joined her parents overseas including Fiji and Sudan. And, while at Milton, she spent a year in Spain, resulting in her speaking fluent Spanish to this day.

Holcombe went on to earn her bachelor’s degree from Brown University, an MBA from Simmons School of Management, and her Doctorate in Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. She completed coursework for her principal certification at Lyndon State College.

Rebecca Holcombe with her husband James Bandler and children Daniel and Johanna

She and her husband, James Bandler, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, moved to Norwich 11 years ago. “Living in Vermont is a values issue,” said Holcombe. “One of the things on this side of the river is a sense of community. We all celebrate the walkable downtown area while maintaining the land around us. And, frankly, the high-speed internet allowed James to telecommute to New York City where he was based as a journalist. So, it’s a nice mix of nearby family, community ties, and the internet.”

Holcombe spent the next several years as a teacher, principal and Vermont secretary of education, continuing to focus her life’s work on creating equal opportunities for every child and every individual in the state of Vermont.

As secretary, she worked to address the inequalities between those with wealth and those without in Vermont communities, keeping in mind what she had witnessed as a child growing up in an international community.  “Public schools are where we achieve equality,” said Holcombe. “It’s where we bring each other together and become a civil society. It’s the means for making sure every child has a chance.”

As Governor, Holcombe said she wants to take advantage of her life experience “to push the democratic project of making sure the state is working to create opportunities so people can go out and live well. I’m going to win by showing everyday working Vermonters that it’s not enough to talk,” said Holcombe. “I think Vermonters want a governor who’s going to roll up their sleeves and engage.”

Whether focusing on health care, affordable housing or education, Holcombe emphasized that people can’t live if these issues are not addressed. “People are struggling to pay their bills,” she said. “They need good jobs that pay them living wages. We need to make sure people that work hard are able to cover their bills and pay for their rent and not worry about health care.”

The first job of governor, she continued, is to improve the lives of the people. “That means putting our resources where they make it better and where they make our communities stronger so that people can live well and prosper and be happy in our Vermont communities,” Holcombe said.

Holcombe is deeply committed to her own community of Norwich where she has raised her two children, Daniel and Johanna, both of whom attended local public schools. “I’m so proud of them. It’s tough for young people growing up right now. Many whom I’ve met are full of hope and ideals, but they’re not sitting on the sidelines. I appreciate their hard work and their realism and clarity. It’s incredibly inspiring, and I see it in my own kids. They give me hope.”

It is exactly that aspiration, Holcombe indicated, that propelled her into public service, understanding her own privileged inheritance and wanting to pass that on “to make sure everyone has the chance to learn, and to grow up healthy and strong.”

“Where I grew up, there was no opportunity or certainty,” Holcombe said. “I saw first-hand the desperation people had and the direct consequences of having no education or nutrition. When children have the opportunity to get a good education, they will always take with them the ability to make good things happen even in the face of challenge.”

Diverse communities, such as those found in public schools, are brought together by how to build an institution that prepares children for the future, Holcombe noted. And schools are the most democratic institution because “we come together to figure out how to work together,” she added. It is these institutions that reflect individual core values that, according to Holcombe, “will keep you on a straight course in a world that can get confusing fast.”

Holcombe and David Zuckerman are running in the Democratic primary for Governor of Vermont on August 11, 2020.

The Essential Guide to Rebecca Holcombe

What is one person, place or thing you love about living in Norwich? 

I love living near our neighbors, and that feeling of having good neighbors with all that means. When our kids were young, they were like another set of grandparents.  We can just show up at their house, or them at our house, for a last minute, casual shared dinner of leftovers or cup of tea.  We help them with sugar, and they keep us grounded. My kids love the candy in the cupboard, and I like the comfort of old, gold relationships.

What did/do you want to be when you grew/grow up?

Just about everything at one point or another, except a politician.

Which bedtime story you read to your kids is your favorite and why?   

Good Night, Gorilla and Ten Minutes Till Bedtime by Peggy Rathmann. Both perfectly capture the yearning and absurdity of bedtime.  

If you had your own talk show, who would be your first three guests?

Today? Eleanor Roosevelt, Claudette Colvin, and Ruha Benjamin.

What is your favorite quote?

Changes by the week. This week it’s by Wendell Berry: “All we can do to prepare rightly for tomorrow is to do the right thing today.”

If you could be invisible for one day, where would you be?

I wouldn’t be invisible. I think it’s past time for us to be more direct and transparent about the challenges we face, and what it will take to work together to overcome them. This is a time for courage, not invisibility.

Wine, beer, martini, green tea or Lou’s milkshake?

Blues Sparrow hot chocolate. I love buying Vermont products!

What is your biggest fear or phobia?

I was once served a bowl of snakes in broth in China. That was pretty much where my adventurous spirit hit a wall.

What is your most energizing dream/vision for your future?

I want to be able to look my children and their friends in the eye and know I did everything I could to make this a state and nation where we work together with our neighbors and give everyone a fair chance. I want them to know that when we live in ways that protect the environment and institutions for the future, we are all better off.

Print or digital?

For pleasure, there is nothing like print.

What do you love most about living in Vermont?

The people and the place.

LINDA COOK is the Norwich Women’s Club 2020 Citizen of the Year. The “Stewards of Norwich” are Ray and Anna Royce, Cheryl Lindberg, and Allison Colburn. Please come celebrate them at this year’s Women’s Club Gala on Saturday, March 21 at 6 pm.

It’s hard to believe there’s anyone who knows Norwich as well as Linda Cook. It’s not just that she was born and raised here and has been – other than college – a lifelong resident. It’s that over the course of her life she’s devoted herself to serving the town and helping its people meet whatever challenges face them.

She started young. Her first fire call came when she was 10, when she rode along with her father, Fire Chief Leonard Cook (who in turn had learned the ropes from his father). She wasn’t allowed out of the car, but it made an impression, and eventually Linda joined the fire department, becoming a firefighter (and Fire Captain) and an EMT. She also serves currently as the town Fire Warden.

She’s directly served the town in other ways, as a lister and as a years-long member of the selectboard, including a stint as chair. In her capacity there she was a tireless voice for people who struggled to express themselves and worried about rising costs and taxes; she was never less than plain-spoken about her convictions, which were rooted in her belief that, as she puts it, “Whether you’re here for a day, a year, or a lifetime, I want people to be able to stay here if they choose to.”

Linda may also be one of the most visible volunteers in town. She works the Nearly New Sale every year, helps organize the Five Churches Rummage Sale, and stepped up to run Norwich Old Home Day after Rose Swift, who started it, retired. She’s active in the Grange, helps Police Chief Jen Frank with the babysitting class she runs for young teens, and works with the Boy Scouts who do the haunted house every year at Halloween.

But it’s her less visible work that may be most impressive. Linda essentially coordinates an informal network of volunteers who help older people stay in their homes or, if the time has come to leave, to move out. She’ll stop by an elderly neighbor’s home every day to put the newspaper on the porch. She takes others to appointments. She drove one to Maine to move in with family. When one elder in town passed away, she found a scrap metal company to remove appliances, helped pack up his personal items, found a home for his wood stove, and helped the family with the removal and disposal of everything else in the house. She did all this, as her nominators write, “simply because she could and wanted to help.”

For her tireless and generous sleeves-rolled-up spirit in helping Norwich and its residents, the committee is delighted that Linda Cook is the 2020 Citizen of the Year.

Anna and Ray Royce

RAY AND ANNA ROYCE have been stalwarts in Norwich for longer than many of us have been alive. Ray, a World War II vet, has been active in the American Legion for decades, as well as a key member of the Norwich Lions Club, which has been serving this community and the Upper Valley as a whole for over 50 years.

Together, Ray and Anna have been pillars of the local church community and the driving force behind the Five Churches Rummage Sale. The sale’s proceeds benefit the town’s churches equally and have become not only a hallmark event on Norwich’s annual calendar, but a symbol of the “all for one” community spirit that undergirds the town’s quality of life. “The amount of work that goes into organizing one of these is unbelievable,” wrote one nominator, yet the Royce’s – quietly, and without expecting any attention – have done it year after year and decade after decade. For this and other efforts, they were honored last fall with a “Micah Award” from the Upper Valley Interfaith Project. They are true stewards of the town’s spirit.

Cheryl Lindberg

CHERYL LINDBERG has been a fixture in Norwich ever since she first ran for and became town treasurer almost a quarter century ago. She has worked tirelessly on behalf of financially rigorous town and school governance – here and, as an active member (and past president) of the New England States Government Finance Officers Association, across the region.

This is often invisible, thankless work. Last fall, however, Cheryl’s painstaking work became highly visible after she noticed a pair of questionable transfers from the town’s account to a supposed vendor. The money had been transferred by a new town finance director without selectboard approval and in contradiction of Cheryl’s explicit instructions. Cheryl brought the issue to the attention of the selectboard chair and then the finance committee – and that is how the town discovered it had been bilked of almost $250,000. She played an active role in helping dissect what had happened, and in helping the town retrieve its money. For that, and for being a true steward of Norwich finances, she deserves the community’s enthusiastic thanks.

Allison Colburn

ALLISON COLBURN is leaving the Child Care Center in Norwich after 38 years, the past 22 of them as executive director. Hundreds of Norwich children got a safe, caring, stimulating, mind-stretching start in life, grounded in open-hearted decency, thanks to Allison’s tireless hard work. And their parents, it’s safe to say, got wise, to-the-point – but never judgmental – advice on how to understand their kids and to be better parents.

Under Allison’s leadership, the Center has become a lodestar in the regional child-care world, meeting the highest professional standards, becoming a state-funded preschool site, expanding when the town needed it to take on after-school care for older kids, and remaining dedicated through it all to meeting the needs of families from all national backgrounds, socioeconomic strata, and belief systems.

In nominating Allison, a group of parents wrote, “Allison is, on any given day, a teacher, a boss, a plumber, a grant-writer, a housepainter, a Tuck Internship sponsor, a staff advisor, a Dartmouth work/study host, a water-quality control expert, a weather forecaster, a budget guru, a sub scheduler, an interviewer, an outreach coordinator, a special needs team member, an early childhood advocate at the Vermont Statehouse and on local and state commissions, a regulations-reader, a late-night board meeting attendee, an early-morning IEP meeting attendee, a snack fixer, a tear-wiper, a parent coach, a phone answerer, and a band-aid procurer.” Her influence on the children both of Norwich and the region is incalculable. We thank her for being a steward of our children.

The Citizen of the Year Committee: Cheryl Herrmann, chair; Lisa Christie; Amy Miller Eberhardt; Rob Gurwitt; Stephanie McCaull; Don McCabe; Sue Pitiger

There is something special about the taste of a freshly picked piece of produce from the garden, or beef on the grill from a locally raised, grass fed cow.  Not only the taste, but also the satisfaction one receives from eating locally produced food products is palpable.  Growing up in farm country, having foods, particularly produce, go directly from the garden to the dinner table seemed natural to me.  If some fruit or vegetable did not come from our gardens, surely a neighbor’s farmstand carried it.  Sure, all of our foods weren’t local, and the grocery store was a weekly stop, but having regular access to local foods was common.

In recent decades, we have experienced a revival in the interest among consumers of obtaining foods directly, or indirectly, from local farmers.  For a variety of reasons, including product freshness, nutritional value, supporting local farms and businesses, or knowing how and where one’s food is produced, many consumers are active in finding their food products from local sources.  In the Upper Valley, consumers are privileged with numerous choices for locally grown produce and locally raised meats.  Whether direct from the farm, from one of the many farmers markets, stores that sell local foods such as the Co-op Food Stores, or area restaurants that serve local products, area “foodies” have many options for foods right here in the Upper Valley.

Sunrise Farm, nestled in the hills of Hartland

Chuck Wooster operates Sunrise Farm in Hartford.  During the busy growing and harvesting season from May until October, Wooster says his farm focuses on its CSA (community supported agriculture) customers, who come directly to the farm to pick their CSA shares of the produce.  “We’re lucky enough to sell everything right from the farm,” says Wooster.

During the remainder of the year, the farm also provides produce such as lettuce, chard, kale and spinach to some local restaurants, and to the Upper Valley Food Co-op in White River Junction.

With the strong interest in locally grown, nutritious foods, the Upper Valley is a great place for farmers to get food directly to the customer’s dinner table. “From a farmer’s perspective, we have a lot of people here caring about food, who don’t have extra time to plant a garden,” Wooster says.

Chuck Wooster in one of Sunrise Farm’s greenhouses

The trend of restaurants using more and more locally grown and raised food products “has been a major change over the last twenty years,” says Wooster.  That trend prompted Sunrise Farm to move forward with winter growing of produce.  “Winter growing is driven by restaurants,” he adds.

Mark Robie, of the Upper Valley’s Robie Farm, markets local meat products to a variety of stores and restaurants.  Having the chance to buy local food products, “gives the consumer a say in how your food is produced,” he says.  Robie often takes calls and has discussions about the meat and other products, such as cheese, sporting the Robie Farm name.  Discussions often center on the health of the animals and the manner in which they’re raised. “These conversations offer consumers a connection with the farmer themselves,” he adds.

Bill Stinson has a history of raising and selling vegetables for 40 years in New England. He notes that the current farm-to-table movement “hasn’t been around all that long.”  Stinson says the late 1970s saw farmers begin expanding their marketing by selling from farmstands and farmers markets. This trend proved advantageous for farmers and consumers. “It connected people with better food, though the movement was slow to grow, to get momentum,” says Stinson.

Eventually, this farm-to- table food experience took hold. “The buy local food movement has really picked up speed in the last twenty years,” says Robie.

Mark Robie

Stinson says that in the early 2000s, chefs and restaurants really picked up interest in using locally grown produce in their creations.  Area restaurants such as Arianas, the Latham House Tavern, and Molly’s all feature Robie Farm meat products, says Robie. Other area restaurants well publicize the fact that they utilize local farm products in their dishes.

The Blue Sparrow Kitchen of Norwich uses a great deal of local produce in the dishes they create, says owner Amber Boland.  In fact, Blue Sparrow’s menu indicates which dishes feature local produce and the farms where that produce originates. “We hear a lot of thanks from folks (for using local produce),” says Boland.  “It means a ton to me.”  Some of the local produce Boland uses in her recipes comes from Edgewater Farm of Plainfield and Sweetland Farm of Norwich. With so much local produce available, Boland says the Upper Valley is blessed for those seeking local food products. “We live in this amazing area with all these farms,” she says.

Often during the growing season, Boland says she will customize her dishes to feature the local produce plentiful at that time. Lots of chard coming during the growing season?  Then you’re likely to see it featured on the menu at the Blue Sparrow Kitchen.

A calf – from Robie Farm

Another area farm producing locally grown and raised food products is Norwich’s Sweetland Farm. Owner Norah Lake says her farm specializes in selling through CSA shares, and at farmers markets. “We’re just on the cusp of getting into the restaurant market,” she adds. With her farm growing over 100 different varieties of produce, the chances of filling the needs of consumers and restaurants is greatly enhanced.  For the consumer, Lake says buying local foods “is a feel-good purchase” which results in supporting local producers and the Upper Valley economy. In return, the farm offers  consumers important information about the food they eat.“ A big part of what we do is education,” Lake says.

Sweetland’s produce does end up in the foods created by nearby Blue Sparrow Kitchen, but for a farmer to make buying arrangements with numerous restaurants or stores, it takes a commitment of time, energy, and resources. In arranging a better, more efficient way to match up the local farmer with the stores and restaurants, enter the Upper Valley’s champion of buying local, Vital Communities.

Last fall, Beth Roy, Vital Communities’ food & farm program manager, says her organization arranged a first ever event designed to match up local farmers with area restaurants, food stores, and grocery distributers. This event, resulting from a grant offered by Vermont’s Agency of Agriculture, allowed local farmers and food producers (such as honey and maple syrup producers) to meet with commercial buyers of their meat, produce, and products. The event resulted “in really positive reactions,” says Roy. “It made it easier for (farmers) to meet these businesses.”

Norah Lake of Sweetland Farm.

Vital Communities efforts to increase education and realization of the local farm-to-table movement extend well beyond bringing farmers and businesses together. Roy says her organization works closely with area schools to enhance young people’s knowledge and appreciation of nutritious, locally produced foods. Some of these efforts include having schools’ breakfast and lunch programs buy and use foods from local farms and encourage outdoor classrooms where students learn about growing and preparing produce and care for on-site gardens.

Roy says she also works closely with the area farmers markets to enhance the experience for both consumers and the vendors. In this effort, Vital Communities established the Upper Valley Farmers Market Collaborative, working with numerous farm market managers, including those from Lebanon and Norwich, to help grow these markets. Roy notes that both the Norwich and Lebanon markets are particularly successful in bringing together consumers with local farmers and producers.

Some of the ideas coming out of this effort include the Power of Produce Clubs which allows “kids to connect with the farmers market,” says Roy. This program encourages kids to visit the various farmers and vendors at the market, garner information and, in return, receive market dollars to spend at the market on healthy offerings.

Other ways they help the viability of the markets includes assisting vendors in designing customer friendly booths, and encouraging the use of SNAP benefits at the markets, allowing lower income folks the ability to buy fresh, local produce.

Making locally grown food accessible to lower income people should be a key goal, says long-time farmer Bill Stinson.  “Some think it’s only for wealthier folks…it doesn’t reach a large enough volume of people,” Stinson says. Sweetland Farm’s Norah Lake points to programs now in effect that assist lower income consumers to buy subsidized CSAs from farmers and organizations such as Willing Hands which get local produce in the hands of more people, particularly those in need.

Norwich farmer Lake further endorses the work of Vital Communities in promoting local food production and the farm-to-table movement. “Vital Communities is pretty amazing to work with,” says Lake. “Their promotion of local food in the Upper Valley has been key.”

CSA customers picking their produce at Sweetland.