Made in the Upper Valley: Norton’s Vermont Toboggans brings back the joy in sledding
No matter how long it’s been since you last went sledding, the memory of swooshing down the hill, filled with equal parts terror and exhilaration, likely still brings a smile to your face. It’s no wonder that winter landscapes filled with sledding children are a beloved sight throughout New England. Glen Norton wants to make sure that the next generation has those same memories. “I’d like to bring back sledding,” said Norton, the...
Business of Agriculture: Winter growing is possible but hindered by lack of profits
Nearly 30 years ago, Chelsea Green books in White River Junction published Four-Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman, a well-known farmer who (continuing the Upper Valley theme) had started his career at The Mountain School in Vershire. Coleman pointed out something that is obvious in hindsight: You can harvest vegetables around here all winter long. Experimenting home gardeners and green-thumbed homesteaders had been doing so for years,...
Upper Valley businesses expect the unexpected during winter
When people call Kathy Bennett to book a sled dog ride behind her Siberian huskies, they have an image of their perfect afternoon. They want snow-dusted trees, bright blue skies and the swish of the dog sled against fresh snow. Sometimes, that fantasy comes to fruition. Other times, sled rides involve a wheeled wagon pulled over muddy trails, with little snow in sight. Bennett, who co-owns Braeburn Siberians in Windsor,...
Cottage Industry: 3 Biddy’s Pet Treats committed to making delicious, healthy food
When Suzanne Bohman, of Warner, N.H., began working from home in 2008 she knew she needed a creative outlet. She enjoyed her job in the financial services industry, but she realized that she was becoming isolated working alone behind a screen all day. “I wasn’t getting out of the house, socializing, driving. It was getting unhealthy,” Bohman said. Her only companions most days besides her husband, Sean Bohman, were her three dogs:...
Business of Agriculture: Farms offer lease on (animal) life for show time
It may not seem like much of a real business deal but closer study reveals an investment proposition. Orford’s Tullando Farm, a 500-cow dairy that employs robots for milking, this summer leased prize heifer calves to a dozen 4-H Club youngsters from the vicinity to care for and then show at agricultural fairs. There’s not much of a direct economic payback to Tullando Farm, as no money is exchanged and the payment is in the work the...
Beast friends furever: Americans spend billions on pampering their pets
Heidi Miller would do anything for her dogs. “I can comfortably say our four dogs are our kids, and we would drain our savings to take care of them if we had to,” said Miller, who doesn’t have any human children. She isn’t alone in her enthusiasm for her pets. At her business, Woof While You Walk, which Miller runs out of her Windsor home, Upper Valley residents pay $25 a day for doggie daycare and $40 for overnight boarding with a...
The Exit Interview: Dr. Daniel Kelly, SAVES founder and owner of Stonecliff Animal Clinic
Jeremy Perkins means business. Tough, professional and downright imposing in his bullet proof vest, the senior officer in charge of Lebanon’s K-9 unit doesn’t mince words when he describes the dangers dogs face searching for drugs and evidence or deterring violence. “It’s about training, loyalty, courage, and the relationship between dog and officer,” he said. But ask him about Max, the Belgian Malinois who died two years ago after a...
‘Lambscapers’ on the job at Massachusetts solar farm
Juno only appeared to be lying down on the job, lazily munching a snack at the community solar farm on Thursday. Juno, a sheep from Suffolk, Mass., was actually being productive, as one of a herd of 15 “lambscapers” from Solar Shepherd LLC that were grazing on the fescue, grapevine and crabgrass surrounding a field of solar panels. The sheep were brought in to manage vegetation naturally around the 4,212 panels covering 20 acres of...
Don’t let your vet bill dog you forever
On a normal car ride, Grace the brown-white Chihuahua might have been happily “singing” along in traffic with her owner, Ellen Ross. But this wasn’t a normal ride. Ross, author of the lifestyle blog Ask Away, was driving her 9-year-old dog to the veterinary specialist’s office in September 2016 after noticing that even the slightest touch to her neck would cause her to yelp in pain — and cause Ross’ heart to shatter. She wanted...
SCORE Stories: Pampered Poultry Takes Flight
Claremont resident Julie Baker has turned a do-it-yourself home craft project into quite the nest egg: a business that designs and sells chicken diapers and tutus. (No joke.) While it sounds beyond quirky, it’s more popular than one might think, and Baker has been laughing all the way to the bank since she started Pampered Poultry more than 10 years ago. The 47-year-old Baker, who considers herself a bit of a hippie artist, has always...
