We hope this finds you well as the lunar new year, Year of the Water Tiger in Chinese Astrology, and the northern hemisphere's mid-point between winter solstice and spring equinox celebrated as Imbolc in Ireland as the first day of spring, arrive today.

Here in Vermont's Champlain Valley we are braving sub-zero temperatures and windchills that have caused many of us to be armchair adventurers a few days and nights each week.  Many of you are farming and teaching bravely in these very cold spaces and we salute you for that! 

From time to time we'll be sharing news and stories from the New Perennials network. New Perennials Director Bill Vitek has published a new blog entry on the Pandemic Armchair Philosophy Blog at Resilience called, The Long Game: a creation story for the pandemic weary.  Bill began writing this blog, you guessed it, right at the beginning of the pandemic.  We welcome you to check it out and send Bill your thoughts and comments (wvitek@middlebury.edu).
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Perennial Harvest Days is a series of events that share, explore, and deepen our work and the work of our partners in the Champlain Valley of Vermont. As you may know, New Perennials is in residence at Middlebury College and is a multiyear exploration of agriculture and education as dominant influencers of what we eat and how we think.

Perennial Harvest Days events include panels and workshops on perennial perspectives in Food Systems, Education, Health and Wellness, Creative Arts, as well as Faith Traditions and Sacred Practices. A month-long art exhibit, The Earth Bestows, opens the Perennial Harvest Days with a reception from 5 to 7 pm on Friday, October 1st at All Souls Interfaith Gathering in Shelburne.  Five interactive panels will take place at Middlebury College and All Souls Interfaith Gathering throughout the month. Perennial Harvest Days also includes site visits and activities at Bread & Butter Farm (Saturday, October 16) and The Willowell Foundation (Sunday, October 17).  In addition, there will be a full day of events at Middlebury College on Friday, October 22 highlighting the work of more than 40 New Perennials community partners in the Champlain Valley and will include music, theatre, and dance offerings as well as discussions on agroforestry, workshops for k-12 school children, and more.  
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The full schedule can be found at www.newperennials.org/harvestdays.  
All events are free and open to the public and will follow Covid Protocols set by the CDC and the State of Vermont. 
For more information, email us at newperennials@middlebury.edu.
We very much look forward to seeing you at our events.