Summer 2010
Shelf Life
Outside Perspectives
In Vermont, we tend to think of the Connecticut River as the barrier that separates us from New Hampshire. But in “The Connecticut River: A Photographic Journey Into the Heart of New England,” we see only connections — to a shared history and future, to the forces of nature and ultimately to the sea. Picture-driven but not fluffy, this is a thoughtful overview of the waterway that literally helps define us. (Written and photographed by Al Braden; Wesleyan University Press).
More books on Vermont’s great outdoors:
- Paddling: “Somewhat cautious” and only “somewhat fit,” Catherine Frank and Margaret Holden nevertheless circumnavigated the entire shoreline of Lake Champlain as the basis for “A Kayaker’s Guide to Lake Champlain” (Black Dome Press). Arthur Cohn of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum calls the book “one of the best all-around, multifaceted orientations to the lake I have ever read.”
Tom Slayton, editor emeritus of Vermont Life, wrote the Vermont chapter of “The Northern Forest Canoe Trail” (www.northernforestcanoetrail.org). Billed as the trail’s first official guidebook, this comprehensive volume covers all 740 miles of the epic water route that winds through four states and part of Québec.
- Walking and Exploring: The Green Mountain Club, rugged keepers of the high-altitude Long Trail, dial it down for “The Walker’s Guide to Vermont: Rambles for Half an Hour or Half a Day” (www.greenmountainclub.org).
“Nature Walks in Northwest Vermont and the Champlain Valley” by Elizabeth Bassett (Full Circle Press) features 42 family-friendly walks.
- Hiking: Concise and well organized, “Hiking the Green Mountains,” is part of the sprawling FalconGuide series. Vermont/New Hampshire-writer Lisa Densmore covers 35 outings, mostly along the spine of the state.
— Bill Anderson
Rural Education
Although billed as “a food memoir like 'Under the Tuscan Sun’ or 'A Year in Provence,’” Manhattan literary agent Angela Miller’s, “Hay Fever: How Chasing a Dream on a Vermont Farm Changed My Life,” is light on mouthwatering imagery and long on the nuts and bolts of a city-gal-turns-country-farmer cliché come to life.
Miller, who wrote the book with Ralph Gardner Jr., admits she began her whole venture in West Pawlet rather naively and offers a surprisingly frank view of the reality behind the pastoral dream, including many financial specifics. “When I started, I wanted a farm,” she writes. “Then I wanted animals to populate that farm. Then I wanted to make a little fresh chèvre. Then I got in over my head.” Along with the usual small business headaches of undependable employees, sales-and-marketing pitfalls and cash-flow problems, Miller describes in detail the mechanics of breeding, the dilemma of what to do with all those cute little male goats and the fine balance between the art and science of cheesemaking.
Thanks in part to determination, a deep savings account, cheesemaker Peter Dixon and a very handy husband — not to mention her professional connections to famous chefs and food writers (whose names she drops liberally) — Miller perseveres to develop highly regarded, award-winning cheeses, although the company has yet to see a profit. The book ends with a handful of recipes, including one for fresh cheese of such pure simplicity it may seduce you. Beware. “Hay Fever” should be required reading for anyone who thinks it’d be fun to buy a farm, get some dairy animals and make some cheese.
- “Hay Fever: How Chasing a Dream on a Vermont Farm Changed My Life” By Angela Miller with Ralph Gardner Jr., 304 pages, hardcover, $24.95, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, N.J.
— Melissa Pasanen
