Staff Blog

Gov. Douglas’ announcement that he will not run again for governor catches the state’s political gurus off-guard. Nearly everyone thought he would run for a fifth term and, most likely, win.

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John Lee fought many battles, braving hand-to-hand combat with steely sabers and charging horses — the kinds of battles fought more than a hundred years ago.

Lee doesn’t know why he became a Civil War reenactor in 1996, only that it “was just something that was inside [him], like anything else.” And though he has spent the past three years away from reenacting to become a certified nurse, Lee stormed the battlefield for about eight years as a part of the First Vermont Cavalry Company K.

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Two years ago a Valentine’s Day blizzard swept through Middlebury, leaving behind a wall of snow.

For Hank Dimuzio, this was a problem.

His eight-foot high wire fences, designed to keep his herd of fallow deer inside, now rose a stunted four feet to Dimuzio’s shoulder as the snow created an icy stepladder to the other side. Dimuzio was astonished to find most of his herd huddled under their shelter near the top of his farm. But others were stranded on the outskirts of the far paddock where a grove of evergreens provided shelter.

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A weekly blog about everything from farming food to cooking it

“The old Pennsylvania Dutch, they waste nothing,” said Don Rinker.

He and his wife Eileen grew up in northern Pennsylvania gardening, preserving and freezing all summer to prepare for the winters. They retired to New Haven in 2000, bringing with them the frugal traditions they had always practiced.

Don showed me the dryer that he and his wife Eileen use to preserve the wax beans they grow: It is a broad metal pan with a walled off corner for water.

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