Valley Futures

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Present: Jasna Brown, Ginny McGinn, Gaelan Brown, Charlie Hosford, Stan Ward, Conner Soderquist, Helen Ward, Joshua Schwartz, Jill Arace, Rob Williams, Sue Frechette, Dottie Kyle, and Eric Brattstrom.

NOTE– Don’t forget this Tuesday, May 17′s PECHAKUCHA “chit chat” evening @ the Big Picture – 20 slides x 4 minute presentations by your friends and neighbors! Party!

AND NOTE — JUNE 2011 Meeting will be Friday, June 10 at GREEN CUP from 7:45 to 9:00 am.

AND NOTE — The first ever MAD RIVER MARATHON is happening on July 10! http://www.madmarathon.com for more details.

WALK + ROLL (Sue Frechette)

Starts today, rolls all week! Exercise your right to alt forms of transport and plug into all the fabulous activities. Check out the VFN listserve, or all the posters around town or in the Valley Reporter. Look for the MRV community GREEN BIKES emerging for the spring.

VFN/UVM PARTNERSHIP – FALL 2011 (Joshua Schwartz)

Have an idea for a MRV community project that can harness the time and talent of UVM students for a whole semester? May 15 is the DEADLINE for submissions for fall 2011 semester. Please email your submissions to Josh asap. Kick off event is September 14 @ Knoll Farm.

STORY OF PLACE – JUNE 23 EVENT @ CENTER FOR WHOLE COMMUNITIES (Ginny McGinn)

Joel Glanzberg of “ReGenesis” will be collecting MRV stories, research and interviews, and presenting findings at Knoll Farm on Thursday, June 23 at 7:00 pm. Mark your calendars.

FARM TO PLATE/FOOD HUB Follow Up (Joshua Schwartz)

More than 100 folks attended the BIG PIC event last Tuesday. Exciting. We’ve added 20 + folks to the “agriculture” VFN listserve. Keep pushing this forward in every way we can.

FRONT PORCH FORUM Update (Rob Williams)

Michael Wood-Lewis has offered to bring FPF to all 3 Valley towns for 5,000 dollars. Currently considering how best to raise funds for this.

TIME BANK INITIATIVE (Rob, for Darlene McCormick)

The local time bank working group has decided to partner with the Onion River Exchange (ORE) in Montpelier. Currently, anyone can join the time bank for 15 dollars. Contact Dar @ darlene@madriverweb.com for more information. Let the trading begin!

MAD RIVER PATH ASSOC. Pizza Bash (Rob, for Laura Brines)

Mark your calendars! Come party with the MRPA @ Lareau Farm Inn pavilion on Friday, May 27 from 6-9. “Big Basin Band” rocks the house!

THREE SPRINGS FARM (Helen and Stan Ward, and Conner Soderquist)

There’s a new herbal/medicinal farm in the Valley on the old Quackenbush property. The 100 acre Three Springs Farm is located on the Old County/Loop Road in Waitsfield, and will be growing and producing medicinal herbs and plants for sale, in addition to designing a resilient energy descent plan for the Three Springs farm/homestead property. They also have alpacas and sheep. Come by and visit!

CLIMATE CHANGE Update (Dottie Kyle and Eric Brattstrom)

The next Green Mountain Global Forum on Thursday, June 9 will be a bangin’ presentation on “climate change from an astrophysical perspective.” BIG PICTURE @ 7:00 – look for posters.

Enjoy your May!

Collected by Rob Williams.

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How can Vermont build strong local and regional food systems, create jobs in the food and farm economy, and improve access to healthy local food? The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund has laid out an impressive road map for the next 10 years of agricultural development with the release of the Farm to Plate (F2P) Strategic Plan in January 2011. Ellen Kahler, Executive Director of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, will lead this presentation to discuss the findings of the Initiative’s exhaustive 18-month research project and present their strategies to increase jobs and enterprises in the farm and food sector and ramp up local food production and consumption in Vermont and regions beyond our borders. Current Mad River Valley initiatives will be discussed. Go to the project website (here) to read the report in advance of the meeting. This presentation is cosponsored by the Mad River Valley Localvore Project and the Mad River Valley Planning District.

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On Tuesday, January 25th, 7-9 PM at the Waitsfield Elementary School Library, come out and hear about the Smart Grid. VT has received substantial funding to develop a comprehensive Smart Grid system, consisting of electric meters that communicate in real time – high speed information and communication technology that change the way utilities operate and how customers interact with them. The result is greater reliability, operational efficiency and customer choice. VT received $69 million in federal grants last year, matched by the utilities, resulting in a $138 million total investment, to be installed state-wide in 2012. Presentation from Robert Dostis, Leader of External Affairs and Customer Relations at Green Mountain Power and the former Chair of the Vermont House Natural Resources and Energy Committee.

This event is rescheduled from 1/12/11 due to weather.

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Fifteen UVM students presented the findings of their semester-long partnership with the Mad River Valley on December 8th at the Big Picture Theater (original post). For the second year in a row, the Mad River Valley has served as the focus of a University of Vermont course within its Community Development & Applied Economics Department. The  service learning course, titled Local Community Initiatives, had the students working closely with a handful of the Valley’s community organizations and taking an active role in local projects. The class focused on the different ways that community-members work together to identify challenges, resources and solutions and how they envision their future.

Below are links to the presentations and final products for three projects (a) develop recommendations for interpretive installations along the Mad River Path, (b) provide feedback and recommendations for the mission and organization of Mad Bikes of Waitsfield, and (c) survey food producers and consumers in the Mad River Valley and identify challenges and opportunities for local food efforts. Click on the pictures for the presentations and the links for the reports.

Joshua Schwartz at the Mad River Valley Planning District and class instructor Chip Sawyer are planning a third installment of the course to take place in fall 2011. Solicitation of projects will take place in the spring.

UVM_MRPA_Final_Report.PDF

MadBikes_Final_Report.PDF

MRV_FOOD_Final_Report.PDF

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Last night’s energy discussion, Energizing Our Valley’s Future: What Do We Know?, presented by the Mad River Valley Planning District, was a great success. The 45 people in attendance gained a broader understanding of energy consumption in the MRV and learned about a tool developed specifically for Vermont focused on exploring our renewable energy options. The event was taped by Mad River Valley Television and will be shown on Waitsfield Telecom Public Access Channel 44.

Attached below are the slideshows presented by Joshua Schwartz of MRVPD and Mike Brouillette of VCGI. It is hoped that the info contained within the presentations will enhance existing energy conversations and serve as a basis for additional renewable energy development scenarios. The calculations for ground mount solar offset are just an example – folks are encouraged to run the numbers for different renewable technologies and different thresholds (eg. 10% offset vs. 100% offset). The comment section of this blog post can serve as a place to share feedback, provide additional info, and list questions that could help us gain a better understanding of our energy landscape.

MRV Energy Presentation JDS (PDF)

MRV Energy Presentation REAVT MB (PDF)

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On Tuesday, 12/7 from 7-9pm at the Big Picture Theater, the Mad River Valley

Planning District presents an opportunity to understand the Mad River Valley’s current energy consumption and explore a new tool that helps Vermont communities assess the potential for renewable energy alternatives.

The Mad River Valley Planning District and The Vermont Center for Geographic Information are teaming up to provide an overview of current energy trends in the Mad River Valley and demonstrate the Renewable Energy Atlas of Vermont (www.vtenergyatlas.com). The “Atlas” is a state-of-the-art Geographic Information Systems-based web application tool for identifying, analyzing, and visualizing existing and potential sites for renewable energy projects. It is the first tool of its kind in the United States created to enable individuals to explore the range of renewable energy options available in their town, county or watershed. With its experience exploring and implementing renewable energy alternatives, the Mad River Valley is an opportune place to explore the utility of applying this tool at the community level.

This event is dedicated to enhancing renewable energy discussions in the Mad River Valley. This event is free and open to the public.

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On the evening of December 8 at the Big Picture, Mad River Valley residents are invited to hear about the experiences and recommendations of UVM students, who have been working on local projects.

For the second year in a row, the Mad River Valley has served as the focus of a University of Vermont course within its Community Development & Applied Economics Department.  The 15 students in the service learning course, titled “Local Community Initiatives,” have been working closely with a handful of the Valley’s community organizations and taking an active role in local projects. The students are learning about the different ways that community-members work together to identify challenges, resources and solutions and how they envision their future.

At a Sept 15^th kick-off meeting at the Knoll Farm, the students met with residents of the Mad River Valley and initiated their projects. The three projects are (a) to develop recommendations for interpretive installations along the Mad River Path, (b) to provide feedback and recommendations for the mission and organization of Mad Bikes of Waitsfield, and (c) to survey food producers and consumers in the Mad River Valley and identify challenges and opportunities for local food efforts.

The students will present the final deliverables and recommendations of their projects at 6:00 PM at the Big Picture Theater on Wednesday, December 8.  Each of the student groups will give their presentation and then welcome questions and comments from Mad River Valley community members.  Celebration and conversation will follow.  All Valley residents are invited.

“It is exciting to witness this truly dynamic collaboration between UVM students and Mad River Valley citizens,” explains Joshua Schwartz, Executive Director of the Mad River Valley Planning District. “We are looking forward to the student presentations on December 8^th.

Local groups that the students have been working with include Mad Bikes of Waitsfield, the Mad River Valley Localvore Project, the Mad River Path Association, the Mad River Valley Planning District, and the Valley Futures Network.

“We’ve experienced a second great semester of partnership and contact with Mad River Valley groups and residents,” says course lecturer Will “Chip” Sawyer.  “This Valley represents a rich ‘laboratory’ for students to learn first-hand what it is like to engage in your community and try to make a difference.  That is the primary educational goal of the course.”

In the summers of 2009 and 2010 Sawyer worked closely with Joshua Schwartz of the Mad River Valley Planning District, and other members of the Valley Futures Network, to communicate the course idea to Valley residents and collect ideas for student projects.  Sawyer reports that planning will soon be in the works for another round of the course in the fall of 2011.

Tags: Agriculture, Announcements, Transportation // 1 Comment »

The Mad River Valley has a history of serving as a testing ground for idea innovation and refinement. Hot off the press is the result of a recent effort to examine our local middle and high school’s existing woodchip heating system and wood fuel supply. The popularity of large-scale biomass heating systems have continued to grow in the State – over 35 are currently in operation in Vermont public schools. Harwood Union’s system has started firing for its third season. This report is designed to help procurement and verification of locally harvested and processed woodchips from well-managed forests. Woodchips continue to provide an important locally produced energy source. The report was made possible through a partnership between the Northern Forest Alliance, University of Vermont’s Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Vermont Family Forests, UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, the Forest Guild, and the Biomass Energy Resource Center.

Harwood Woodchip Procurement Report (1.5 MB PDF)

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For the second year in a row the MRV is partnering with UVM in a service learning course in the Community Development Applied Economics Department entitled Local Community Initiatives. The description is as follows:

Students will take an active role in local projects addressing a variety of essential community issues in the Mad River Valley region of Vermont with our course partners, the Mad River Valley Planning District and the Valley Futures Network. Through local project work, case studies, course texts, student research and class discussions, we will learn about the different ways that community members work together to identify challenges, resources and solutions and how they envision their future.

As stated above, the intent of the course in relation to VFN is two-fold, participate in specific projects and analyze VFN as an effective community group. The students will visit the Valley on at least three occasions: once to familiarize themselves with VFN and kick-off group projects (9/15), participation in various specific projects, and a final time to present final projects (12/2 or 12/9).

The students will break into groups to focus on the following three projects throughout the semester:

• Mad River Path Interpretive Materials (Autumn Foushee)
• Mad Bikes Research (Laura Brines)
• MRV Local Food Market Study (Jill Arace).

The kick-off event is scheduled for Wednesday, 9/15, 7- 9:00 PM at Knoll Farm. This is the first opportunity for the students to meet and understand VFN, along with initiating their student projects. All VFN folks, along with those interested in learning more about VFN, are encouraged to attend. This is also a dessert potluck, so please bring your tastiest treats to share with our neighbors and guests.

The success of this project is dependent on VFN member involvement! Let’s make a strong showing for our guests and our future at tomorrow night’s event.

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