Tuesday, December 31, 2024

2025 Jericho, VT Almanac

 

COURTEOUS READER, 
"I might in this place attempt to gain thy favor by declaring that I write this almanac with no other view than that of the public good, but in this, I should not be sincere; and men and women are nowadays too wise to be deceived by pretenses"*. The plain truth of the matter is, I am excessively lonely for conversation, and my poor partner is excessively eager for me to find someone else to lay my verbosity upon. I have faith that you will find herein at least snippets of interest to you, a smidgen of reason, enough humor to crack a smile if not erupt a belly laugh, and if all else fails, tinder for your wood stove.

Like most almanacs, this one covers a range of information and ideas for daily living and is meant to be browsed, skimmed over, and viewed throughout the year. This Almanac provides a comprehensive overview of events and activities for our community interspersed with witty sayings and a few predictions. The second half includes prompts for more in-depth thought and discussion (pg 20). It ends with photos of Jericho including a monkey giving me a hug - hey you get them where you can!


I predict this 2025 almanac will spark individual and collective actions, activities, and thoughtful analysis. 


       “Here comes the orator! With his flood of words and his drop of reason.”  -*Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac


Together we are a Community

One way to build and engage community is to organize events that bring people together. My compliments to others for the growth in community events, and social activities over the last two years. Let’s explore more events (participatory and otherwise) that could be of interest to you in 2025.


Here are a few ideas to further facilitate the coming together of folks to talk, explore, play, learn, share their stories, and get to know each other. 


When we come together we commUnity together!


Whether you are a lifelong resident of Jericho, a relative newbie like me, or brand new to Jericho, may you feel welcome, secure, consoling and supporting each other when hardships arise, one of many caring for each other;  having fun and laughing together, sharing ideas and learning together in 2025. 


Whether you find much or a few events/activities to your liking in this Almanac, I encourage you to take whichever interests you and pursue them further. These are seeds. You are the gardener. Let’s grow our CommUnity.  




Fun and funny

Laughter if not the best medicine, sure helps to forget what ails you. - Bernie 


“She laughed and laughed and laughed until the vowels were rolling across the walls and floors, as if they meant to do away with the laws of time and space.”― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove


  •  Coordinate a Stand-up Comedy event. Consider different ways to do stand-up comedy or improvisation events. Sign up to tell a single joke or tell a funny story… 

                      Don't make me explain the jokes. - Mark Giles

    • I write funny to tickle myself; if you find my writing funny - Bonus Points!  - Bernie
    • Shortly after arriving at the bar, after only 1 beer, I couldn't stop laughing. Instead of hot wings, I'd eaten a dozen funny bones. ~ Bernie
    • Due to global warming, it is predicted that soon VT campfires will no longer give freezer burns. - Bernie


  • Game night. Chess, checkers, card games (Bridge, Go-Fish…), Monopoly…
    • Regarding the game of cards:  I only use spades for planting, hearts for love, and diamonds for proposals; I don't believe in clubs, guns, or other warring factions. - Bernie


  • Movie nights (with popcorn of course) followed by a brief time to talk about the experience and the movie. 


  • Talent Show. From the spectacular performers to the almost ready for prime time, to the well at least they are brave enough to stand in front of an audience - come the eligible local folks with talents to share. Let’s create a venue for them all. 

  • TRIVIA!
    • Test your Knowledge and win GIGANTIC FABULOUS PRIZES. There'll be riotously uplifting exhilaration and there'll be soul-crushing defeat. There'll be easy questions, and there'll be some that will challenge your very will to live. What could be more fun than seeing your friends miss the easiest question of all time? And here's how it works: First, get your team together. Teams can be from 1 to 4 members, but we will increase it to 6 for blood relatives so as not to break up families.
 Each team will get a scorecard to keep track of their running totals.
When a question is asked, teams will have 20 seconds to silently agree on their answer and write the answer on their scorecard. No shouting out of answers will be allowed. A bell will ring to stop any additional writing. The answer will then be revealed, and teams will either add the value of the question to their running total or subtract the value of wrong answers from their running total. Scorecards will also have a "Pass" option for each question. Teams opting to "Pass" will not be awarded points for that question, but similarly will not lose points on that question. The "Pass" option MUST be selected before the time limit elapses. When all questions and categories have been completed, the three teams with the highest scores will be eligible for Final Trivia. Like Final Jeopardy, teams may risk any amount up to their current total score on the Final Question. The team with the highest score will get the first chance to choose their prizes from the Official Prize Table. The second-place team will follow, and the third-place team will get what no other team wants on the Prize Table.
 Fine Print: Dollar amounts for questions are for points only and cash prizes will not be awarded. And no matter how badly you do on the questions, you can still have unlimited cookies. - From Anchorage Audubon



  • Karaoke night.  The best singers are those brave enough to miss notes and sing off-key yet good enough to not skip a beat. The best audience hears only the heart of the singer through their song.  - Bernie


  • Celebrate Vermont Winter
    • How do you celebrate Vermont winters?
    • I keep the wood stove hot enough so that we can cook bread ‘outside’ the stove, and laugh often enough to keep the lungs clear and the mind at ease.


Teach and Learn


  • How to instructional short takes. Tips, lessons, introduction to sketching, pottery…


  • Career insight. Short talks/discussions about your career experiences. Open to students.


  • Bee-munity. Display pinned VT Bees. Introduce some of the 350 species. Field trip.

PG 5

  • Organize cooking lessons at a community kitchen (Richmond community kitchen?).


    • Give specific food preparation, storage, and cooking lessons. Maeve and I would prize learning how to make a flaky light pie crust. 
      • Will someone please teach me how to make fluffy pancakes? Mine come out heavier than the cast iron pan I am cooking them on. 

    •  Teach ways to store specific vegetables and fruits from the garden; cover canning, freezing, drying, root cellar, or other method.


    • Home cooking can be learned through cookbooks but the best recipes and methods may be from hand-me-downs won’t you share yours with others?



  • History talks (range of history topics, timeframes, and locations is wide and numerous) consider making the talk interactive.


  • Jericho Historical House Histories. A few have been written about and posted on the Jericho Community blog. Many more historical houses in Jericho where we could explore their history and perhaps the families (and their experiences) who lived in them over the years.




Establish a ‘Jericho / Underhill Readers Write on a given (monthly) topic.


 Here is a topic example from Sun Magazine: “Records: The album that’s gotten you through every breakup. The fastest hundred-meter dash your school has ever seen. The genealogical research that uncovered your family’s past. The conviction was signed by a judge. The marriage certificate that affirmed a relationship, or the divorce papers that ended it. There are all kinds of records.” 


By telling our story, and listening to others’ stories about the same topic, we grow our ability to see multi-sides of topics, we may become better listeners, and we may understand each other more. We may gain insight and awareness of spectrums of life we were not previously aware of or familiar with.


    • Dr. Uvi Hasson (Svoboda 2015) a professor in the Department of Psychology and the Neuroscience Institute at Princeton University, studied fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) scans and discovered that when we listen to someone else tell their stories, our brains activate in the same way as the storyteller and map on to their experiences. 


    • Other universal topics: Struggles, loss, survival,  friendship, and hope with elements such as joy, happiness, compassion, laughter, connection, culture, and identity - to appeal to our emotions, our dreams, and our compassion. Stories that make us feel less alone. Stories that help us heal. Stories that help inspire dreams, and laughter, or motivate us to try and do good. Feeling topics are powerful, they can move us to tears of sadness and to tears of joy; they can make us laugh until tears flow down our cheeks and our bellies ache. They can help us recognize our shared humanity.



Short Story Readings,  Read or tell your short story (with or without illustrations or photos). When we learn someone else’s story we become more open, then we connect.   


We each have a personal story we can share about life in Jericho, our lives; funny stories, sad stories, inspirational stories, stories from the distant past, stories about change, stories about kindness given, and kindness received... Sharing our stories brings us closer together, and builds compassion and understanding. Shared laughter is healthy for all. 


Listen to examples from Extempo here. Extempo is a more homestead alternative to The Moth (a NY nonprofit dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling). See the VT storytelling article by VT Digger. 


  • 55 words or fewer - stories   "The idea is simple: write a short story in 55 words or less. A complete short story. With beginning, conflict, and end. Not a poem. Not a journal entry. A short story. A very short story. Read some of my 55-word or fewer stories at the preceding hyperlink. 



  • When I was a kid. I remember when. What memories do you cherish from that era, what values did you adopt? What did you do with your buddies, for fun? I felt happiest when…     "Not "small town." yet from one." - Amiee Blaisdell


  • Living Eulogy: Meet Your Neighbor. Share Your Story, ask them about their stories. Celebrate our neighbors for who they are. 

“Because this was what Ove had learned: if one didn’t have anything to say, one had to find something to ask. If there was one thing that made people forget to dislike one, it was when they were given the opportunity to talk about themselves.”  ― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove




OUTDOORS 

Being outdoors gives me all kinds of ideas. It’s like being in the shower with clothes on.                - Bernie


Of note, some of these events could lend themselves to outdoor meetups with indoor options in case of inclement weather. Outdoor events offer a different nuance and may open up the opportunity to some folks who otherwise would not attend.


  • Kickball. Perhaps a 2-hour event with a food stand. Think low completion, high participation focused on the fun of the game not so much on scorekeeping or ability measuring. Encourage participation of all ages and skill levels.


  • Horseshoes (& barbecue). Stage pits for various age and skill levels.


  • Frisbee games or matches or Disc Golf. Check the internet for a list of frisbee games like Bottle Bash…


  • Organize more nature events and build upon JFiN (Jericho Families in Nature). “Our children, who are tomorrow’s citizens and decision-makers, are in many cases too far removed from nature, both conceptually and physically. This conclusion is clear from the results of a survey of 10,000 children and youth between ages five to 18, in ten countries spanning the globe, commissioned by UN CBD partner Airbus."

"Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable
 to the child as it is to the caterpillar."-- Bradley Miller


Pg 10

  • For further inspiration read my poem, “IF I could only go outdoors.” and view the introduction of JFiN. 
    • Join walks held by JFiN and consider participating as a guide along the walk - help us bring in nature knowledge to assist participants in ‘seeing’ the life in the parks and forests. Help us to expand the outreach and the mission to include environmental education, natural history, and community science -  as well as have fun chasing fireflies, catching amphibious creatures at the pond edge, and discovering the secrets of birds, trees, insects, and more. 

Being out in nature is the perfect place and time to engage all of your senses to fully experience life. - Bernie


    • Will you assist us in growing the JFiN program? Help us to encourage and develop awareness practices and observation skills to deepen our connection to place and the wild world - help kids and their parents ask questions, look for evidence, and make their own guesses about what is going on in the natural communities around them. What ideas might you bring? Perhaps a connection with a local nursery to collect seeds, plant, and help them grow. Perhaps a bird-focused walk, a snowshoe, and a track ID walk. Perhaps an exploration of the history of the land. Please join us and share your ideas and nature knowledge with us. Help us inspire and empower children and adults to cultivate an intimate connection to the natural world through education, observation, and play.


  • Wildlife Search in your yard (mini Bio-Blitz or Bug-Fest.). Volunteers to come to your house for a prescribed amount of time (~1 hour) to assist in observing, photographing, and later posting on iNaturalist, WildLIFE in your yard (Insects, amphibians, spiders, snakes, birds, moose, bears, deer, Gila monsters… Where groups of us become acquainted with the other species in the local bioregion - in our own yards. The opposite of familiarity is mystery and surprise - I can attest that observing insects certainly offers both.

  • Bear in Woods or in Town: Advice from NPS



  • Winter barbecue on the Town Green.



  • Snowshoe hike meetup. Snowshoes are available for a week-long loan at the Library. 


  • Donut and Coffee / Hot Chocolate Day in the park (Homemade and store-bought donuts and muffins) Perhaps a joint venture with the Jericho Country Store. 


  • Invasive Management Day at Mills Riverside Park in the early spring (Optionally in early fall as well). Help cut down invasive/introduced honeysuckle and buckthorn. We want our parks filled with a diversity of native plants and insects that benefit each other and us. 


    • To paraphrase Ethan Tapper in How to Love a Forest, In May this slope should be covered in ephemerals-the enigmatic spring wildflowers that bloom in the brief window between when the soil thaws and when the leaves of the trees unfurl. Dicentra and wild ginger, purple Hepatica, tiny spring beauties, toothwort, bloodroot and blue cohosh, red and white painted trilliums, Dutchman’s breeches. These native plants are vital and irreplaceable. They along with other native species, foster the complex web of connections and relationships. The introduced plants (the non native honeysuckle’s, buckthorn, and barberry) do not and they outcompete the non-natives.


    • In this moment, it is time for us to step into our role as caretakers to help ecosystems respond to the legacies of the past, to survive the oppression of the present, and to adapt to the changes of the future. It is time for us to take responsibility for the world that we have created and to make the sacrifices necessary to protect what is precious.  - Ethan Tapper. 


    • Send Bernie a note if you wish to be on the contact list for the annual spring (mid-May) honeysuckle and buckthorn maintenance cut at Mills Riverside Park. HELP MAINTAIN HABITAT FOR THE EPHEMERALS!


  • Leave it to beaver. Coordinate a visit to a beaver dam. Get to know the wonders of these creatures and their beneficial ecosystem building that supports biodiversity.


  • Stars. Jericho After Dark. Enjoy an evening outside gazing at the stars. A presentation about stars. Meet up in an open field on a clear night to view the stars. 

  • Dark Skies Initiative: Announce on FPF the nights that are forecasted to have the greatest number of migrating birds and ask folks to dim or douse lights that reach the outdoors - on those nights. When we over-light, fail to use timers and sensors, or use the wrong color of light, we can negatively affect many parts of our world, including migratory birds, pollinators, sea turtles, and mammals, including humans. - DarkSky

  • Meet the Man on the Moon and the Venetians. Facilitate telescope and binocular views of the planets.


  • Sledding meet-up. Sometimes you have to climb a hill to enjoy the ride.


To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization. - Betrand Russell


  • Outdoor Barbecue. Dad’s cooking event, or Family secret recipe event, Adolescent tryout cooking event (or P&J sandwiches), Tacos benefit buffet style… Let's build on the JES Pizza night.


  • Street or neighborhood barbecue. Meet and feast with your nearby neighbors. 


  • Welcoming barbecue to bring in and meet folks new who have recently moved to our town. 



  • Chalk the block weekend. Open to artists in the heart of all ages. You and those walking by will be sure to smile perhaps even erupt in youthful laughter. 

  • Annual Walk-a-thon: The first day in spring that the temperature reaches sixty-two degrees. For inspiration view The Morning Walk by A.A. Milne

If we are to regain intimacy with this place, this Earth, we might have to take up again those ancient and revolutionary tools, walking and listening, listening and walking. - Liam Heneghany, The ecology of Pooh



Pg 15

  • Share an observation of a unique or beautiful or otherwise noteworthy something in Jericho. Take a photo. Send it to me and I will post it on the Jericho Community Blog along with any text you may wish to add. I will give you credit for the observation, photo, and text. Think Where or Where in Jericho as the set of photos byline. Or Seen in Jericho. See my Jericho Mystery Photo series for examples. 


    • Optional: Photos can be great prompts for writing a story. Perhaps we could post a photo and ask for written story submissions from the community based on the photo. 


  • Concert on the green. (Formal or informal group start-up band, or individual musician). Whether right on key or not, let’s give them an audience and enjoy their music. 


  • Birds in Jericho. Periodic bird walks in spring and fall. Make binoculars available for loan during the walk for those who do not have one. 

“If you wish to reentrant your surroundings, to enter into myths and stories with a mere step outside your door, then song and color and birds are the way to do so.” - Jack Gedney, The Private Lives of Public Birds 




One cannot be 12 years old more than once - or can we? 
Peter Pan Syndrome.  -Bernie


  • Halloween Bike Ride Event (click on the hyperlink to see photos of a BTV Halloween bike ride and you will see how much fun it can be.)


  • Beach Day at the Jericho Green or at one of the school’s greens. Ok, it is January now, but summer will be back. Think sunny warm day, beach chairs on the green. Barbecue grills with sizzling meats and vegetables. Frisbees, horseshoes, kickballs, volleyballs, Cornhole bean bags, flying about. 

In play an adult can become like a child, fully absorbed in the here-and-now. Play, not work, brings us fully to life. -Mark Rowlands





 Festival, Food, Friends, Family - that is a plate full!


Transition Town Jericho has made great strides in organizing community meal events (from locally harvested food). Let us build upon this momentum. Little brings people out to be together like prepared food. 


  • Cookies. (I for one miss the cookie event at the Community Center)!


  • Bake a pie contest and benefit sale.


  • Pot luck dinner.  Family secret recipe event, Adolescent tryout cooking event, Tacos benefit buffet style…


  • Maple everything. We live in Vermont. How can we not have a maple fest focused on foods made with real VT maple syrup?

  • Fudge it! (the flaky peanut butter fudge is my favorite). 



  • "Scoop & Lick" a Jericho Center ICE CREAM SOCIAL. Offering Ice Cream along with a bubble-making table, Frisbees, hand-thrown balsam airplanes, and other summertime (or fall) games on the Jericho Town Green. Ice cream cones and sundaes, bobbing for apples, and other appetizing summer treats are a must.


  • Community digital cookbook benefit sale. Digital keeps the cost down and the benefit higher.


Community character preservation
Efforts to maintain the unique identity of a community, including its history and the impression it leaves on residents and visitors. Improving our community's character and quality of life.

  • Recognize the importance of historic and natural resources
      • Balance the need to conserve natural and cultural resources with the need to maintain a healthy economy.
      • Encourage and zone for affordable, sustainable-sized energy efficient housing including starter homes, and senior housing. 

  • Improve speed limit compliance.
      • Why: Improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers. Visual representation of Jericho as a community and not just a thoroughfare.
      • How: Traffic calming measures: Implementing physical design changes like speed bumps, narrowed lanes, curbs, curb extensions, raised crosswalks, and narrowing of fog lines transitioning from 35mph zone to 25 mph zone (to 9 or 10 feet driving lane) - to increase drivers’ perception of the lower speed limit throughout the 25mph section.
      • How: Public awareness campaigns: Educating drivers about the importance of reducing speed in residential areas.

  • The scenic landscape and feeling of connectedness to the land, as well as the sharing and helping that are common among people in our community, are among the reasons why people feel their Quality of Life may be better here. A feeling of safety is a key consideration as well. 

  • Overall, we need to find a shared understanding of what, and who, the community is so we can talk about how to maintain what is cherished and continue to grow.



Supporting each other


  • Donation Day - Volunteer Hub. Offer a promise of one hour of volunteering (or a group of volunteers) in an activity you determine or an open offer of volunteer time. Coordinate a digital bulletin board of suggested volunteer activities throughout the year for individuals, or groups in need.


  • Hug and hold or shake. One-on-one 5-minute round-up. Pair up with someone you don’t know, chat for 5 minutes, then switch to a new person. 


  • Support and participate in the Community Center and MMU Clothes Swap. 


  • Open House Local Business Day. Organize a local business day in the same format as the Open House Artist Day. 


Pg 20


Become more attuned to our neighbors and community members.


It seems to me we (as a society) have not only become more polarized but also that we have insufficient opportunities to meet each other in small groups with formats and applied behaviors that allow for in-depth discussions. 


The Jericho Select board (for efficiency) has set a limit on the time for the public to be heard at their meetings, and so, I think, discouraged comments and more importantly discussion. Our town meeting format has changed and it is yet to be seen if the new format brings more participation and dialogue. 


We isolate the sick, the financially insecure, the elderly, the incapacitated. By segregating others we lose much of the value of social diversity.


Social media, once thought to be a uniter, and a method of connecting those distanced, now highlights and promotes differences, and separates us from each other - even when we are in the same room.


Many of us struggle to learn how to listen both physically - allow the other person to express their thoughts, as well as mentally - work to understand the other person, their experiences, what and why they feel and think the way they do - and to learn from that knowledge. 


And perhaps as always, we have many problems to address, none ever so great, critical, and complex as those we face today.


Individually we can learn and practice dialogue skills; we also need to build new or revised traditions that foster meetups that facilitate healthy dialogue. I like to imagine a Native American and First Nation pow-wow. (A pow wow is a social gathering that celebrates Native American and First Nations culture through dance, song, food, ceremonies, and crafts.) I think of respect for all, the honor of listening and sharing knowledge and viewpoints; of exploring ideas and thoughts with others.


From interfamily and friends to neighborhoods, to town:  how can we gather and discuss not only the small challenges but also the large ones? How do we learn behaviors that make us feel more satisfied with our discussions, be it at a family gathering, a neighborhood pizza event, a church or secular meeting, or a public meeting?


 Rhetorical questions worth pondering and talking about, I think. 



Below are some discussion topics to prime the pump.



Discussion topics (A good recipe combines many ingredients mixed together).


    • Critical Reflection. Resilience, Community. Systems of well-being. Where do we get our sense of self, our value, and our worth? Does material success, capital accumulation, and work-to-spend offer us well-being and make us happy? Where can we best seek fulfillment if not in our jobs and materialism, or in individual achievement and competition? Can we (better) measure success in connection, purpose, and fulfillment? 

 As Robin Kimmerer explains in her book The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love.“Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”


    • Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) wrote we are all capable of divine compassion. “It is our complacency and comfort that cuts us off from the pain of others, involvement with others, even celebration with others. Compassion for Hildegard involves our relationship with all creatures, it constitutes the way we see the world. Do we see it interconnected the way it is?” - Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen, Matthew Fox. 


    • Emily Kenway author of Who Cares: The Hidden Crisis of Caregiving, and How We Solve It, states, in a Sun Magazine article (June 2024), “…we need to actively model how we want society to be. We need to ask how we can be supportive of others and also willing to ask for help ourselves without shame.”

    • She also states, “ The care crisis and the climate crisis are at their root about a value system that prioritizes independence over connection. We are always interdependent, yet we prioritize domination and strength over togetherness and vulnerability.” 

"People want to share and celebrate, more so than compare and compete." —@IDEO's -David Webster 



    • What is our community social contract and what practical ways can we engage in it? How do we strengthen community bonds instead of individual success over collective welfare? How can we leverage collective strength in the face of hardships?


    • In what actions and decisions can we demonstrate empathy, and behave ethically? When not, why not? 

    • What meetups might bring in those who feel alienated, those who need hearing and being heard? How can we talk to each other about what to do with our anxiety? Can we exercise a will to do less doom scrolling? How do we use mindfulness to fully grasp the - though impermanent -  moments of joy we experience?

During times of fear and oppression, the value of small acts of kindness is magnified for the receiver and the provider. - Bernie



    • What kind of society do we want to build? How are our daily decisions steering us towards or away from that kind of society?



We must not give up on promoting and making the human behavior changes required to save the Earth our home. 


Create a community that has a more integral relationship with the earth.



Discussion

Dialogue isn’t decision-making. Dialogue is a process for getting all relevant meaning into a shared pool. -Kerry Patterson, Crucial Conversations


    • Discuss what more we can do locally and individually to lessen our impact on the finite resources of Earth and the climate. Discuss breaking the paradigm of 'habitual destructive behavior’. Revisit our traditional behaviors, habits, and practices in a changing (climate…) world. How did our current practices come to be, do they serve us well today? Might we revise or change them to better serve our current needs within what we understand of them today?

"I wonder how to stay calm with so much beauty at stake, being scorched from my line of sight as trees fall and sacred places are ground to dust." - Small Wonder, Barbara Kingsolver. 


    • Dig deeper into our behaviors: causation, commercial influence, symbols of status, social history, legacy of a previous generation, and inherited but unexamined beliefs.


    • Do some of our actions and behaviors have a dark underbelly that we do not recognize or fail to understand? Think of unhealthy side effects, exploitation of other people and their resources, and ecological degradation.

Pg 25

    • Are we stuck in some less than beneficial if not destructive habits partially due to lack of imagination and questioning of them? Do we conform to the status quo even though certain standards are clearly dangerous to our health and well-being?

...people are looking for more ethical and sustainable ways to live. Stephanie Kaza



    • Are norms and values frozen in time or do they need to be revisited as times, situations, and people - change?


    • How much influence do large corporations have upon us? A Penn Salt chemical advertisement in Times Magazine, 1947, claimed that DDT is ‘good for’ people, pets, and gardens. Courtesy: Crossett Library. 


    • Consider what Ethan Tapper writes in his book How to Love a Forest. “…forests are socioecological systems-that our lives are forever stitched into the green flesh of the biosphere, that the separation of the human world from the wild world is an illusion,” Ethan suggests we ask ourselves: What impact will we choose to have on ecosystems, what impact will we choose to have on people across the globe, what impact will we choose to have on the lives of future generations?

We all have obligations as human beings-a responsibility to be aware of what's happening in the world & change our part of the world. -Michael Franti



    • Can we evolve for the better of humanity, nature, and the planet? How so?


    • What keeps us (for example) from reducing lawn size (Surely not cost or time). Appearance? Are large lawns now retro, like bird feather hats and other destructive status symbols of the past? Dark clouds have rolled up over lawns (expense, our time, noise, pollution, climate impact). Discuss natural landscapes as a source of civic pride, civic virtue, and a positive image with the opportunity to increase property values.

Ah, the sweet sound of not mowing the grass. - Bernie


    • Benjamin Vogt author of A New Garden Ethic - Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future writes “ Gardens are both a refuge from trouble and the heart of trouble. And natural, native plant gardens are definitely both in a nation of lawn-dominate, resource-intensive monocultures with a history of brutal colonization by those seeking freedom while taking it away from others. Suburban and urban lawns are not our fault -- the blame does not rest with the homeowner, ones who are likely already stretched thin by work and family and bills and an entire system meant to keep us beaten down and pliant. Lawns are the fault of the system that builds a new subdivision and puts down sod. Lawns are the fault of the mow-and-blow, chemical industry that creates problems to produce new solutions we have to spend money on. Lawns are the fault of late 19th and early 20th century social campaigns (most often created by the upper classes) of guilt and shame that you were not a good community member or American or had no desire to better yourself if you did not have wall-to-wall carpeting without an offending weed anywhere.”


-Homegrown National Park

    • Explore processes and policy needs regarding Climate events. Network hubs. Social infrastructure. Gathering location in disaster events. Community, and neighborhood scale response plans for individuals in need during and after disaster events.  


    • Brainstorm new healthier cultural behaviors that place humans within the dynamics of the planet instead of the opposite. 


    • Think about and discuss the intrinsic value and rights of non-human creatures and ecosystems. We have a moral responsibility to engage with the non-human world to which we are interconnected. 


    • Discuss ways to discover human intimacy with the other modes of life. Develop reciprocal relationships with all wildlife providing a sustaining pattern of mutual support. 




Actions "...it comes down to the energy level of a key person who sees the vision and carries it forward." -Livy


  • ECO promotion. Hold a Raffle for an electric lawn mower. Combine with ideas to restore biodiversity locally. Even if you mow only paths, mow high (3.5”h. every two weeks).


  • Inspire neighbors to landscape with an ecological and nature-friendly purpose making our yards more healthy aesthetically diverse and interesting while creating connections between plants, animals, and humans.


  • Teach and motivate children and adults to become more informed stewards of the land.


  • Create a tool lending library. Perhaps use the FPF ‘need and availability archive function’ or Google Sheets to facilitate functionality. Staff, Facility, and guidelines required. Not easy to put in place but worth exploring. Be creative and challenge the roadblocks.


    • Sharing Center - An option to having a central sharing center location to hold tools, is to keep a list of names of folk who have tools at their home that they were willing to share with a neighbor. Good article on a 'Sharing Center': here.


  • Community Outreach program. See Volunteer Hub previously noted. Determine various/multiple effective community communication platforms including door-to-door canvassing after a disaster event. For the same amount of disaster damage, individual outcomes and abilities to respond may be quite different for a variety of reasons. There can be different social and economic impacts. 


  • Develop strategies for neighborhood crisis recognition and response. Who needs help, when and what do they need, how to communicate and work with them. This is not a one-size-fits-all process.

Pg 30

  • Seed collection cooperative. Town-wide heirloom vegetable seed collection. Town-wide native perennial seed collection. 

  • Join or participate in Homegrown National Park with Doug Tallamy and his team. The hyperlink takes you to their 2024 year-end report. 

  • Create events to raise funds to permanently conserve Mills Riverside Park.




Re-discover craft skills in the art of living: soil and forest and water programs for example.


    • Adapt lifestyles that reduce our raw material extractions from the earth (extraction economy). Develop ideas and processes to expand this behavior. 


    • Examine best practices to protect our drinking water. Educate, Encourage, and Ensure healthy water in our town. What goes on and into the ground likely ends up in our water.


    • Discuss Climate ACTIONS that are in this report. CHANGING BEHAVIORS: TO REDUCE U.S. EMISSIONS Seven Pathways to Achieve Climate Impact  Excerpt: Almost a century of research has shown us that people are influenced by the behaviors of others. Thus, engaging some people in individual actions, such as the behaviors outlined here, can lead to many more people engaging in those actions. Counterintuitively, behavior can also actually drive attitudes, which inform cultural norms. Taken together, this evidence indicates that increasing the adoption of behaviors that reduce carbon emissions is one potent component of scaling emissions reductions in the United States.


    • Plant an oak. Better yet organize a neighborhood or community acorn pot planting for next year’s planting in the ground. “Native oaks are the most valuable tree for wildlife in 84 percent of the counties in the United States in which they occur,” says Doug Tallamy, a University of Delaware entomologist and author of the 2021 book The Nature of Oaks. This keystone plant is vital to the life cycles of many different wildlife species and therefore to the food webs that support entire ecosystems. They are host plants for more than 1,000 kinds of moth and butterfly caterpillars. These Lepidoptera larvae, in turn, are the most important protein that virtually all parent songbirds need to successfully raise their offspring. From Trees of Life, National Wildlife Magazine Fall 2024. 



As Ethan Tapper says in the afterword of his book How to Save a Forest, loving a forest is not enough. “Massive, institutional change-a revolution in the way that we care for and value ecosystems and the way we care for each other-is needed.”


Pope Francis states in Ethics and Pope Francis’s Encyclical Letter Laudato Si “The alliance between the economy and technology ends up sidelining anything unrelated to its immediate interests. Consequently the most one can expect is superficial rhetoric, sporadic acts of philanthropy, and perfunctory expressions of concern for the environment, whereas any genuine attempt by groups within society to introduce change is viewed as a nuisance based on romantic illusions or an obstacle to be circumvented.”


We can be part of change here at home. 


We can move together through the challenges we face as individuals, as a community of Jericho, and as a community of Earth. We all need to row, we can all find our own method of rowing, find ways to plug holes in the boat; we can make course adjustments while exploring new healthier more meaningful ways of living. We can show we care for each other by welcoming different ideas and thoughts. We can recognize individual strengths while utilizing the community to support social needs. 


We can rise above our comfort zone to reexamine our traditions, our behaviors, and both the benefits as well as the often hidden costs of those behaviors. 


We can learn from each other even without agreement, even without consensus if we share our thoughts and listen without necessarily needing to immediately respond.


The earth needs to see as many stars acting to allow her to heal as there are stars in the sky. Let’s all be one of those stars. 



Celebrate what you want to see more of. - Tom Peters.


 Many ideas have already been generated and Implemented in our community. Let's be sure we expand the awareness of what our community has to offer throughout the year.  One way is to maintain a complete list of the community events, and activities.

  • Past Years events
  • Current Year events
  • Annual Events
  • Calendar of upcoming events
  • Ideas for new events and activities
  • Volunteers Needed listing
  • Photo Gallery

 


“The New Year has but 365 Days, last year’s unresolved problems festering, and the new year’s problems waiting to be unwrapped - alongside a host of joyful experiences looking for a partner. Let’s embrace 2025 with expanded interest.”  -Bernie Paquette


And remember to Laugh, Dream, Try, and Do Good!


Pg 35


Take a bow, Jericho, for all that you do to build and generate your CommUnity. 




From left to right: Jericho street sign, Bernie gets a welcomed hug.

 Directly below: Honoring Jericho’s Snowflake Bentley, The Community Center sign listing a community event, and Maple, how sweet it is.

Left: Tree planting at Kikas Farm Park, Center: JFiN at Jericho Town Forest, 

Right: JFiN at Red Mill trails


The creative heart and fun of the community


BUY LOCAL


Unabashed promotion of my Jericho Community Blog


View the table of contents for a list of the Jericho Community posts. You are sure to find some witty humor, some exciting event photos, artistic mailboxes, historical houses and their stories, Where or Where in Jericho photo series, Walking the Dirt Roads of Jericho photos, Jericho art, did I mention satirical humor, essays about Jericho going quiet, Jericho building a ski slope, short stories like, It Happened in Jericho, Vermont (a thriller), Jericho business directory, and much more. The blog has received over 175,000 views to date - there must be something of interest for you!


Laugh, Dream, Try, and Do Good

Bernie







Read about ideas discussed in 2019,  many of which our community has developed and implemented.

https://jerichovermont.blogspot.com/2019/09/11-ideas-for-connecting-family-with.html



See past years' New Year’s Ideas at: 2023, 2024


Creating Community; Community is not static. Community needs to be developed, sought after, and nourished. - Bernie
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