Articles – New England

Starting Today! Don’t Miss the Create TV “Weekends with Yankee” Summer Viewing Marathon

Yankee Magazine — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 16:24:57 +0000

This weekend, Create is taking you on an adventure with Weekends with Yankee! Celebrate summer with Richard and Amy as they show the best that New England has to offer — and get ready to plan your next trip to see the sights and taste the delicious local flavors.

Ten back-to-back episodes kick off Friday, June 21 at 9PM/8PMc. Visit CreateTV.com/schedule for local airtimes.

About Weekends with Yankee

Produced by GBH, Boston’s preeminent public media producer, Weekends with Yankee is a Telly Award–winner in theTourism/Travel category and was recently nominated for Best New Series and Best Travel Program by The Taste Awards. Series funding for Weekends with Yankee is provided by New Hampshire Division of Travel & Tourism Development, Maine Office of Tourism, Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism, The Barn Yard, American Cruise Lines, and Grady-White Boats.

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The Best New England Adventure Getaways

Kim Knox Beckius — Tue, 02 May 2023 16:45:21 +0000

New England’s varied terrain makes it an ideal vacation spot for travelers seeking adventure at every level, from tame to extreme. If you want to feel that sense of accomplishment that comes with trying something new, these New England adventure destinations make it their mission to help you abandon your comfort zone. Each is a year-round resort for the adventurous, with an array of sporting and athletic pursuits.

New England Outdoor Center | Millinocket, ME

Known chiefly as a whitewater rafting outfitter, New England Outdoor Center is, in fact, your partner in adventure in the freezing season, too. Their eco-friendly lodges and cozy cabins place you at the threshold of miles of snowmobiling trails. Other winter activities that will challenge and excite you include ice fishing, snowshoeing, fat tire biking, and cross-country skiing across backcountry expanses or on 16 miles of groomed trails. In the summer, guided whitewater adventures on the Penobscot River are wild and wet, and guided Mount Katahdin climbs are strenuous, but NEOC will also lead you on a memorable Katahdin region fishing trip to chase brook trout or rare landlocked salmon. This can be your summer or fall home base for mountain biking on the Katahdin Area Trails (KAT), too. For an even softer adventure, book one of two daily moose and wildlife tours, offered May through October, and keep your camera ready and steady as you play a real-world game of “I Spy” from a pontoon boat or air-conditioned van.

New England Outdoor Center is a hub of adventures on Maine’s mountains and waterways.
Photo Credit : New England Outdoor Center

The Preserve Sporting Club | Richmond, RI

Inland Rhode Island will surprise you if you’ve only frequented the Ocean State’s beaches. And one of the most startling discoveries of all is this sporting resort, which is on par with luxury lodges out west. The Preserve occupies 3,500 wooded acres and has a variety of upscale accommodations that includes everything from hotel suites to tiny houses to larger cabin and home rentals. You may have seen images of their most magical dining venues—the Maker’s Mark Hobbit Houses—splashed online, and the newest culinary option, Double Barrel Steak by David Burke, will satisfy the heartiest appetite. With a multitude of on-property activities, you can be sure you’ll be ravenous by suppertime. Fishing, paddling, golfing, shooting sports, tennis, swimming, biking, rock wall climbing, ziplining… that’s just the start. The Preserve is home to the loveliest equestrian center in southern New England, with both an indoor arena and direct access to riding trails on state lands. Kids love painting ponies—literally. And horse-drawn carriage rides are available, too. Many outdoor sports continue through the winter, or head inside for yoga, strength training, and shooting practice at the longest indoor range in the country.

Indoor and outdoor shooting sports are part of the Preserve’s distinctive allure.
Photo Credit : The Preserve Sporting Club

Omni Mount Washington Resort | Bretton Woods, NH

This 1902 grand hotel’s 903-foot-long wraparound veranda—the longest porch in New England—is a workout for walkers. With so many other adventures on tap, though, you may find yourself sinking into a wicker chair on the veranda at the end of an active day instead: cocktail in hand as sunset silhouettes the Presidential Range. Fine accommodations and dining have always been key to the Omni Mount Washington’s allure. Classic sports, like downhill and cross-country skiing in the winter and golfing, fly fishing, and horseback riding are exceedingly popular spring through fall. There are more extreme enticements here, too, including a zipline canopy tour that’s the thrill of a lifetime for many guests. Summer’s softer adventures include disc golf and mountain-climbing gondola rides. Don’t worry about equipment: You can rent a tennis racquet or a gravel or cross-country bike. They’ve got you covered for winter gear, too, whether you want to ski or snowboard, enjoy a hike on snowshoes, or experience the exhilaration of tubing, which is fun for the whole family.

Purity Spring Resort | Madison, NH

For more than 110 years, New England adventure seekers have made the natural landscape their playground at this resort, which is ideally situated between New Hampshire’s White Mountains and its Lakes Region. You’ll stay in an inn room—there are even ski-in/ski-out options with direct access to King Pine—or in a family-friendly condo or cottage. But, honestly… you’ll spend most of your time outdoors, just as vacationers did a century-plus ago. In the summer, take to the lake for paddleboarding, kayaking, canoeing, fishing, waterskiing, and swimming. There’s an indoor pool, too, for year-round splashing. Back outside, you’ll find tennis, pickleball, basketball, and volleyball courts; a six-hole disc golf course; and hiking trails, where you can spy on loons and other birds. Like Purity Spring, neighboring King Pine Ski Area is owned by the Hoyt family, which makes it a rarity in this age of conglomerate-owned ski areas. Head there on frosty days to ski, snowboard, ice skate, snowshoe, or maximize your sledding time at the lift-serviced Pine Meadows Tubing Park.

If you can walk, you can snowshoe, and you can experience this invigorating way of experiencing the winter woods at Purity Spring Resort.
Photo Credit : Purity Spring Resort

Loon Mountain Resort | Lincoln, NH

When the skiing and riding season comes to a close—and there’s no more white fluff for snowshoeing, snow tubing, cross-country skiing, or riding a bike-like Sno-Go—Loon Mountain Resort does not slumber for long when it comes to New England adventure. Once the worst of mud season ends, this is a mountain biker’s dream destination with lift-serviced trails including exhilarating downhill runs. New Hampshire’s longest gondola skyride is an all-ages adventure summer through fall, and you can time your journey to the summit to coincide with a mountaintop yoga class that will leave you breathing more deeply even when you return to less lofty locales. Your adventurous kids will talk non-stop about their time exploring glacial caves, and you’ll want to play a family round of disc golf, too. Loon doesn’t offer accommodations, but there are ample places to stay in the White Mountains region.

Loon Mountain Resort has a growing network of lift-serviced mountain biking trails.
Photo Credit : Loon Mountain Resort

SEE MORE:

32 Must-Do New England Summer Adventures
Unforgettable Guided Adventure Trips in New England
White-Water Rafting in Maine

The post The Best New England Adventure Getaways appeared first on New England.

In the Kitchen with Tiffani Faison

Yankee Magazine — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 17:57:23 +0000

In “A Taste For the Good Life,” (season 7, episode 4) senior food editor Amy Traverso meets up with Boston celebrity chef Tiffani Faison to tour three of her restaurants and cook one of her signature dishes, Potato Gnocchi with Taleggio Fonduta and Salsa Verde. Here, Tiffani shares a trio of recipes for the home cook, including the Taleggio Fonduta and Salsa Verde featured in the episode.

(L-R) Grilled Chicken Thighs with Salsa Verde, Spring Veggies with Taleggio Fonduta Dip, and Spring Veggie Pasta with Creamy Cauliflower Sauce
Photo Credit : Adam Detour | Food Styling: Chantal Lambeth

**Spring Veggies with Taleggio Fonduta Dip**

Ingredients

For the vegetables
Kosher salt, for the water
5 carrots, peeled, cut into sticks
10 asparagus stalks, trimmed
10 red-skinned new potatoes, halved
20 green beans, trimmed
Additional seasonal vegetables, as desired

For the dip
3 tablespoons salted butter
½ cup finely diced onions
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
4 garlic cloves, very finely minced
¼ cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups half-and-half
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 ounces Taleggio cheese (thick rinds removed, thin rinds OK)
Chopped parsley, chives, and/or other fresh herbs

Directions

Fill a 4- or 5-quart pot with water and set over high heat. Add a generous amount of salt and bring to a boil. Set a bowl of ice water next to your stove.

Drop the carrots into the boiling water and cook until crisp-tender, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove and immediately plunge into the cold water to stop the cooking. Drain and set aside. Repeat this process with the rest of the vegetables. The asparagus will take about 1 minute, the potatoes 8 to 10 minutes, and the green beans about 2 minutes.

Now, make the fonduta dip: In a 3- or 4-quart pot over medium heat, melt the butter and cook the onion until it’s just translucent, about 3 minutes. Season with salt, add the minced garlic and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. Stir in the white wine, scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pan, and simmer until it’s reduced by two thirds, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the flour, stirring with a rubber spatula until you have a thick paste. Add the half-and-half and cook, stirring with a whisk, until the mixture thickens, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the cheeses, whisking to combine. Gently simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring frequently (reduce heat to medium-low if the mixture seems too hot to avoid scorching the bottom).

Use a blender or immersion blender to produce a creamy, silky sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour into a bowl, garnish with herbs, and serve warm with the vegetables for dipping. Yields 4 to 6 servings.

Grilled Chicken Thighs with Salsa Verde

Ingredients

For the salsa verde
½ cup finely chopped parsley
¼ cup minced chives
¼ cup minced shallots
2 medium garlic cloves, very finely minced
2 tablespoons capers with their juices, chopped
2 teaspoons honey
½ cup champagne vinegar (rice vinegar also works well)
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 teaspoon red chili flakes
Kosher salt, to taste

For the chicken
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
8 skin-on chicken thighs, boneless or bone-in

Directions

First, make the salsa verde: In a large bowl, whisk all the ingredients together. Add salt to taste and more vinegar if needed. Set aside. (The salsa verde may be made up to 3 days in advance and refrigerated; allow to come to room temperature before serving.)

Sprinkle the chicken thighs all over with salt and pepper and let them rest for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, set up your grill for medium direct heat. Set the chicken thighs, skin-side down, on the grate. Cook, covered, for 6 minutes, then turn and cook until the internal temperature reads 165°, about 4 more minutes (about 9 minutes for bone-in). Transfer to a platter to cool for 5 minutes. Just before serving, drizzle with the salsa verde and serve extra sauce on the side. Yields 4 to 6 servings.

Spring Veggie Pasta with Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

Ingredients
1 tablespoon plus 2 tablespoons salted butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms (any type)
Kosher salt, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
3 cups chopped cauliflower
4 cups milk
1 cup shelled peas (thawed if frozen)
½ cup chopped asparagus (tender green parts only)
3 cups orecchiette pasta, cooked and cooled
2 tablespoons minced chives
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

In a small frying pan over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and sear the mushrooms until nicely browned and crisped at the edges on one side, 4 to 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt. Stir the mushrooms and continue cooking until golden brown all over, 3 to 4 more minutes. Set aside.

In a 4-quart saucepan over medium-low heat, add butter and oil. When the butter has melted, add the onion, garlic, and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally until soft, about 6 minutes. Add the cauliflower and milk, increase heat to medium high and bring just to a boil, then reduce to medium-low and simmer until the cauliflower is soft enough to fall apart, about 20 minutes. Using a standing or immersion blender, puree the cauliflower mixture until completely smooth, then season with salt to taste. Return the sauce to the pot and set over medium-low heat. Add the peas and asparagus and simmer until just tender, about 4 minutes. Meanwhile, reheat the mushrooms over medium-high heat in the frying pan for about a minute. Add the pasta to the saucepan and stir to warm through, gently breaking up any pasta stuck together. It may initially seem like too much sauce for the pasta, but the sauce will thicken. Season to taste, and arrange in a serving bowl. Garnish with the seared mushrooms, chives, black pepper, and plenty of Parmesan. Yields 4 servings.

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Best New England Chocolatiers

Yankee Magazine — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 17:13:52 +0000

Compiled by Krissy O’Shea and featuring additional Yankee Food Awards winners

In “A Taste For the Good Life,” (season 7, episode 4) we head to Maine to see what goes into making Ragged Coast Chocolates’ award-winning confections. Here’s a sampling of even more top-notch New England chocolatiers.

Ragged Coast Chocolates
Steve and Kate Shaffer began making chocolates out of their home kitchen on Isle au Haut in 2007. Today it’s from a production facility in Portland, but the rural Maine farmscape still informs their chocolates, as evidenced in the Maine Farm Market Truffle Collection. In flavors like blueberry-black pepper, Maine mint, and New England pie pumpkin, every truffle features an ingredient grown on a Hancock or Knox County farm. raggedcoastchocolates.com

Blue Bandana
This subsidiary of Burlington, Vermont’s Lake Champlain Chocolates produces meticulously sourced and crafted single-origin dark chocolate bars developed by Eric Lampman, son of Lake Champlain founder Jim Lampman. lakechamplainchocolates.com

Chequessett Chocolate
This café-workshop in North Truro on Cape Cod makes delicious chocolates, mostly dark, with some milk chocolate and single-origin bars in the mix, as well as confections like barks, brittles, and toffees. chequessettchocolate.com

Enna Chocolate
Enna Grazier produces exquisite single-origin chocolates out of her small “factory” in Epping, New Hampshire, and her tasting notes (“toasted sweet biscuits, tobacco, milk, and a tantalizingly subtle tannin”) read like a chocophile’s dream. ennachocolate.com

Goodnow Farms Chocolates
At their headquarters in Sudbury, Massachusetts, Tom and Monica Rogan make dark chocolate bars, some blended with local maple syrup or ground almonds, as well as hot cocoa mixes, from beans sourced from individual fair-trade farms. goodnowfarms.com

Somerville Chocolate
In addition to selling his small-batch bars to the general public, owner Eric Parkes runs a chocolate CSA, whose members pay in advance for a delivery of multiple bars, mostly dark but also some tasty blends, such as white chocolate with chilies and chai-spiced cacao nibs. somervillechocolate.com

Taza Chocolate
Known for its gritty stone-ground style, Taza produces a vast line of bars, Mexican-style hot chocolate disks, barks, and chocolate-covered nuts at its Somerville, Massachusetts, factory. tazachocolate.com

Learn more about New England’s newest batch of premium-chocolate makers in the 2018 feature “Bean to Bar” by Krissy O’Shea

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Is This the Real Life Stars Hollow?

Kim Knox Beckius — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 19:59:55 +0000

Ever since the first episode of Gilmore Girls aired on the WB in October of 2000, fans of the show have scoured Connecticut for a town with the same quirky quaintness as the fictional Stars Hollow. New Milford, Connecticut, is one of the strongest contenders. While the show’s creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, is known to have been inspired by her stay at the Mayflower Inn & Spa in nearby Washington, Connecticut, New Milford has an assortment of features (and photo ops!) that more readily invite you to feel as though you’ve landed in Lorelai and Rory Gilmore’s world when you visit.

So, stream a few reruns to spark your appetite for coffee and tacos and your desire to stroll arm-in-arm through a cute town with someone you love. Then, set your GPS for New Milford in northwestern Connecticut (not to be confused with Milford on the shoreline), and use our guide to help you find a bit of Stars Hollow magic.

A Historic Connecticut Village

Stop one on your Gilmore Girls tour: the New Milford Town Green. This grassy half-acre in the heart of town has an 1875 bandstand that will immediately remind you of the Stars Hollow gazebo. Like the gazebo you remember from the TV show, the bandstand plays host to performances and is dressed up seasonally with patriotic bunting, pumpkins and hay, and holiday lights. While New Milford may not have an omnipresent troubadour like Stars Hollow, Connecticut does have an officially appointed state troubadour, so you may want to listen to Kala Farnham on Spotify as you’re strolling the narrow, three-section green.

The gazebo on the town green is one of New Milford’s top “Gilmore Girls” photo ops.
Photo Credit : Courtesy of Greater New Milford Chamber of Commerce

The fictional Stars Hollow was founded in 1779. New Milford, Connecticut, traces its origins back to the earlier part of that century. The first settlers built homes here in 1707, and New Milford was officially established in 1712. Near the green, another classic New England photo op is Roger Sherman Town Hall, an early example of Colonial Revival brick architecture built in 1875. Do the town meetings held inside unfold as comically as those presided over by Taylor Doose? It’s doubtful.

Staying in “Stars Hollow”

The Independence Inn was the place to stay in Stars Hollow… until an electrical fire caused catastrophic damage. If you’re looking for a white clapboard inn with a columned porch that brings the Independence Inn back to life, look no further than the Homestead Inn, which has stood on the north end of the New Milford Green since 1928. Check-in is contactless these days, so you won’t have to deal with attitude from the likes of Michel Gerard, the Independence Inn’s snooty but lovable concierge.

Fans of the TV town know that after the Independence Inn’s demise, Lorelai and chef Sookie St. James opened the Dragonfly Inn, where they even had two horses, Desdemona and Cletus. You’ll find stables on-property at New Milford’s Candlelight Farms Inn, too. Located about 5 miles west of the center of town, Candlelight Farms is primarily a wedding venue, but six simple guest rooms and horseback riding lessons are available to traveling Gilmore Girls fans.

Many “Gilmore Girls” fans choose the Homestead Inn as their New Milford home base.
Photo Credit : Courtesy of Homestead Inn

Going to School in “Stars Hollow”

If you’re looking for a pretty barn like the one where Miss Patty teaches dance classes (and Rory and her boyfriend, Dean Forester, fell asleep), drive north of the New Milford Town Green about 2.5 miles to Fieldstone Nursery. On your way, you’ll pass Canterbury School… and feel as though you’ve stumbled upon Rory’s alma mater: Chilton.

Although it’s not in Hartford, Canterbury School has the same private school allure as the fictional Chilton.
Photo Credit : Courtesy of Canterbury School/Rick Giles

Of Course There’s a Diner

It wouldn’t be Stars Hollow without a thriving diner like Luke’s, and New Milford has Theo’s Downtown Diner, open for breakfast and lunch (no dinner, no nighttime shoulder to cry on). Order New Milford’s own Sullivan Farm maple syrup to go with your pancakes, or do as Lorelai and Rory would and order burgers and fries. Just a few doors down on Railroad Street at Cool Hand Duke’s, which even rhymes with Luke’s, you can also fill up on this classic combo, although the burgers here put Luke Danes’s to shame. Luke would have no patience for menu items with protracted names like “Whenever Possible, Put on Side One of Led Zeppelin IV,” which is a burger topped with baby spinach, gorgonzola cheese, North Country bacon, and garlic aioli.

If you’re a coffee addict like Lorelai and want the best brew in town, River & Rail Cafe on Bank Street near the green is your best bet. And if you’re truly a Gilmore Girls superfan, you’ll want tacos with your coffee. They’re 500 feet away at Momma’s Tacos. You’re welcome.

One more food tip for your Stars Hollow… er, New Milford trip. As you may recall, during Episode 18 of Season 3, Rory walks Lorelai over to Antonioli’s for a birthday surprise: the world’s largest pizza (almost). You won’t find a pizza that humongous, but New Milford Pizza Station does have a size XL pie that measures 18 inches.

If you love tacos as much as Rory and Lorelai Gilmore, you’ll feel right at home in New Milford, Connecticut.
Photo Credit : Courtesy of Momma's Tacos

Shopping in “Stars Hollow”

When the cameras follow Rory and her best friend, Lane Kim, into Mrs. Kim’s antiques store, are you always salivating over the eclectic furnishings and accent pieces? Then, be sure to visit one of New Milford’s purveyors of antiques. Near the north end of the green, Bob Kretchko Antiques specializes in pre-Victorian to Midcentury furnishings and a variety of collectibles flushed out of Connecticut estates. Serious antiquers should time their New Milford visit to coincide with the Elephant’s Trunk Flea Market, held Sundays from April through December, or with a live sale at the Auction Barn.

Where would Sookie shop? For sure at BD Provisions, where you can scoop up just what you need: The store stocks 300 bulk food items including spices, teas, pastas, nuts, coffees, and candies. Nutmeg Olive Oil would be on her list, too. And she’d sneak away from the inn whenever she could to browse the organic produce and gourmet goods at the Smithy Market, an architecturally splendid former blacksmith shop in nearby New Preston.

Visit Hickory Stick Book Shop in Washington, about a 14-minute drive from the New Milford Town Green, and you’ll be fully able to imagine bumping into Rory as you browse shelves filled with intriguing titles including many by local authors. On your way back to New Milford, loop through Marbledale and visit Stars Hollow Yarns. If you’re an avid knitter or crocheter or even a beginner, you’ll find this “haven for handcrafters” offers the kind of inclusive, loving community many Gilmore Girls fans associate with Stars Hollow. The shop has a unique story: one that is focused on philanthropy, sustainability, and social consciousness.

The imaginary Stars Hollow has Le Chat Club, a shop filled with cat items, and New Milford has the Safari Collective, a wood-floored, string-lit store that sells ethically made jewelry, home goods, and soothing lifestyle products. It’s your destination for creating custom gift boxes to send to fellow Gilmore Girls fans. Ask if Kirk works here… we dare you.

Have you ever been to New Milford, Connecticut? Let us know in the comments below!

SEE MORE:

Notable New England Film Locations
20 Essential Books Set in New England
Best Things To Do in Litchfield County, Connecticut

The post Is This the Real Life Stars Hollow? appeared first on New England.

5 Best Things to Do in Woodstock, Vermont

Yankee Editors — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 19:01:07 +0000

For “New England Icons” (season 7, episode 1), Weekends with Yankee makes its way to Woodstock, Vermont, to meet well-known potter James Zillian, founder of internationally acclaimed Farmhouse Pottery. Woodstock is one of those destinations that seem to pop up on every kind of New England “best of” list, and no wonder: Its postcard-perfect downtown is filled with preserved antique homes and buildings — Georgian, Federal, Greek Revivals — with no utility lines to spoil the timeless view. You could easily spend a week or more exploring this inviting and highly walkable town, but if you have just a day or two, here are the five best things to do in Woodstock, Vermont.

Woodstock Inn & Resort

This centrally located historic landmark is no mere place to stay — it’s a bona fide Woodstock experience. The inn itself is deeply tied to the town’s history, having evolved from the c. 1793 Richardson’s Tavern to the c. 1892 Woodstock Inn and its later revival by Laurance Rockefeller. Beyond the lures of the inn itself — 142 distinctively furnished rooms and suites, a 10,000-square-foot spa, and farm-to-table dining — the property connects guests with all kinds of things to do. There’s a golf course, a Nordic center with more than 45 km of groomed trails, an activity center with mountain bike rentals, and special activities ranging from fly fishing to falconry.

F.H. Gillingham & Sons

At one of Vermont’s oldest and certainly most celebrated shops of its kind, you’ll find, oh, just about everything, most of it Vermont-centric, from postcards and maple products to clothing and local cheeses. In true New England fashion, Gillingham’s is still family-owned and now run by the founder’s great-grandsons, Frank and Jireh Billings. A stop at Gillingham’s is also sure to whet your appetite for browsing the many other shops downtown, from the Yankee Bookshop, a fixture since 1935, to Sudie’s, which specializes in modern-preppy-meets-Vermont-chic clothing.

Billings Farm & Museum

What was rural Vermont like in the 19th century? Find out at Frederick Billings’s model farm, established by the railroad magnate when he returned to his native Woodstock in 1871. Now owned and operated by the Woodstock Foundation, a non-profit educational institution founded by Laurance and Mary Rockefeller, the bucolic 200-acre-plus property combines a fully operating Jersey dairy farm with educational exhibits and interactive programs and events. Visit the 1890 farm manager’s home and creamery; learn about farm work of yesteryear and today; get up close with pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, horses, and other barnyard favorites; and climb aboard for horse-drawn wagon and sleigh rides. Open seasonally.

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park

At Vermont’s only national park — and the only national park in the U.S. that’s devoted to conservation history — you’re invited to immerse yourself in nature’s beauty not only via the walking trails crisscrossing the 550-acre property but also in the formal plantings around the 1805 mansion that speak to four generations of stewardship. When the mansion is open to visitors, don’t miss a chance to peek inside the stately residence, which was a Rockefeller family home until 1992. The first floor of the brick Victorian Queen Anne is filled with exquisite architectural details such as Tiffany stained-glass windows and parquet wood floors, as well as a notable art collection. Visitors’ center open seasonally.

Jenne Farm & Sleepy Hollow Farm

These two properties are among the most photographed farms in Vermont, if not all of New England, and are definitely worth stopping to see (though please keep your distance and be respectful of the fact they are private residences). Roughly 12 miles south of Woodstock, in Reading, is Jenne Farm, which has appeared on magazine covers, in photography books and TV ads, and in movies such as Forest Gump and Funny Farm. And about 3 miles north of Woodstock, on Cloudland Road in Pomfret, lies the equally picturesque Sleepy Hollow Farm, which has become a particular favorite for fall-foliage shutterbugs in recent years.

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White-Water Rafting in Maine | Adventure Guide

Yankee Editors — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 12:00:42 +0000

For “Adventure” (episode 1, season 3), Weekends with Yankee cohost Richard Wiese experiences the thrill of Maine’s Kennebec River, New England’s top white-water rafting destination. Here’s a longer list of places where you can enjoy a Maine white-water rafting adventure.

Where to Go White-Water Rafting in Maine

Some of the most exciting outdoor adventures New England has to offer can be found on the raging rapids of Maine’s mighty rivers. At the center of the white-water fun are the Penobscot, the Kennebec, and the Dead River, each with its own array of gorges, waterfalls, and rapids to navigate. Here, in no particular order, are some of our favorite guided white-water rafting Maine adventures, most offering a range of options to make rafting accessible to all ages and experience levels.

Northern Outdoors

This granddaddy of Maine adventuring has been thrilling visitors since 1976. They do much more than river excursions, but their two base camp locations (one in the Forks and one near Baxter State Park) situate them perfectly for rafting on the big three: the Penobscot, Kennebec, and Dead rivers. The Kennebec rafting trips include passage through the rock-walled upper gorge, an experience you won’t forget. You may want to schedule some extra time to tack on some fly-fishing or moose-watching, or an ATV excursion, too.

New England Outdoor Center

The New England Outdoor Center has been voted a top adventure resort by Yankee editors for good reason. From the Penobscot Outdoor Center campground to the lakeside cabins at Twin Pines to the River Driver’s Restaurant, this is your one-stop destination for a fantastic Maine vacation. The white-water rafting offerings include trips down the Penobscot from April through October. They also run fishing trips and leisurely river floats, so members of the whole family will find something to their liking. Bonus: Most trips include a riverside barbecue lunch, too.

Penobscot Adventures Whitewater Rafting

No surprise that Penobscot Adventures focuses its activities around its namesake river, offering rafting trips ranging from beginner runs to Class 5 challenges (on a scale of 1 to 6). Part of the New England Outdoor Center family of companies, Penobscot Adventures has been introducing visitors to the Penobscot since 2003, and its employees pride themselves on their ability to cater to any skill level. Lodging is on offer at the Penobscot Outdoor Center and Twin Pines at NEOC.

North Country Rivers

With two locations (Bingham and Millinocket), North Country Rivers specializes in outdoor adventure trips on both land and water. In addition to white-water rafting, they offer ATV tours, kayaking, wildlife-watching tours, and hiking. Pair these activities with accommodations in one of their tents, RVs, or cabins and a range of dining packages, and your vacation planning will be done almost before you start. North Country Rivers specializes in rafting adventures for a range of skill levels on the Kennebec, Penobscot, and Dead rivers.

Northeast Whitewater

Considered a leader in whitewater training and swiftwater rescue training, this family-owned rafting company offers trips on the Kennebec, Penobscot, and Dead rivers that range in difficulty from beginner to expert. With a lodge and campground just south of Moosehead Lake, Northeast Whitewater also leads moose-watching trips (by van or canoe), waterfall hikes, bird-watching tours, and more.

Magic Falls Rafting Co.

Magic Falls has customized packages aimed at seemingly every situation and skill level — whether you are looking for a bachelor party getaway, a family vacation, or a challenge for your outing club. Thanks to small groups and experienced guides, your experience on the Kennebec and Dead rivers can be individualized to meet your wishes. Discount rates are available for Maine residents or vacationers staying with Magic Falls’ lodging partners.

Northwoods Outfitters

Among the slew of outdoor adventure trips offered by Northwoods Outfitters are classic white-water rafting experiences on the Kennebec, Penobscot, and Allagash rivers that can be customized to most skill levels. Other offerings include fishing, moose-watching, kayaking, canoeing, and ATV rentals.

Moxie Outdoor Adventures

Whether you are a longtime thrill-seeker or a novice, Moxie Outdoor Adventures has the ideal river-riding experience for you. It runs single- and multiday rafting trips on the Kennebec and Dead rivers; somewhat tamer canoe and kayak outings are also available. Extend your stay at Lake Moxie Camps, where options include lakefront cabins, platform tents, or camping.

Crab Apple Whitewater

Helping its clients tackle the rapids since 1983, this family business has locations in both West Forks, Maine, and Charlemont, Massachusetts. Its Maine trips, on the Class 3 and Class 4 Kennebec and Dead rivers, run from mid-April through mid-October. The most popular Kennebec trips float right to the Crab Apple base camp, which has riverside lodging, a pub and restaurant, and an outdoor pool.

U.S. Rafting

Based in West Forks, Maine, this outfitter started small but has continued to grow. Its creative packages combine rafting with ATV adventuring, hiking, and even skydiving, but full or half-day raft trips on the Penobscot, Kennebec, and Dead rivers are its specialty. This post was first published in 2019 and has been updated.

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Sweet Fluff Recipes

Yankee Editors — Mon, 16 May 2022 19:02:36 +0000

In “The Enthusiasts,” (season 6, episode 5) we visit Somerville, Massachusetts, where the What the Fluff? Festival celebrates a tasty icon of many New Englanders’ childhoods: Marshmallow Fluff. Then we head to the Durkee-Mower factory in Lynn, Massachusetts, to see how the sweet spreadable confection has been made using the same recipe for the past century. Love Fluff? Here are some of our favorite recipes featuring the sweet New England staple.

Pumpkin-Fluff Pie
Photo Credit : Joe St. Pierre | Food Styling by Joy Howard | Prop Styling by Ann Lewis

Pumpkin-Fluff Pie

The inspiration for this pumpkin pie came from the marshmallow-topped sweet potato side dish that, for many, defines the holiday table. It’s a bit like having the whipped cream in the pie itself.

Homemade Whoopie Pies
Photo Credit : Aimee Tucker

Classic Fluff Whoopie Pies

A classic homemade whoopie pie recipe for this favorite old-fashioned New England dessert. Soft chocolate cookies with Marshmallow Fluff cream filling never had it so good.

Fluffernutter Whoopie Pies
Photo Credit : Katherine Keenan

Fluffernutter Whoopie Pies

These whoopie pies made with peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff are a riff on one of our favorite classic New England sandwiches. Layers of peanut butter and creamy marshmallow filling sandwiched between soft peanut butter cakes? Delicious!

Jam may seem like the most simple Fluffernutter addition, but the results are fantastic.
Photo Credit : Katherine Keenan

Fluffernutter with Fruit Jam (and 4 More Fluffernutter Variations)

What do you get when you cross a PB&J with a fluffernutter? Sweet, fruity, salty perfection. Find this and four more tasty Fluffernutter variations.

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The Man Who Watches Bears | Ben Kilham

Yankee Editors — Mon, 16 May 2022 19:01:03 +0000

In “Preserving New England” (season 6, episode 5) we travel to Lyme, New Hampshire, to meet Ben Kilham, who rescues and rehabilitates orphaned bear cubs. We tour his property, meet some of his youngest cubs, then head to a remote woodlot to visit some of the oldest bears he’s raised who are back in the wild and thriving. Learn more about Ben in this 2012 Yankee feature by Ian Aldrich.

The bears will soon be here. Ben Kilham is confident of that.

It’s a mild evening in early August, just pushing past 6:00, and Kilham, a bear biologist in Lyme, New Hampshire, is ready to work. In a clearing deep in the woods that’s flush with clover and a few old apple trees, he sits patiently in his truck, scanning the woods for his visitors. He flicks on his satellite receiver, listening for any signal that might indicate a nearby bear. He hears only static. Kilham is unfazed. “They know the time,” he says. “And they know what time I’m here.”

Bear biologist Ben Kilham.
Photo Credit : Jarrod McCabe

Adolescent small male cub.
Photo Credit : Jarrod McCabe

That they do. Co-owner of New Hampshire’s only licensed bear-rehabilitation facility, Kilham is the state’s go-to guy whenever game wardens are alerted to an injured or orphaned bear who’s too young or unhealthy to survive on its own. On an enclosed eight-acre chunk of forestland near his house, Kilham, with the help of his sister, Phoebe, has rehabbed some 90 to 100 cubs over the course of his career, caring for them and feeding them until they’re 18 months old. Then he introduces them back into the wild.

But Kilham’s work extends far beyond parental duties. He’s eschewed traditional limits on human contact with his bears and in the process has forged a relationship with these animals that’s almost unique among wildlife biologists. His discoveries have yielded new insight into bears’ social lives and intelligence. His findings have become the subject of several National Geographic documentaries, put him on network morning shows, and made him the co-author of the 2002 book Among the Bears, which tells the story of his early work raising orphaned cubs.

Much of what he’s learned has taken place in this clearing, which Kilham visits almost every evening for a few hours between May and November. “Most nights nothing happens; then some nights the most amazing things happen,” he says. “And you don’t get to see the most amazing things happen unless you put your time in.”

But Kilham’s work is notable, too, for what he’s not. He works for no university, possesses no advanced degree. For all of his 59 years, Kilham, who is severely dyslexic, has had to circumvent convention and create his own methods for understanding the world around him–which is why his wildlife work isn’t just about bears. Kilham’s findings and the roadblocks he’s encountered and overcome along the way say something about his own species as well.

Ben Kilham observes his bears and records data each evening from spring through fall.
Photo Credit : McCabe, Jarrod

Kilham has packed his usual tools of the trade: camera with a long telephoto lens, iPad, notebook, several small bags of Oreos, and two big white buckets filled with corn. He’s tapping notes on the iPad when an adolescent male bear, around 20 months old, and one Kilham is only slightly familiar with, emerges from the woods.

“How are you?” he says, leaning out of the truck, in a gentle voice. “You don’t have Mama around, do you? If she was, you’d be up a tree, wouldn’t you?”

Kilham climbs out of his truck, grabs a bucket of corn with both hands, and pours out the kernels near a hawthorn bush, maybe 20 feet from where the bear is standing. He takes a few steps back and points to the food. The bear locks his eyes on Kilham, and then in an effort to show a little intimidation, hops forward with force, an act bear biologists call a “false charge.” Kilham doesn’t flinch.

“You’re a silly goose,” he says.

It’s only after Kilham is back in the truck that the bear makes his way to the corn. For the next several minutes he settles into the snack, relaxed. He’s got food, and the clearing to himself. Then, suddenly, he stands on his hind legs, sniffing the air. He beats it toward a nearby cherry tree and climbs up a safe distance. More bears are on their way.

Nobody knows the woods around Lyme better than Ben Kilham.

Adolescent large male cub.
Photo Credit : McCabe, Jarrod

“Ben’s perception of dark and my perception of dark are really very different,” says Kilham’s wife, Debbie. “My perception might be that at 4:00 it’s already dusk. His dark is pitch-black. He’s just so comfortable in the woods that he can come out in the dark.”

Built like a bear himself, with wide shoulders and a powerful frame, Kilham has called this small New Hampshire town near the Vermont border home for most of his life. He learned to love the forest with his dad, Lawrence, a virologist and accomplished ornithologist who taught at Dartmouth Medical School and shared with his son a passionate interest in wildlife.

Lawrence Kilham, and his wife, Jane, a physician, fostered a spirit of independent thinking among their five children. Books and animals ruled the family home, a rambling Federal in downtown Lyme that served as a den for injured and orphaned foxes, owls, skunks, and woodchucks. Once, during a year’s sabbatical in Uganda, Lawrence introduced the family to the newest member of the clan: a half-grown leopard. “We considered them pets,” Kilham remembers. “We’d talk natural history the way most families talk sports. It was just an everyday event for us.”

Following his dad into the woods became a central part of Kilham’s relationship with his quiet father, and the natural world opened to him like a book. He could read what the deer had been feeding on, or when a pack of coyotes had passed through. With its clear natural laws, the outdoors resonated with Kilham in a way other settings couldn’t.

Unlike his siblings, Kilham was a terrible student. Nobody understood his dyslexia then; teachers called him lazy and pushed him to try harder. Still, staying awake before exams by blasting the sound on his television, he scratched out a wildlife degree in 1974 from the University of New Hampshire. His poor academic record killed his dream of graduate school.

So Kilham found what he could do: gunsmithing. The work catered to his strengths in mechanics and design. He eventually landed at Colt Firearms in West Hartford, Connecticut, but despite his skill–at one time he held two U.S. patents–his inability to secure a master’s degree undermined his chance of promotion.

Ben examines a bear skull he found in the woods.
Photo Credit : McCabe, Jarrod

“I was always wondering why I couldn’t be a professional engineer when I was perfectly capable of doing the work,” he says. When the economy soured in 1982, Kilham lost his job, and he and Debbie restarted their lives in New Hampshire.

Back in his hometown, Kilham built and repaired firearms for customers out of his shop on a lot where eventually he built his house. And that’s how it might have continued for him, were it not for two Dartmouth professors for whom he’d done some work. They’d noticed the ease with which building things came to Kilham and told him about Dartmouth’s Thayer School program for students with learning disabilities. He could earn a master’s in engineering. “Take the entrance exam,” they said. “See what happens.”

In 1992, Kilham saw what happened. After a six-hour test, he emerged with a score that placed him in the top 1 percent of candidates. “It gave me the confidence to just say, Jeez, if I’m that smart, why don’t I just use my intelligence and forget everything else?” Kilham recalls. “I made a pact with myself to do things my way and damn the torpedoes. It wasn’t important to me to conform and do a poor job of conforming when I could do a good job doing things my way.”

By the time of the exam, Kilham had already become interested in bear biology and behavior. Now, though, after long harboring the dream of focusing on a single animal, he left Thayer and gave himself permission to make wildlife study his real vocation. But even Kilham wasn’t convinced he’d learn a whole lot. Much of the big work, he reasoned, had already been done. Then, two years later, he cared for a pair of bear cubs that had been abandoned in Vermont. And two years after that, “Squirty” came into his life and changed everything for him once again.

Back at the clearing, it’s nearing 7:00, and the bears are out in full force. In addition to the young male, his sister, Josie, and their mother, SQ2, have shown up. But it’s the arrival of a large female, who bounds out from the eastern flank of the woods, that causes a commotion. The cubs scamper up separate trees, while SQ2 seeks distance as well. The newcomer plops down on the ground, 20 feet from the truck. “That’s Squirty,” Kilham says, stepping back outside with a packet of Oreos in his hand.

Of all the bears that have come into Kilham’s life, Squirty has been the most important. In February 1996, she came into his care a runt of a thing, seven weeks old, weighing just three pounds. Her mother had abandoned her three cubs after their den up north had been disturbed by a logging operation.

Kilham became their surrogate parent. Near his bed he created a makeshift den from a large basket. He bottle-fed the cubs and then slowly introduced them to the world outside his home. On their walks into the woods, he got down on his hands and knees, showing them what foods to eat.

As the cubs grew, Kilham watched. He saw that they relied on fresh deer scat to aid their digestion, used the tips of their tongues to identify new items, and went into a stiff-legged walk to leave marking points in the land for other bears to pick up.

After Kilham released the threesome into the woods, Squirty stayed close by. Today, she’s the matriarch of a clan of female bears that comprises daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters. But it’s a social hierarchy that also includes Kilham, whom Squirty largely treats as a bear. When Kilham put a GPS collar on Squirty, he did so without sedating her. She exacts punishment, including “message bites,” when he’s overdone his stay, but she also allows him access to her cubs. “It’s the price for things like this,” he says later, holding up a packet of Oreos.

Outside in the clearing, Kilham approaches his old friend, who stands on her hind legs and plants her front paws on his shoulders. Kilham holds steady, opens the packet of cookies, and feeds her by hand. “That’s all,” Kilham tells her when she’s finished her treat, as he raises both hands to indicate that he’s out of cookies. Squirty gets down on all fours and rumbles over to a pile of corn Kilham has poured out in advance of her visit. Back in the truck, he says, “I’ve learned stuff from her that I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else.”

Mother bear Squirty.
Photo Credit : McCabe, Jarrod

Kilham’s observations have revealed a level of collaboration among bears, females mostly, that had largely been missed. When Squirty’s daughter, SQ2, for example, was unable to raise one of her own daughters a few years back, Squirty adopted her granddaughter. And Kilham also discovered that Squirty was sharing her prized beechnuts with bears from outside her territory. He has even shed light on bear anatomy: He discovered a receptor–now called the Kilham organ–on the roof of black bears’ mouths that enables a mother to teach her young which plants are suitable for eating. She chews on edible vegetation, and her cub smells her breath to identify which plants are good to eat.

Kilham has filled notebooks and hard drives with his research, shot some 70,000 images, and recorded hundreds of hours of video. All of it he’s done on a shoestring. Outside of speaking engagements about his work, he earns nothing from his research; Debbie, a benefits consultant, is the breadwinner. Because Kilham isn’t credentialed with degrees, he isn’t eligible for the kinds of university grants to which many wildlife biologists have access.

Because Kilham’s work is outside the purview of modern academia, he’s free from the pressure to publish, but because he can’t, on his own, write a scientific paper about his research, there’s been a slow embrace of his findings. At his first International Association for Bear Research and Managment (IBA) conference in 2001, fellow wildlife biologists criticized his work.

“Several scientists told me, ‘We like what you’re finding, but we don’t like your methods,'” Kilham says. “But I can’t get a Ph.D. I’m not suddenly going to be good at calculus. My access to science is through my methods, which is closely observing animals.”

Recently, there’s been more acceptance of his work. At last summer’s IBA conference in Ottawa, Kilham was one of the featured speakers. He’s made two of a projected several trips to China to guide wildlife experts who are reintroducing pandas to the wild. He lectures regularly at Dartmouth and at the University of Massachusetts. Later this year he’ll publish his second book, Out on a Limb, which dissects his recent research and his experiences in overcoming dyslexia: That is to say, although Kilham has learned a lot about bears during these past two decades, he’s also learned quite a bit about himself, too.

“You’re born the way you’re born, with certain abilities and disabilities,” he says. “Some just carry bigger labels than others. It’s hard to explain what I do if I don’t explain my difficulties in school and why I don’t have a Ph.D., why I’m not following the leader, and why I’m a bit of a rebel or a maverick.”

Daylight is fading fast. It’s now past 8:00, and Squirty has left the clearing. Two young males, brothers, have taken control of the area, playfully chasing each other around. “And it keeps going like this all night long,” Kilham says, putting a pair of binoculars up to his face. “Sure beats watching TV.”

He watches for a few more minutes. There’s a certain slow, peaceful rhythm to the scene. He stays at the clearing until the last ray of sunlight has blinked away. “At some point you’ve got to head for home,” Kilham says, setting down his binoculars. “It gets too dark to see.” With that, Kilham fires up his truck and leaves the clearing, heading for the world to which he must return.

More information at: benkilham.com. Note that it can be dangerous to approach a bear or feed it. A bear’s behavior may be unpredictable; it may become suddenly angry or aggressive. Kilham stresses that bears should never be fed near homes.

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New England Sheep and Wool Festivals

Yankee Editors — Mon, 16 May 2022 18:18:24 +0000

In “The Enthusiasts,” (season 6, episode 6) Richard is in Harrisville, New Hampshire, to see firsthand why border collies are known as the world’s smartest dogs. He meets master shepherd David Kennard of Wellscroft Farm, who has been training his 5-month-old border collie pup, Emma, for a big day. Along with two of his veteran border collies, Dave takes Emma for her first-time herding sheep down an open road; with just a series of commands, Dave and his dogs move about 60 sheep down the road to fresh pasture. Herding is a frequent feature of sheep and wool festivals. Here’s where you can catch one in New England.

New England Sheep & Wool Festivals

Sheepshearing Festival at Gore Place | Best Sheep & Wool Festivals in New England
Photo Credit : Courtesy of Gore Place

Sheepshearing Festival at Gore Place Waltham, MA | April 23, 2022

Held rain or shine on the historic grounds at Gore Place, the festival features shearing demonstrations (both manual and electric), herding dogs, spinning and weaving demonstrations, food, live music, and a crafts fair with more than 75 vendors. goreplace.org/sheepshearing-festival

Sheep & Herding at Billings Farm and Museum | Best Sheep & Wool Festivals in New England
Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey

Shearing & Herding Weekend at Billings Farm and Museum Woodstock, VT | April 23-24, 2022

At Billings Farm and Museum, enjoy a weekend devoted to Southdown sheep and their Border Collie friends. Watch the spring shearing of the farm’s ewes, spinning and carding demonstrations, and a chance to watch the talented Border Collies herding sheep in the farm fields. There’s also a children’s art show. billingsfarm.org

Sheep & Wool Festival Deerfield, NH | May 14- 15, 2022

Alpacas, llamas, and sheep, oh my! And don’t forget the border collies. Held at the Deerfield Fairgrounds, you’ll be able to watch the action at the sheepdog trials and the best-in-show competition. Also enjoy exhibits and demonstrations of weaving, spinning, and shearing, and take in informative sessions on caring for the animals. nhswga.org/nh-sheep-wool-festival

Wool Days at Old Sturbridge Village | Best Sheep and Wool Festivals in New England
Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey

Wool Days at Old Sturbridge Village Sturbridge, MA | May 28, 2022

It’s the kickoff weekend for another Old Sturbridge Village 1830s-style summer — and haircut time for the sheep. Watch farmers perform the sheep shearing while border collies show off their sheep herding skills. Historians will demonstrate how wool is processed, from shearing, scouring, and carding, to dyeing, spinning, and weaving. There’s also live music, farm animals, and the village’s daily demonstrations of musket firing, hearth cooking, printing, coopering, blacksmithing, shoe-making, and more. osv.org

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Sara Fitz’s Ocean-Inspired Maine Cottage

Annie Graves — Fri, 13 May 2022 18:32:19 +0000

For “Feeding the Soul” (season 6, episode 7), Richard Wiese is in York, Maine to meet Sara Fitz, who created a coastal design company specializing in New England iconography, like whimsical lobsters and buoys. We see her painting process at her studio space, get a tour of her shop, and walk along the seaside landscapes that inspire her work. Learn more about Sara in this 2019 Yankee feature.

With its ample natural light and sandy hues, the O’Briens’ living room epitomizes coastal casual.
Photo Credit : Mark Fleming

“Nantucket is just in me,” says Sara Fitzgerald O’Brien, as we drift from the living room to her art studio, in the home she shares with her husband, Miles, and their boys, Everett, 8, and Oliver, 6, in York, Maine.

The sea feels tangible here, the mood like quiet water at twilight. Foamy color washes the walls; furnishings flash pale turquoise, ocean blue. Bleached pine cupboards and tables—antique chunks of them—are strewn about like driftwood. Sea creatures would not be out of place here.

It’s easy living the beach dream when your home is actually on a beach. Fortunately, even if it’s not, there are ways to get around that. This slice of ocean calm is, in fact, a 10-minute walk from the water—although Long Sands Beach is visible seasonally through plastic binoculars secured to the poop deck of the boys’ wooden pirate ship in the backyard. “We didn’t even know there was a water view when we bought this house,” Sara says. “In the morning, Miles and I come out here and we just smell the salt air. The boys look at us like, what are you doing?”

Sara Fitzgerald O’Brien, namesake and cofounder of the lifestyle and design brand Sara Fitz.
Photo Credit : Brea McDonald

Therein lies the paradox of this pretty, red-shingled cottage. It shares its breezy tranquility—abundantly reflected in Sara’s luminous watercolors for her Sara Fitz collection of note cards, wallpaper, fabrics, wedding invitations, and art prints—with two lively young boys. And let’s be clear: “Our boys are all boy, all the time,” says Miles. “Umm, don’t look too closely at the walls,” Sara warns. “These boys are high-energy, they love to play. We’re definitely casual!”

A vintage dresser provides an oceanic splash of teal.
Photo Credit : Brea McDonald

The O’Briens chased this house for more than a year, while waiting for their York Village home to sell. “I cried so many nights,” says Sara, afraid they would lose the 1988 cottage with its requisite “good bones.” But there was something more. “I have a weird thing with this house,” she muses. “I’m very inspired by it, the light, the trees around us, the doors open to the breeze, the salt air. The second we walked in—it was like our house. It felt like part of our family right away.”

Sara and husband Miles in their York, Maine, kitchen with sons Everett and Oliver.
Photo Credit : Mark Fleming

By 2012, it was. Before they moved in, the couple made one dramatic change, which, says Miles, transformed everything. They tore down the wall between the kitchen and the dining/living room, opening up the entire back length of the house. After that, it was cosmetic tweaks, although extensive ones: replacing every light fixture, for example, and changing paint colors. “We knew we wanted a light palette for the walls,” says Sara, so they opted for “crisp linen white,” mixed specially at the local hardware store. The wall-to-wall carpet came up; heart pine floors went down. “It dents, but it’s got so much character,” she says. “Like the marble counter in the kitchen—I wanted our family’s living here to show.”

A selection of Sara Fitz dishware.
Photo Credit : Brea McDonald

Sara Fitz wrapping paper designed for year-round giving.
Photo Credit : Brea McDonald

It does, in a carefree yet beautiful beach-living way, even on the walk-out lower level, where Miles runs the business end of Sara Fitz, and the boys get cozy in reading nooks that feel like ship’s bunks. Both Sara and Miles were inspired by summers growing up on Nantucket, where they met in their early 20s. The click was practically audible (both mothers had been interior designers—“He knew what ‘chalking a pillow’ meant,” she remembers, with a smile); their 2007 wedding took place on the island, naturally. And the delicate watercolors that Sara hand-painted for their own wedding invitations when she couldn’t find anything she liked eventually launched a business that has, over time, morphed into the Sara Fitz items that I see scattered around her studio. Coastal-inspired fabrics dangling on twine near a basket of Sara Fitz gift wrap, and art prints lined up like pickets on a fence. A world of spindly anchors, striped sailor shirts, poetic lobsters, and the bluest hydrangeas, in wispy watercolor.

The kitchen nook’s farmhouse table and hutch, both family heirlooms.
Photo Credit : Brea McDonald

And yes, each of these whimsical images—from whales to old-timey life jackets—is different, but they’re also intrinsically complementary, an intentional design decision that allows customers to create their own original combinations of fabrics, prints, and wallpapers, tilted toward casual coastal living. Not surprising, really, because the same ethos applies in the O’Brien home.

Props from Sara Fitz photo shoots and coastal treasures collected over years fill the shelves in the studio.
Photo Credit : Mark Fleming

“It’s not matchy-matchy,” Sara observes about the vintage furnishings that inhabit their home, a mix of the Nantucket pieces they each grew up with, including a long, primitive harvest table in the kitchen nook, and an English pine hutch where they often stage Sara Fitz photo shoots. “But I think they work together because they’re all things that have meaning for us, that were part of our families.” She pauses to consider. “And I love that our boys are growing up with them too.”

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The Giving Fridge in Middlebury, Vermont

Ian Aldrich — Fri, 13 May 2022 18:29:54 +0000

For “Feeding the Soul” (season 6, episode 7), we’re in Middlebury, Vermont to meet Bethanie Farrell, who is thinking both big and local to address the food insecurity issues that face her state. Bethanie shares her story behind The Giving Fridge, through which she collaborates with area restaurants to assemble and donate hundreds of prepared meals using profits from selling plants, honey, and other local goods. Along the way, we talk to some of the folks whose lives have been impacted by her non-profit. Learn more about The Giving Fridge in this 2021 Yankee feature.

Late last year, as the pandemic still gripped the country and winter loomed, Danielle Boyce, the owner of American Flatbread, a pizza restaurant in the college town of Middlebury, Vermont, specializing in local ingredients, received an unexpected email. The sender was Bethanie Farrell, a recent Southern California transplant to Middlebury who wanted to connect residents who couldn’t afford healthy, nutritious food with area eateries that were struggling to stay afloat. She called it the Giving Fridge.

At her storefront in Middlebury, Vermont, Bethanie Farrell sells houseplants to help fund her Giving Fridge meals program.
Photo Credit : Corey Hendrickson

What caught Boyce’s attention was a plan both simple and audacious. Farrell had set up a Merchants Row space to sell plants and local honey; the building’s owner and manager had agreed to let her use it, pro bono, until a new tenant moved in. Farrell would use the proceeds to buy meals from local restaurants and distribute the food between Christmas and New Year’s for free to those who needed it. Business owners would get a much-needed boost in revenue, while struggling residents would have easy access to salads, spring rolls, freshly made breads, and vegetable-laden entrees.

“It gave us some money at a time when everything felt so uncertain,” says Boyce, who at one point last year saw her business drop by as much as 55 percent. “We all needed whatever help we could find, and this gave us a little bit of revenue. It was awesome.”

But what started as a one-week holiday push to get 250 meals to those in need never stopped. Today, the Giving Fridge has a permanent home in a former downtown diner. Each week, Farrell collaborates with eight area restaurants to assemble and donate nearly 300 prepared dinners and lunches. The recipients are anyone who needs the food—no questions asked. In a state where one in four residents don’t always have enough to eat, the Giving Fridge’s success is as much a tribute to Farrell’s vision as it is a sign of the immediate and deep-seated need she’s trying to address.

“I know finances are a barrier to eating healthy, but it shouldn’t be,” says Farrell. “Because good health requires healthy food. If you’re not healthy, you can’t work. It affects your happiness. It affects whether you have to depend on other people. And that’s not a good place for anyone to be in.”

—

The exterior of Farrell’s building on Merchants Row, a former diner that was sitting vacant before she moved in.
Photo Credit : Corey Hendrickson

At the heart of the Giving Fridge is an actual refrigerator. Farrell stumbled across the old appliance last November in the downtown storefront she planned to turn into a painting studio. It had been a long road back to her creative side.

Farrell grew up in Ohio, studied painting in college, and then forged a successful career directing gallery exhibits around the world and heading up her own artist management company. But in 2016, Farrell was crippled with a severe neurodegenerative condition that kept her largely bedridden for the next two years. Her eventual recovery changed not only how she had to live her life but what she wanted from it. Through experimental treatments and a radical change of diet, Farrell regained her health, and as she did, she and her husband, Billy, a photographer and native Vermonter, began talking about leaving their life in Southern California for a new start. Before long, they had bought 27 acres of forest and meadow that hugged the shores of Lake Champlain, which they called Nice Island. Last year the couple moved to Vermont.

The Farrells had planned to build a small farm of their own that could also double as a public space to host workshops on things like pollinators and agroforestry. But the pandemic temporarily shelved construction plans. After Farrell read a recent University of Vermont study that revealed the depths of the state’s food insecurity issues—and with unexpected free time on her hands—she decided to focus on creating something that truly addressed the times.

“[Food insecurity] is not an issue that’s easily visible,” she says. “There’s a woman who comes in here—she and her husband own their home, they have a car, you’d never know they were struggling. But when Covid hit, their income just stopped. She told me, ‘We look like we’re doing OK, and we can’t keep it all together.’ They’re not the only ones. And knowing how so many restaurants were struggling, there seemed to be a way to be able to make a difference.”

The actual fridge where donated meals are kept (a reclaimed Snapple cooler).
Photo Credit : Corey Hendrickson

That difference is obvious the moment you set foot inside the Giving Fridge’s headquarters. This is not a soup kitchen or a food pantry. It’s a space that evokes a sense of rebirth and healing. In a building that sat vacant for several years, plants crowd the front of the room. Many are hand-me-downs that Farrell nursed back to health. They’re propped up on old apple crates. In the back, the resurrected refrigerator hums, stocked with food.

“The worst part of being so sick was that I couldn’t be of value anymore,” says Farrell. “I had to put so much focus on myself and my health so I wouldn’t be a burden to my husband. It was a kind of torture to not be able to work or help anyone else out, so this has been really great.”

At the moment, Farrell has just finished organizing that day’s donations in different plastic crates. The containers are filled with flatbreads, soups, and spring rolls. In the fridge is a stack of stir-fries to give out, as well as potpies. Farrell is confident the maple cookies will go fast and is cautiously optimistic about the salads with goat cheese. On her desk sits a stack of cards that lists the partner restaurants as well as Farrell’s reminder of what this whole endeavor is all about: “Someone cares about you and wanted you to have these delicious meals,” it reads.

Soon, a mother from Vergennes and her young son stroll inside. “I loved that goat cheese salad,” she says after Farrell explains the offerings. “I liked that other one, but the goat cheese was a surprise. I never would have made it before, but it was great.”

Next comes a ponytailed middle-aged man in a black NASCAR “Dale Jr.” T-shirt. He’s another regular, and he’s picking up for himself and two friends.

“Looks like you got some nice stuff today,” he says, looking over the crates. “I loved that stir-fry, but ooh, that sauce was a little spicy.” His eyes widen. “Hey, are those cookies?”

Others file in. Farrell knows them all. The exchanges aren’t long, but there’s a flow to them. The conversations are relaxed and familiar. There’s talk about dogs and Farrell’s guinea hens. For a few minutes, the man with the ponytail explains how he discovered a bird’s nest while he was cutting firewood. Through her own illness, Farrell is well aware of the feeling of shame that can come with asking for help, so she’s worked as much as she can to eliminate it from these interactions. She wants people to feel good about the food they’re picking up and the sense of community around this project.

Farrell with the guinea hens at her farm, Nice Island. Many of the eggs that she collects go toward the Giving Fridge.
Photo Credit : Corey Hendrickson

Farrell is also thinking beyond what she’s already created. She plans to host workshops on nutrition and cooking. She’s talked with a local hospital about developing a program around dealing with chronic disease. And as she and her husband develop their farm, Farrell sees the Giving Fridge as a natural extension of the public programming they still want to build there.

“I just want to help people’s quality of life,” says Farrell. “I was lucky. We were financially OK, but it was still difficult to get the help I needed and the education to help me understand what I was dealing with. How we often help people is so fractured. We need to be thinking more holistically. I want to help people deal with whatever struggles they might be facing so they can understand their well-being and take control of their health.”

The Giving Fridge is a Vermont Everyone Eats! hub for Addison County. For more information, go to givingfridge.com

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