The Animal Issue July 2019
Dairy Farm Kids Know Hard Work, Fresh Air and Freedom; Life Lessons From Livestock; Down Dog With Bunnies; Birds Is the Word at VINS Nature Center
Destination Recreation: Raven Ridge Natural Area
My 11-year-old son, Jesse, and I have been visiting Raven Ridge, a Nature Conservancy preserve, for years. It’s located at the intersection of Charlotte, Hinesburg and Monkton — with a mailing address in North Ferrisburgh. There’s lots to see here, including beautiful ridgetop views and small caves. A wheelchair-accessible boardwalk and path lead visitors from…
Rabbit Pose: A Mother-Daughter Yoga Session With Bunnies Afoot
Prior to this article, I’d never had my reporter’s notebook nibbled while on assignment. But then, I’d never done yoga with bunnies before. On a Saturday afternoon in late May, all that changed. My 12-year-old daughter, Mira, and I chatted excitedly as we drove to Water and Rock Studio in Burlington for a Bunny Yoga…
Habitat: Backyard Sculpture Garden & Fire Theater
It’s difficult to drive past Kim and Chris Cleary’s home on Browns Trace Road in Jericho without slowing down to take a closer look. That’s because 7-foot-tall wooden letters that spell “BELIEVE” stretch across the front yard of their dark red 1850 farmhouse. Chris, a sculptor who works in stone, wood and copper, created the…
C’est Magnifique!
Venture across the border to Montréal this summer, and you’ll likely notice an anachronistic 81-foot pyramid on a pier of the city’s Old Port. Step inside and you’ll discover a 360-degree theater, the site of a new immersive, multimedia show called “Through the Echoes.” The project — dubbed PY1, which stands for Pyramid 1 —…
Listen & Learn
In 1977, two gold-plated phonograph records with sounds and electronic images selected to represent the diversity of life and culture on Earth were launched into space on NASA’s Voyager spacecraft. Known as the Golden Record, the contents were “intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials,” according to NASA. Curated by a committee…
Tunes for Tots
Think you need to secure a babysitter before heading out to a summer music festival? Not if it’s Big Tiny Love. The lakeside fest for families, launched last year by local eatery the Skinny Pancake, features kids’ entertainers — including Linda “Tickle Belly” Bassick, Ukulele Kids with Joe Beaird, the Hokum Brothers, and headliner Mister…
In the News: Parent University
On June 19, 22 Burlington parents, many clad in colorful garb that reflected their cultural backgrounds, crossed the stage of the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington to accept certificates that declare them graduates of Parent University. The innovative program, which serves primarily New American families, was created in 2015 by Ali Dieng,…
Yoga Pose of the Month: Lizard on a Rock
Try this calming partner pose to stretch the chest, spine and hip flexors while strengthening the back and building a connection with those you love, courtesy of Susan Cline Lucey, owner of Evolution Prenatal & Family Yoga Center in Burlington and Essex Junction. 1. One partner curls into a little ball, called “rock pose”. 2.…
Chicken Tinga Tacos: A Mexican Meal That’s Not Just for Tuesdays
When summer arrives, I’m always looking to treat my family to fun food that doesn’t take a lot of time to prepare, since we’d rather spend our time hiking and boating. Mexican food is a crowd pleaser in my house. My daughter, especially, is a big believer in tacos on Tuesday, or, really, any day…
Mom Takes Notes, July 2019
My dog, Lumo, is my original pack member. I sometimes wonder how the past 10 years and nine moves have appeared to her. So many new neighborhoods in which to mark her territory, so many squirrels that got away. In the past decade, Lumo has gone from being my only family member to being our…
Blisters, Bears & Beautiful Views: A Local Teen Hikes the Long Trail Solo
Name: Zach Rothammer Age: 17 Town: Woodbury When Zach Rothammer tells people he hiked the Long Trail alone last summer, they usually ask him whether he was ever scared. “Twice,” he says. One time, a grouse’s whirring wings startled him at the end of a rainy day. The second, and more frightening, experience was when…
Cultivating Connection: A Farm School Mentor Reflects on What Animals’ Lives — and Deaths — Can Teach Children
Teach the children. We don’t matter so much, but the children do … Give them the fields and the woods and the possibility of the world salvaged from the lords of profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and…
Into the Wild: A Quechee Science Center Teaches Children About the Natural World
Although the Vermont Institute of Natural Science — known more commonly as VINS — is located just off busy Route 4 in Quechee, its peaceful atmosphere is palpable as soon as you step out of your car in the gravel parking lot. There, a path beckons visitors to the shady, cool forest. It’s a fitting…
Vegging Out
In September, my then-8-year-old son, Theo, told our family that he wanted to be a vegetarian. His announcement didn’t come as a total surprise. For quite a while, my empathetic and sensitive boy had been expressing how sad it made him when animals, from ants to pigs, were hurt or killed. Still, he’d subsisted on…
What Should Parents and Caregivers Know About e-Cigarettes?
Most parents already know the dangers associated with traditional cigarettes and secondhand tobacco smoke. But in the last few years, the use of electronic or e-cigarettes has exploded, especially among teens and young adults. E-cigarettes go by different names, including “e-cigs,” “mods,” “vape pens,” “pods,” “tanks,” “tank systems,” and “Juuls,” the last of which refers…
Primate Pro: A New Biography for Kids Chronicles the Life of a Dedicated Orangutan Scientist
In December 1971, Biruté Mary Galdikas had been living in Borneo’s remote rainforest for two months when she received what she described in her journal as “the best Christmas present.” A female orangutan and her baby emerged from the wild and lingered by her research site. Galdikas followed the pair for five days, observing the…
Brought Up in the Barn: Hard Work, Fresh Air and Freedom Define Life for Dairy Farm Kids
On April 1, 1958, Harmel and Lila Ouellette bought 365 acres and 39 cows in the Addison County town of Bridport. It was the only farm they visited after they had decided to buy. “Everything looked good,” Harmel recalls. “It had good buildings, good land, so we decided to make a move.” At the time,…
