Author Archives: Michael
New Haven and Barre City each launch Front Porch Forum
#VT – The Town New Haven and the City of Barre each just launched their own Front Porch Forums.
Please share the news with people you know in Barre and New Haven and send them to FrontPorchForum.com to sign up for this free service.
Front Porch Forum is now available in more than 75 Vermont towns (and one each in New York and New Hampshire!).
Chickens on handlebars and other neighborly acts
#BTV #VT – From Peter in upstate New York…
Recently, I posted on Front Porch Forum for somebody who could do roof repairs, and for some outside work…
Bob W. recommended Phil M., a local man right here in Argyle. Phil quickly found the problem and will be returning to fix the leakage for a very reasonable price.
I also just received a call from a young man from Argyle who will do the outside work that I was looking for.
It’s great to find people right here in our own town. I’d rather spend my money on local people than on people from out of town.
Now I’m looking for topsoil. Please don’t hesitate to email or call!
And from Nick in Burlington’s Old North End…
I really love a city where you can see kids riding around with a chicken on their handlebars and find exactly what you were looking for in a box by the curb. Keep up the good work.
Bears Abound
#BTV #VT – Bear sightings are one of the most popular topics on Front Porch Forum recently, with 500 postings submitted across dozens of Vermont towns. Here are a few samples…
From Dick in Middlesex…
While walking our Vizsla tonight in our woods (right off the intersection of Wood and Shady Rill), Penny raced after something down in the woods. I saw a raccoon-sized animal run for a tree and the dog was barking like crazy so I started down through the pines to check her. There was a lot of tree-scrambling noise and as I yelled, I saw Mama Bear sort of looking at me and realized that several cubs must have been treed. Fortunately, Penny must have also seen the bear because she came right back and went right up the path to the house.
I hope my electric fences protect the beehives — there’s not much out there for her and the kids to eat.
From Christine in Bristol…
I just wanted to let everyone know that the black bear is still on Hardscrabble Road in Bristol. It was seen in the back yard of a home located just a few houses up from the Red Cedar School at about 5am today. It was was walking the perimeter of the yard eating blackberries from the branches. Estimated weight was about 225lbs.
From Ken in Essex Junction Village…
To all my neighbors – Woke up on Thursday to find my bird feeder poles bent over and the feeders on the ground. I thought it was merry pranksters, my wife said it must be a bear, so I straightened out the STEEL pipes and refilled the feeders and went about the day. We did activate the motion sensor lights though. Last night the lights went on and we looked out the window and stayed in the house, unlike our Governor. It is indeed a bear, and a big one, at least 250 pounds.
Posted by the police in Essex Town…
Here is an updated list to those locations we have been told bears have been sighted or known to be around:
- Gentes Road
- Pinewood Development
- Countryside Development
- Sherwood Square on Densmore Road
- Essex Highlands Off Weed Road
- Woods End Drive
- East Street
- Park Avenue
- Lamoille Street
And, from Scott in Westford…
Well, it was only the one bear but here’s what happened. I learned something about bears because of this experience.
From time to time our family will have a little campfire. I’m sure you guys know what I’m talking about: S’mores, maybe some adult beverages, a few friends. Pretty low-key stuff. Well, this one night a little earlier this Spring (when it hadn’t rained for a bit) we were having a fire and generally enjoying ourselves by the fire pit. Maybe it was the smell of the roasting marshmallows that drew the bear towards us, I don’t know. Anyway, I had just put a log on the fire when a spark jumped out and started a little tuft of grass on fire. I stumbled around a bit and I thought I had the loose fire under control. That’s when it happened: This big old bear comes crashing out of the woods and just starts stomping around the fire. He put it right out! We were in shock, to say the least. Then he grabs a shovel and commences to dousing our fire while, I swear this is true, grumbling about idiots lighting fires during the dry season and didn’t we see the warnings about fires and how he lives here too. Then, he grabbed the remaining beers (and the last s’more!) and said “Remember: Only YOU can prevent forest fires” before stomping angrily off to the woods. We were stunned.
I just want to say, while I appreciate bears sharing the land with us, I think Smokey is kind of a jerk for taking the rest of our beer and ruining our get-together. Bears should just stay in the woods.
Do tech start-ups belong in Vermont?
#BTV #VT – Sometimes we get this question from out-of-state folks who think all tech start-ups should be born in Silicon Valley. Well, Burlington and Vermont have been great to Front Porch Forum.
And we’re not alone. CNN today reported that the Kauffman Index ranks Vermont the 8th most entrepreneurial state, and the top state east of the Mississippi River. And Richard Florida’s latest research puts Burlington 11th on a new Technology Index of U.S. metro areas.
I’ll take it one step finer… from state, to city, to neighborhood. Our Five Sisters neighborhood in Burlington’s South End boasts several tech start-ups, including
Thanks to Fresh Tracks Capital and Vermont Business Magazine for some of this information.
Emergent Media for Social Entrepreneurs and Nonprofits in Waitsfield #VT July 12
New/Digital Emergent Media for Social Entrepreneurism and Nonprofits
HigherMind Mediaworks to host free July NetsquaredVermont Event
@ Quench ArtSpace in Waitsfield on Thursday, July 12 from 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Curious about Front Porch Forum? Yakking on YouTube? Friending on Facebook? Tweeting on Twitter? All Mad River Valley residents interested in new digital media platforms and how they can be harnessed for effective social entrepreneurism and nonprofit work are invited to a FREE public forum bringing together some of Vermont’s most forward-thinking nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs using new/digital emergent media for positive social change.
Our July 12 @Netsquared guest panelist presenters include:
• Lauren Glenn-Davitian and Eli Harrington, who spearheads CommonGoodVT, a Burlington-based organization dedicated to supporting the Vermont nonprofit community. Connect @ www.commongoodvt.org.
• Michael Wood-Lewis, the co-founder of Front Porch Forum, a free community-building service helping neighbors connect, now being used in dozens of towns around Vermont. Network @ frontporchforum.com.
• Sandy Tarburton, Membership and Communications Director for the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. Paddle @ www.northernforestcanoetrail.org.
• Amanda Levinson, pioneering organizer of @Netsquared in Vermont, who founded the Burlington @Netsquared chapter this past winter. Get squared @ www.netsquared.org.
Extra bonuses? Free food, drink, contemporary art, and the crowd sourced wisdom of your friends and neighbors!
Thanks to our food co-sponsor Liz Lovely Cookies of Waitsfield.
See you @ Quench ArtSpace in Waitsfield on Thursday, July 12 @ 7:00 pm. [Thanks to Rob Williams for sharing this announcement and for organizing!]
KillerStartups covers Vermont’s own FPF
#BTV #VT – Burlington-writer-made-good, Emma McGowan, covered Front Porch Forum for KillerStartups this week.
Santa smacks roof in Richmond
#VT – Some folks use their Front Porch Forum to ask neighbors for roofer recommendations… straight forward stuff. Others, like Tracy in Richmond today, have more fun with it…
Holey leak spot Batman, I thought it was Hurricane Irene but forensic evidence indicates that Santa Claus (more on that later) landed a little too hard on our roof. There are two clear hoof prints that have messed up a couple of our shingles and we have need a roof maven to come over and give us some service. In fact I was sitting in the throne room just the other day and had an epiphany. Actually it was something wet dripping out of the ceiling. What a paradox. The world was upside down for a minute. Oh well. If anybody does light roof work give my wife a call. She is in charge of the physical plant. 802.318.3467. Or horse back riding lessons. But i digress.
Ask neighbors for farmers’ market finds
#BTV #VT – Folks in Vermont use Front Porch Forum is lots of ways. Here’s one from today’s FPF in Burlington’s Old North End by a local newspaper reporter…
Dear neighbors: I’ll be sampling breakfast, lunch and snacks at the Burlington Farmers Market this Saturday… Would love recommendations from ONE East about which temptations I shouldn’t miss, which prices are most reasonable. Any and all suggestions welcome.
Guatemala help needed? Turn to Williston FPF!
#VT – Melinda shared the following with her Williston negihbors on Front Porch Forum recently…
My daughter is senior next year and working on her Grad Challenge project. She is traveling to Guatemala this summer. She needs to find someone with connections/experience with Guatemala or South America to be her Community Consultant… Unfortunately our planned consultant fell through and now we are scrambling to find someone in the next 2 days.
She posted the good news today…
Thanks to Front Porch Forum we found a community consultant to work with my daughter. In addition to the consultant my daughter now also has other people to interview as part of her project. It felt so good to have all help from so many neighbors. FPF is great!
Help FPF land $250,000 grant!
#BTV #VT – Update 3: Click to vote, enter “Front Porch Forum” in the business name field, AND leave city and state fields BLANK. Click SEARCH button. Then, next to FPF entry, click VOTE button. That’s it! Thank you!
Vermonters, Front Porch Forum members and friends… we need your clicks today. It only takes a minute! We’re in the running for a $250,000 grant that we’ll use to improve the FPF software, add more neighbors and features, and expand to serve more local communities. Will you help? As a small Vermont business, far from Silicon Valley and other capitals of commerce, we’re a long shot but we’ve seen FPF members move mountains before. FPF serves 70 Vermont towns and 1 in upstate New York… 38,000 households participate in this free community service. Let’s see how many votes we can muster! The more votes, the better. 1. Vote for FPF today.
- You must have a Facebook account.
- Go to the contest website and click LOG IN & SUPPORT.
- Enter your Facebook information as needed and click Log In.*
- Once logged in successfully, enter “Front Porch Forum” in the Business Name box (do NOT enter state or city info) and click the SEARCH button. Or search by state.
- When you find the Front Porch Forum entry, click the blue VOTE button next to FPF… that’s it!
- While you’re at it, consider voting for other cool small businesses that you support (you can vote once for as many entrants as you like).
- Voting closed June 30, 2012.
2. Ask your friends to vote for FPF before June 30, 2012.
- Spread the word via FPF, Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.
- Send folks to this blog post for details (http://bit.ly/FPFgrant) or directly to the contest site (http://www.missionsmallbusiness.com).
Wish you success. We LOVE FPF. It is the best mediumm for getting items of interest to the community.
– Barb, Alburgh FPF
- YES, to vote you must have a Facebook account and use it to register with the contest website.
- Once registered on the contest website, enter “Front Porch Forum” into the BUSINESS NAME field and leave the city and state fields untouched/blank… click the SEARCH button. Then click the VOTE button next to the Front Porch Forum entry.
*More details regarding voting… If you are logged into Facebook on your computer:
- When you click to “Support Small Business“, you will be logged into the Mission: Small Businessâ„ site via Facebook Connect
- A permissions screen from Facebook will appear
- The Mission: Small Businessâ„ site will utilize your Facebook credentials for sharing your actions on the site to the Facebook newsfeed
- No information will be posted automatically but you will have the option to share in your Newsfeed your Support, and your Vote on a local merchant
If you are not logged into Facebook:
- When you click to “Support Small Business“, the Mission: Small Businessâ„ site will prompt you to log into Facebook
- Once you log in with your Facebook credentials, you will see a permissions screen from Facebook.
- The Mission: Small Businessâ„ site will utilize your Facebook credentials for sharing your actions on the site to the Facebook newsfeed
- No information will be posted automatically but you will have the option to share in your Newsfeed your Support, and your Vote on a local merchant
About Blog
Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum (FPF). My wife, Valerie, and I founded FPF in 2006... read more
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