Q&A with Rye Matthews By Julia Purdy Vermont Hydroponic Produce on Whipple Hollow Road in Florence has been acquired by Northeast Hemp Commodities, maker of Methodorganics health products. The landscape along the Castleton River now features acres and acres of neat rows of sprouted hemp plants emerging from their black plastic beds. The Mountain Times…

KILLINGTON—Police have yet to find two baby goats that were stolen from Hinterland Organic Farm in Killington overnight Sunday, July 7. The two 7-month-old miniature billy goats were tethered to a 150-pound weight, which was also stolen, said Killington Police Chief Whit Montgomery. “We don’t have much to go on at this point,” Montgomery said.…

By Curt Peterson HARTLAND­—Todd Heyman and Suzy Kaplan have created Fat Sheep Farm and Cabins in Hartland to emulate the popular European farm-stay destinations — where guests live and work on a real farm and pay for the experience. Accommodations are all new since 2017 when their first farm-stay visitor occupied one of the five…

By Ed Larson Just before 10 a.m. on Monday, July 1, workers from Fabian Construction unearthed what they believed was a human skull at a construction site on Green Hills Lane, in Rutland City. The work was being done partially on the roadway and on property owned by Central Vermont Motorcycles. John Center, of Fabian…

By Katy Savage A Woodstock organization is trying to get more residents in the expensive town by helping people buy homes. With an anonymous $500,000 grant, the Woodstock Community Trust is buying homes, fixing them and selling them at a reduced rate. Jill Davies, a Woodstock Select Board member who spearheaded the idea in December…

By Katy Savage The shuttered Green Mountain College has hit the market with no sales price. The private liberal arts college in Poultney, which was founded in 1834, is listed for sale by Colliers International in Boston. V/T Commercial owner Tony Blake, who is representing the property locally, is looking for bidders. There is no…

By Julia Purdy Those familiar with the West Creek Road in Florence will notice new activity at the former Silver Birch Equestrian Center location, formerly operated by Cheryl Hathaway. New owners Sarah and Justin McKeighan purchased 11 acres including buildings and riding ring May 30. The McKeighans have a lease-purchase agreement on another 150 acres,…

By Curt Peterson West Windsor’s Ascutney Outdoors, which has been providing access to groomed slope and back-country skiing via rope tow, will be sporting a modern T-bar lift starting with the first skiable snow next winter. “The slope is so popular we ran out of lift capacity,” said Ascutney Outdoors board member Glenn Seward. “With…

By Curt Peterson Caroline Olsen’s college-age stomach aches evolved into a thriving young business making cashew milk products in Woodstock. According to the Nutty Life LLC website, nutty-milk.com, Olsen’s addiction to frozen yogurt while studying at Boston College upset her digestive system. Suspecting lactose intolerance, she switched to almond milk, but found little relief. Inquisitive,…

By Shelby Collett Three days before their graduation ceremony Rutland seniors Lily Duboff, Owen Massie and Elijah Jones spent the day canoeing to the base of Rogers Rock in Lake George, New York, and climbing the 3 pitch, 700-foot slab.  They were led by their Year End Studies (YES) guide and Green Mountain Rock Climbing…

Staff report King Arthur Flour issued a recall for 14,218 cases (more than 85,000 bags) of 5 lb. unbleached all-purpose flour due to the potential presence of Escherichia coli bacteria (E. coli). The Norwich-based company announced Thursday, June 13, that it was issuing the voluntary recall for some of its flour sold through retailers and distributors…

By Katy Savage KILLINGTON—It’s been a year since the town hired a third-party company to manage the struggling Green Mountain National Golf Course and improvements are slowly underway. Brown Golf Management LLC, based in South Carolina, was hired under a 3-year $342,000 contract last spring to bring an arsenal of digital marketing initiatives to drive…

Barbara Lynn Templeton, age 72, died with grace in the early morning of Tuesday, June 11, 2019 in the comfort of her home, surrounded by her daughters Traci and Kristi and granddaughter Mimi Soleil. Born to Mary and Richard Sawyer on Jan, 18, 1947, Templeton grew up in Bridgewater Corners, as the eldest of six…

By Julia Purdy A fitness studio has taken Tattersall’s old space on Merchants Row. Rebecca Buonadonna and Brianna McDevitt, partners in the new Triumph Barre and Pilates studio, greeted their clients at the studio’s opening last week. The regulars coming in for a session exclaimed with delight at the transformation of the space. An antique…

By Julia Purdy No yellow crime tape cordoned off the Diamond Run Mall parking lot, but an array of law enforcement vehicles full of barking dogs made it appear that a fugitive from justice might be on the loose Wednesday, June 5. Pickups and SUVs of the Vermont State Police and Vermont Fish & Wildlife,…