At a recent staff meeting of The Valley Reporter, a co-worker mentioned that his wife was going to take a walk near their house and stop to pick up a Locals and Liars hat from a friend as well as visit a farmstead to stock up on some local fare.
(Locals and Liars hats are the baseball caps that appeared throughout The Valley and at local ski areas this winter referencing Vermont’s COVID-19 travel guidelines requiring visitors to attest to the fact that they quarantined for 14 days or seven days with a negative COVID test before coming to Vermont.)
That got all of the newspaper staff talking about what they could buy on their own roads. It’s a lot! Staffers thought it would be interesting to catalogue what can be purchased on some local roads and to ask readers what they can buy on their own roads.
Waitsfield Common Road and East Warren Road were chosen as the first roads. Starting at Waitsfield Common and heading south towards Warren, there are myriad options for buying local food and homegrown goods.
The von Trapp Farmstead Store is on the left immediately after the von Trapp Greenhouse. Plants and veggie starts can be had at the greenhouse when it opens on Saturday, May 1, along with flowers from Emily von Trapp. The farmstead store stocks von Trapp beef, cheese, yogurt, soups, raw milk and lots of other local fare.
Gib and Sue Geiger’s farm is next. They sell their own eggs and honey and often other seasonal offerings. Continuing on from where Waitsfield Common Road joins East Warren Road, firewood can be found at the Ricketts’ household and Luke Ianuzzi’s pottery studio offers locally-made pottery. At the intersection of East Warren Road and Roxbury Gap the East Warren Community Market has all kinds of local (and non-local fare).
A little further up Roxbury Gap, local produce can be purchased at a farm stand and just beyond that Mountain Flower Farm offers bouquets of cut flowers.
What can you buy on your road? Send road name and buying options to
