In an effort to revitalize community support for local agriculture and forestry operations, the Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District plans to develop and distribute a Local Growers Guide for Washington County. Covering more than 444,800 acres, Washington County is the third most populated County in Vermont. Despite having a high population density relative to other counties in VT, there is a strong agricultural presence in the area, ranging from small vegetable farms to large dairy operations like Ben and Jerry's and Cabot Creamery. The Washington County Local Growers Guide will provide citizens with a comprehensive listing of locally grown produce, meat, and other farm and forest products. Initially the Guide will be posted on the websites of the Winooski NRCD and our partners.

Much of the compilation for the Washington County Local Growers Guide will draw from existing local agriculture directories. We also plan to partner and share resources with the University of Vermont’s Center for Rural Studies, who is creating a similar directory for the Champlain Valley, with a focus on Chittenden County. Jointly, we will develop a model that can be used for both guides. In addition to producing a user-friendly online guide, our hope is to distribute a full color insert in the Sunday edition of The Burlington Free Press and The Times Argus.

If you’d like your farm or forestry operation to be listed in this guide, please contact Ashley Lidman at 802-865-7895 x104 or Ashley.Lidman@vt.nacdnet.net. A special thank you to the Vermont Agency of Agricultural for their support of this project!

The Vermont Rain Garden Manual: Gardening to Absorb the Storm and rain garden plant list are now available. This is a great resource for anyone who is interested in managing stormwater on their property and protecting our local rivers and lakes through gardening. This full color Manual includes step-by-step instructions to rain garden design and installation, five creative planting plans, information about curb-cut rain gardens (perfect for urban streetscapes), a rain garden plant list (including 150 plants suitable for Vermont rain gardens), and an explanation of how rain gardens are compatible with the Vermont Stormwater Management Manual. The Vermont Rain Garden Manual can be downloaded at http://vacd.org/winooski/ free of cost. You can also purchase printed manuals, in full color, for $5 each. For orders of more than 50 manuals, the cost is $4.50 each. Checks should be made payable to WNRCD and mailed to: Ashley Lidman, Winooski NRCD, 1193 South Brownell Rd, Suite 35, Williston, VT 05495.

This work was sponsored in part by: Lake Champlain Sea Grant, NOAA National Sea Grant College Program, US DoC.; The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, US Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 204-51130-03108; Environmental Protection Agency; and Chittenden Bank.