It is when the days start turning colder and the hours after 5:30 pm seem to stretch on forever that I most appreciate our spirit of community here in the Northeast Kingdom. Our ability at once to lament the rain and need for water in one breath is unrivaled, as is our determination to give and give back to our friends and neighbors. My bulletin boards here at the Barnet Public Library are full of resources designed to provide food, transportation, information on health care, sobriety and social gatherings. I think of this overlapping, competing jumble when people ask “.. but what do you even have in Vermont?” What we have, I suppose, is people who care. That always seems most apparent around Thanksgiving.
It seems that we are trying to find our way back to a sense of All Together Now here in Barnet. People are actively looking for connections locally; seeking comfort in what our town has for face-to-face meetings. We are so lucky to not only have a vibrant, busy library, but an Elementary School of our own as well. The Barnet Elementary School was so supportive during our Halloween Trunk or Treat serving up some delicious food for our participants. We all appreciated more than candy in our bellies on a long night. Thank you, Barnet School!
Volunteerism is a precious thing. There is an ebb and flow in volunteer numbers depending on circumstances, but there are never too many. It is a funny phenomenon in our small towns when a new person arrives. Should they mention, in passing, that they would like to get involved, every organization in town clocks their name, interests and how to get them to their next meeting. It is so essential to have a dedicated core willing to stay on the merry-go-round of Fall Foliage, Senior Meals, Library and Historical Society boards, various complicated and unforgiving town positions, School Boards, Fire Departments, the PTF and much more. But truly, it takes a village to make a town a home. The library is so grateful to have you all as our resources to help our community.
We are fortunate to announce a new grant acquisition from the Vermont Humanities Council that will utilize many of our hometown volunteers and library supporters.This is a truly special opportunity for Barnet that we couldn’t pull off without our town cheerleaders. We applied for a year-long programming series dedicated and designed around community resilience. We are using this grant to fund some of our One Foot Forward ideas.
Keep an eye out for our upcoming FREE programs including chair yoga, a seed swap and seed library, food fermentation, root cellaring roundtable discussion, printing workshop with Hard Pressed Community Press, Native plants gardening classes, a book discussion with a free book and Serviceberry bush, traditional and sustainable trapping, a circus arts workshop and more. We are so excited to be able to offer these at no cost to participants and to be able to compensate our instructors and facilitators. Check our Instagram, Facebook, website and Front Porch Forum for updates.

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