Feb. 17-18 — POULTNEY — Green Mountain College welcomes Philip Howard, visiting scholar for the college’s M.S. in Sustainable Food Systems (MSFS) winter residency Feb. 17-19. Howard will present a pair of free public programs: “Is Food Diversity an Illusion?” on Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 7 p.m.in Ackley Hall; and “Concentration and Power in the Food System”…

Feb. 16, 18 — WOODSTOCK — February vacation is traditionally a time for kids to enjoy winter: sledding, skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing and the like. The daylight stretches out so full days on snow are possible. It is not outside the realm of possibility that a foot of snow could arrive before vacation week, Feb. 15-20. If it…

Thursday, Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. — RUTLAND — It’s entrepreneurial night with the Rutland Young Professionals on Thursday, Feb. 18. Join them at Castleton Downtown, 67 Merchants Row in the Opera House, Rutland, from 6 to 8 p.m. Learn about the opportunities and assistance in the community for starting your own small business and hear stories of successes…

Saturday, Feb. 20 at 8 a.m. — BROWNSVILLE — Strong travel demand from the U.S. propelled 20 million American tourists abroad through the first four months of 2015. According to the World Tourism Organization, that’s seven percent more than that period the prior year — and the U.S. Postal Service is ready to prepare travelers for such…

Saturday, Feb. 20 at 9 a.m. — WEST RUTLAND — The Carving Studio and Sculpture Center presents two workshops on Feb. 20 as part of the new Sculpture Saturdays. Participants in “Make a Ring” with Joe Montroy will be introduced to skills allowing them to bring home a unique and personal piece of silver jewelry. “Alabaster Carving”…

Sunday, Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. — PAWLET — Following the successful showing of the first four of the six parts of “The Vermont Movie” during October, November and December, the Pawlett Historical Society plans to screen the fifth and sixth parts of the movie on two upcoming Sundays: Feb. 21 and March 6, beginning at 5…

Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. — WOODSTOCK — On Tuesday, Feb. 23, the Freelance Family Singers of Woodstock will begin practicing for the chorus’s April 30 and May 1 concerts. The weekly Tuesday rehearsals are held at the First Congregational Church, 36 Elm Street, Woodstock, from 7 to 9 p.m. All ages may participate and there are no auditions. There…

Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 5:30 p.m. — STOCKBRIDGE — The Wild Fern in Stockbrideg, with SunCommon, hosts the Wild Fern Shine and Dine on Wednesday, Feb. 24 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Enjoy a delicious baked good on SunCommon and learn about how you can go solar at home or join a Community Solar Array at no…

Courtesy of vermontmaple.org Many families are vacationing here in Vermont as their children are on mid-winter breaks from school. If you’re staying in a rental and want to make a few Vermont-y recipes that incorporate the most local of ingredients, consider Vermont Maple Syrup. Here are two recipes — one for the adults; one for the…

Sunday, Feb. 28 at12:30 p.m. — GRANVILLE, N.Y. — Poultney Area St. David’s Society is pleased to announce its 28th Annual St. David’s Day Gathering of the Clans dinner event will feature poetry of the late William Glyn “Billy G” Williams, a member of Poultney Area St. David’s Society. Selections of “Billy G’s” poetry from “Green Mountains,…

Thursday, Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. — RUTLAND — Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. Every year, one in four deaths are caused by heart disease. The good news? Heart disease can often be prevented when people make healthy choices and manage their health conditions. Join the…

I think I am at 93 days of skiing now for the season; 88 lift service, five uphill.  All in all, with a season as occasionally dismal as this one, I have to say, once again, that the skiing has been great. So we haven’t had powder, but the corduroy has been delightful. At least…

In my last column I reminisced about the various dances that were popular in my youth. That trip down Memory Lane made me think of the various ways we listened to music over the years. When I was a youngster back in the 1950s there was a large floor-model radio in the hallway of our…

Throughout its 41-year history, “Saturday Night Live” has sought to incorporate the location of its filming (Manhattan) as a “setting” for the show even as the actual contents of the show—its comedy sketches—have been more likely to take place elsewhere. In this sense, every “SNL” sketch has two settings: the setting of the fictional comic…

By Joe Rankin On cold winter days, while feeding sticks of firewood into my woodstove, I sometimes pause, my eye caught by lichens. Splotchy circles, lacy tendrils. Soft gray, muted gray-green, black. They mottle the bark. When I look out the window next to my desk, I see splashes of lichen on the roof of…