Mountain Times Volume 49, Number 13: March 25-31, 2020

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theSilverLining 16 • The Mountain Times • March 25-31, 2020 This week’s infusion of hope and positivity. Courtesy of Marnie DeFreest Masked sewed by Marnie DeFreest for health workers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Volunteers make cloth masks for Dartmouth-Hitchcock By Anne Galloway/VTDigger and Polly Mikula As the nation, and the region, faces a dearth of personal protective equipment for health care providers in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, volunteers and small local companies are stepping up to fill the void. Jillian Bradley, co-owner of the Barnard General Store, posted the following message to the Barnard Listserv on Sunday, March 22: “I’ve seen several emails on the list about sewing masks for the hospitals. I have created a box for dropping off and picking up fabric and elastic. It is located at our round table. Anyone who has extra supplies, please put them in the box. Anyone who is sewing masks, feel free to come pick up the supplies that have been dropped off. If need be, I’m happy to deliver these materials to those sewing masks.” Marnie DeFreest, the finance manager for VTDigger, also dragged her sewing machine out of the closet and got to work on her kitchen table this past Saturday morning, whipping up a colorful array of cotton masks for front-line workers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. DeFreest and other local sewers are using instructions based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. “I am doing it specifically for relatives and friends who are nurses who are being told their only option is to come to work wearing a bandanna,” DeFreest said. The CDC has said patients, pharmacists, dentists and providers who are treating patients who don’t have the virus can use homemade masks, bandannas or scarfs to protect themselves and patients from spreading COVID-19. Cloth face coverings, however, are not enough protection for front-line workers who are taking care of people who test positive for the virus. All DeFreest needs to keep going is more elastic for the ear loops. She made 18 before she ran out of the stretchy stuff, and anticipated making 38 over the weekend. It turns out access to ¼-inch elastic is more elusive than she anticipated. There appears to have been a run on the material, according to several sewers interviewed for this article. Walmart and Joann Fabric were both sold out in Barre and Rutland, she said. She put a call out on Facebook, and her husband and she, in a drug-deal like encounter inspired by social isolation in the era of COVID-19, picked up a bag of elastic dropped off at a gas station. DeFreest is part of a group of 490 Dartmouth-Hitchcock volunteers who are sewing masks for hospital staff and patients. Two companies, Fat Hat Clothing in Quechee and Vermont Glove in Randolph, have also offered to manufacture masks for health care workers in the region. The hospital is preparing kits with fabric and elastic for local pickup and launched a website with directions on how to sew the masks. The cloth masks allow the hospital to redeploy medical masks for critical care nurses and doctors. Masks can be dropped off in resealable plastic bags to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Service Center, Green Warehouse, 50 LaBombard Road North, Lebanon, New Hampshire. The hospital will sanitize the masks and distribute them to staff, patients and visitors. Kristin Roth, director of volunteer services at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, said they have ordered a bulk supply of elastic that should be in early next week. In the meantime, the hospital has found other sources for the material and is offering kits for volunteers. “It allows us to stretch our supplies,” Roth said. “We have a robust group of volunteers who want to help, and it helps people feel empowered at a time when they don’t feel in control of things.” Vermont Glove, a goat skin glove factory in Randolph, has made prototypes of the masks and plans to begin manufacturing them this week, according to owner Sam Hooper. Joan Ecker of Fat Hat Clothing, a family-run designer clothing company based in Quechee, is also working on a prototype that can be mass produced by a small group of sewers and cutters. “It’s an interesting and frightening time,” Ecker said. “The fact that it’s like a war zone, and the government isn’t doing anything is surprising. This gives people something to do every day.” Ecker said her small team of four can cut 50 masks at a time, and with two sewers, she estimates they can produce one mask every 15 minutes. She is also going to offer kits to local sewers who want to pitch in. “We want to help people feel safer going into the hospital,” Ecker said. Her company also plans to make medical gowns for health care workers. 10 bright sides to social distancing By Brooke Geery With life upended for everyone in the world, it’s important to stay positive and look for whatever rays of sunshine may come. Things may not be perfect, but they’re definitely going to get better eventually. In the meantime, be thankful for what you have. Here are 10 bright sides, or silver linings, to appreciate during this pandemic: 1. Way better delivery/takeout options - I recently moved back to Vermont from a real food city— a place where you could literally find any type of cuisine whenever you wanted it. So, pulling up Uber Eats in Rutland to see a choice between fast food and pizza was a bit of a disappointment. And while many restaurants have closed, others have shifted operations to take out and delivery, featuring special menus. Eat well, and please, leave a tip. 2. Delivery booze! - On March 20, the state of Vermont changed its laws so that to-go cocktails are now a thing. More specifically, establishments with first-class liquor licenses can do takeout, curbside delivery, and beverage delivery. Second-class licensees can allow for delivery and curbside pickup of unopened alcohol. 3. No social pressure to do stuff - Sure, maybe you like going out and hanging out with people, but there’s also something nice about getting some solid alone time. You don’t have to worry about FOMO (fear of missing out) because no one else is doing anything. 4. More time with your family - We’re in this together as a society, but closer to home, you’re really in this with your “isolation pod” i.e. your housemates. Take this chance to spend some quality time with the people you love. Play games, do a puzzle, cook a meal. Before we know it, you’ll be back to your busy life, so enjoy this time while it lasts. 5. Lots of great free content- Artists can and will still create in times of strife and right now, there’s nothing better to do with this stuff than put it online for free. Whether it’s a concert on Facebook live or authors reading children’s books on Youtube, there’s plenty of entertainment out there. Go find it! 6. Catch up on housework. - COVID-19 has really hit just in time for spring cleaning, so resist the urge to sit around in your own filth and use your free time to clean it up! Rake the yard (or shovel it, as this week might have it), wash the floors, disinfect everything, and tackle those jobs that are normally too much after a full day of work. Not only will you have a better environment for yourself, but you may even slow the spread of the virus. 7. Once in a lifetime experience - It may be a bit of a stretch, but you will remember this forever. When we make it through the worst of the pandemic, we will come out a stronger, more unified society. Yeah, it hurts right now, but it can only get better. 8. Great for the environment - I hate to say that the viral photos of dolphins in Venice and elephants drunk on corn wine in China are fake, but there is no denying the shuttering of factories, limited cars on the road and other general upheaval of industry are great for our planet. How’s that for a silver lining? 9. Save money! - Maybe you’re saving because you don’t have any money to spend, or maybe just because cutting out daily trips to the bar really is cheaper. Either way, this pandemic is great for learning to be frugal, not to mention the deals offered by businesses looking to off load stock or just stay afloat right now. 10. You are helping by doing nothing. - No generation before us has ever had a more simple directive. Stay home. Do nothing. That’s all you have to do to be part of the solution! You can do this.
The Mountain Times • March 25-31, 2020 THE SILVER LINING • 17 Fair Haven Memorial Day Parade seeks floats FAIR HAVEN— Now that spring is in sight, the plans for the May 23 Memorial Day Parade are moving along. Parade organizers welcome new and old parade participants from floats to bicycles. They hope to see organizations, sports teams, clubs and groups who want to showcase what they are passionate in. Traditionally students have been the final unit in the parade with their decorated bicycles. Bands, marching units, fire trucks, a helicopter and floats are on the schedule. This year there are generous prizes for the best floats: $400 for first place, $200 for second place and $100 for third place. The festivities will begin with the dedication at the cannon 12:50 p.m. The invocation and speakers will be at the platform in front of the war memorials. Marty Irons will be the featured speaker. The parade will begin immediately following these ceremonies. After the parade the participants are encouraged to go to the Fair Haven American Legion on South Main Street for refreshments. If you have questions, you can call the Legion at 802-265-7983. To be in the printed program you must have your information in by April 29, but entries will not be turned down after that date. Courtesy of Billings Farm A Jersey cow at Billings Farm examines a homemade puppet cow . “Hello!” Billings Farm offers Billings Farm to-go Crafts, activities and virtual tours available WOODSTOCK—Billings Farm & Museum is offering options for local families and for folks farther away who want to explore our farm and museum. Visit billingsfarm.org/ billings-farm-athome where you will find “Bag of Fun” activities and crafts to download as well as virtual visits with our farm animals. Watch “Introduction to Milking” and “Up Close With a Jersey Cow” or download the “Dairy Cow Bag of Fun!” If you are in the area, bag of fun kits are available for pick up on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. in the “drive through” outside our Visitor Cen- Courtesy of Billings Farm Make a craft goat from those used toilet paper rolls. ter. Thursday, March 26’s kit will feature a crazy quilt bookmark craft. Over the next days and weeks, Billings Farm will continue to post new activities and videos including book readings, farmhouse tours, cooking demonstrations and more. Send your ideas for future kits and videos, and questions you want answered about our animals, the farm, our exhibits and our collections to askus@billingsfarm.org. The Farm and Museum is located one-half mile north of the Woodstock village green on Vermont Route 12. For information call 802-457-2355 or visit billingsfarm.org. By Noreen McGill? McGill demonstrates braiding colorful fabric along the edge of new rug. Braided rugs weave past memories together By Noreen McGill Ever wonder what happened to that lost sock? I might know. My great uncle Ed’s farm in Chaplin, Connecticut, was our family farm. My mother’s great grandparents, Big Nannie and Grandpa, came from Ireland to farm and work in the Willimantic Textile Mills and for the railroad. For me, the farm was freedom, fields, cows, apple trees, a barn with a hay loft to jump out of. Also a small farm house with a cold pantry, a wood fired kitchen stove, a living room with a massive fire place, a bee hive oven, an iron hook hanging from the ceiling and a magical room-sized round braided rug. I would come into the cold pantry, take off my muddy shoes, put my hat and coats on the giant safe and head into the kitchen. I’d hang around and listen to my grandmother Nannie (Big Nannie’s daughter) and my Mom talk about stuff. Then I’d be off to the living room to collapse in the center of the rug, my fingers moving around and around the braided spiral. It was mostly black but every so often it would have a red, gray, or blue strand. My Mom said Big Nannie made the rug by braiding together worn out old clothes, sheets and socks. Socks! I didn’t see any in the rug. How did she do that? Mom explained that Big Nannie would cut the socks around and around, like when you try to remove the skin of an orange and keep it all in one piece. That was all I needed. Soon I was braiding together some rags and one of my Dad’s black work socks. This memory came to me when I was looking at page 18 of the “Winter/ Spring 2020 ArtisTree/ Purple Crayon Course Catalog,” which told of a “Braided Rag Rug Workshop.” I signed up. ArtisTree Community arts center, operates out of a renovated and repurposed barn and farmhouse in South Pomfret. The workshop, led by Caitlyn Eastman, began with a freshly laundered basket of old worn out clothes, a beautiful orange scarf with with birds on it, and sheets. We were encouraged to bring our own rags. We came together, sharing our stories and the history of our fabrics. One of our group shared that her mother had died recently, Nannie would cut the socks around and around, like when you try to remove the skin of an orange and keep it all in one piece. and that she planned to make a rug using her mom’s favorite clothes. Another had moved recently from a big city on the West Coast to raise her children in our beautiful Vermont mountains. She wanted her little ones to have the freedom to play in open spaces. As she packed up her west coast home, she had sorted the worn linens and the old sheets and duvet covers from her children’s beds, and cut them into strips, which she rolled into colorful fabric balls. Braided rug > 25
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Mountain Times Volume 49, Number 13: March 25-31, 2020

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