Summer in Vermont

We’re back on the east coast now, Dylan is in CT visiting his parents while I am in Dorset, VT in the attic room of my mother’s house. This is where Dylan and I will be calling home for the next few months before we head off to Portland, ME, our final destination. Things could not be more different from the last time I last posted from our cabin in Hawaii where my friend baby gecko nipped at the mosquitoes buzzing around my computer. It has been a strange two weeks, to say the least. We left Hawaii with only one day left in May and headed for Seattle where we visited as many friends and bars as we possibly could, walked all over Fremont-Ballard and tried desperately to hang onto our Hawaiian calm as we faced big city life for the first time in a long time. It was great to see everyone and we had a wonderful time, but being back around so many cars, buildings, people, and the daily stress and grime of city life left us feeling grateful that we decided to get away from it all. City living just isn’t for us, and I am OK with that.

We walked into a pretty nice set up, my mom has a knack for blending function and art, her gardens are always so pretty.

While Dylan is taking a week to spend time with his family and work on some yard projects for his mom, I am here trying to unpack, settle in, and make our space at my mom’s house feel like home for a little while. Although we landed in VT on Thursday, I am only now (Monday) getting to work after taking a few days to catch up with family, watch my sister graduate high school (wahoo Anna!), and visit with my brother Willy and his awesome girlfriend Tessa who were also in town from California. We haven’t done much cooking since we’ve been here but within an hour of our arrival a few days ago, Dylan was out in the garden planting the tomato seedlings my mom raised while we were away. We are here in Vermont for the summer to continue our hiatus from traditional employment to practice eating off the land, working on our self-selected projects, and developing a healthier (simpler) lifestyle together.

Check out all the spinach and radishes to the left of the tomato bed, yum!

Leaving Seattle was the first step, we freed ourselves from many material constraints and got out of the city to reconnect with our friends and family back east. In Hawaii we learned the importance of a deeper connection to nature and the outdoors while we developed farming/homesteading skills. Now here we are in Vermont to continue to make progress on our goals and prepare for our future in Maine. Who knows exactly what we’ll learn and how our time here will shape us, but we are excited and ready to find out. Although we’ve been here less than a week, I think we are off to a great start, especially where food is concerned. I know I said we haven’t done much cooking yet, but we have begun our summer challenge of feeding ourselves without the assistance of a traditional grocery store, hence all the tomatoes we planted.

We made it home just in time to see the irises and peonies

My mom has always been an avid hobby gardener and I remember working with her in the garden when I was a kid, planting the carrots, shelling fresh peas for dinner, and spraying down the plants with the hose on hot summer days. This year, we all decided to see if we could make the garden more than just a hobby and use it as our primary source of nourishment, with only the local farmers markets and natural food stores to supplement what we grow. This means not only eating in a more self-sufficient manner, but we’ll need to be making all those other items that are typically bought at the supermarket, such as cleaning supplies, body care products, etc which we’ll attempt to make ourselves as well as try out different natural versions when we can find them. Luckily, my mom, my sister and I are pretty crafty and have a strong interest in DIY because otherwise this challenge would feel more overwhelming than exciting. Dylan and I have been interested in cultivating a more self-sufficient lifestyle basically since we moved in together five years ago and have slowly been building up our skills and developing our habits in this area but we are using this year to fully walk the walk we’ve been talking about all this time.

My sister is heading off to Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, VT, a small alternative school focused on agriculture, ecology, outdoor education, and sustainability, so she’s psyched to have our support in developing the habits that will help her find success and happiness in her future. So to kick off the summer together, the three of us Berger women went to the farmers market to load up on goodies for the week while Dylan was away. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the bounty we found at this rapidly growing market that included Filthy Farmgirl soap, all natural bug spray, delicious fresh bread, dirt cheap free-range chicken eggs (a dozen jumbo eggs for only $3!), kale, potatoes, herb starts, high quality local and sustainably raised pork and beef products, granola, and so much more. We walked away with a great collection of goodies to complement the massive amounts of spinach, mixed lettuces, and radishes that we harvested earlier from the garden. 

I can't wait to experiment with homemade apple cider from the apple trees in our backyard!

Before heading up to visit family we set out a fantastic lunch platter with all of our bounty, toasting with fresh apple cider to a summer of family, fresh food, and fun. After a week of traveling and eating who knows what at who remembers where, this plate of entirely VT-made food was exactly what the doctor ordered. I can’t wait to see what else we come up with as the growing season progresses and I promise to document our culinary (and other) adventures with lots of pictures. I’d show you the delicious chocolate rhubarb cake my mom made to welcome everyone home but like yesterday’s lunch platter, by the time I remembered there were only crumbs left to pose... stay tuned for stories of soap-making, beer brewing, bread baking, homemade crackers and pop-tarts, and Dylan’s transformation of my mother’s kitchen!