Vermonters know that there is more to be done than simply arranging for one’s personal comfort. Among farmers, this holds true during the fallow months of Winter as it does during the planting, growing, and harvest seasons.  Work in community is never done, and when our needs are met, we look to our neighbors for what their needs might be.

Recently I was reminded of the industriousness of our Vermont neighbors when a friend encountered an unexpected hardship.  As soon as word got out of the fire which destroyed the upstairs of the single family home, neighbors came together and help was quietly, quickly, and efficiently put in place for those who had lost their dwelling in the cold month of November.

Drawing on several centuries of living by necessity, our neighbors have the keen intelligence to recognize that no one functioning alone can be successful in our often harsh and demanding climate.  There will always be need, there will always be setbacks, and no matter what financial assets are at one’s disposal, money can’t buy a neighbor’s truck to pull us out of a ditch, or get the generator started when the power goes down.  We rely on each other, by good intentions and acts of kindness, in this our rural outpost.

Since a writer’s work is often invisible on a local scale, it is important to integrate with community in different ways.  Sharing brunches and suppers, participating in the rural development conference, working for religious and cultural organizations–of which there are many in our State–can serve as ways to bring us into community while adding to the quality of life for all.  An intelligent community is one which recognizes the varied and valuable skills of its members which can and should be applied to the common good.

More on this subject can be found in an upcoming essay about Community Supported Agriculture in Vermont.