Vermont
Fat Toad Farm Sold to Butterfly Bakery of Vermont
Fats Toad Farm, a Brookfield firm that makes a preferred goat milk caramel, has been bought to Butterfly Bakery of Vermont, a sizzling sauce firm that can manufacture the caramel at its facility in Barre.
Fats Toad founders Judith Irving, Steve Reid, and Irving’s daughter Calley Hastings began their caramel enterprise in 2007 in an outbuilding at their dwelling, the place they as soon as used to maintain goats themselves and make goat cheese. In late 2015, they bought their goats to Ayers Brook Dairy in Randolph and used milk from Vermont Creamery to make the caramel sauce.
As they developed the enterprise, the three struggled to compete for shelf area inside the nationwide grocery store distribution system. They in the end determined to cut back and located success utilizing native distributors and mail order to promote their caramel.
The sale went via on August 24, the corporate introduced this week on Fb.
“We’re so excited for this new starting and know that the Fats Toad Farm neighborhood is in good fingers,” the founders mentioned in a submit.
Butterfly Bakery of Vermont makes baked items, sizzling sauce and mustard, and in addition packages meals for different small producers, in line with the corporate’s web site. Proprietor and founder Claire Georges began the bakery in 2003; in 2014, she employed her first staff and began making sizzling sauces that the corporate says are actually bought around the globe.
Butterfly Bakery says the entire maple syrup and chili peppers utilized in its merchandise are grown inside 200 miles of its Barre cannery.
Fats Toad has gained a faithful following with its inventive and high-end array of caramel sauces. The caramel will be discovered on Amazon and on an array of smaller specialty meals web sites. The Maynard, Mass., brewery Amory’s Tomb, which sells Fats Toad’s salted bourbon caramel on-line, advises customers to pair the caramel with nutty alpine and gouda cheeses; drizzle it over grilled stone fruit or bacon; or spoon it over candied nuts.
Fats Toad was named the Vermont Small Enterprise Administration’s family-owned enterprise of the 12 months in 2018, and took dwelling honors from the Good Meals Basis awards in San Francisco in 2019 and 2020. Its labels characteristic art work by the household’s Brookfield neighbor Ed Koren, an artist who has labored as a cartoonist for the New Yorker journal for 60 years.
In Could 2021, Fats Toad gained a $20,495 Northeast Dairy Enterprise Innovation grant to create and market an interactive digital tour of a close-by goat farm and its manufacturing course of.
“Properly, if the goats are completely satisfied then I’m completely satisfied,” one fan wrote on Fb in response to Fats Toad’s announcement. “You’ve made us smile through the years.”
Vermont
Vermonters gather Eco-Fair in search of ways to make the grass greener this spring
WEYBRIDGE, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermonters gathered at an Eco-Fair in Weybridge in search of ways to make the grass greener this spring.
Weybridge Energy Committee hosted the event at Weybridge Elementary School. Visitors browsed booths featuring composting, home energy and heating solutions and lawncare.
Those looking for more energy-efficient ways to trim their lawns tested out lawn mowers through Mow Electric.
“It seems to work just as well as a regular lawnmower if not better, so then why not go electric if you can?” Sylvie Doutriaux of Weybridge said, testing out an electric mower.
And in honor of “No Mow May,” conservation organization Pollinator Pathway handed out native plant seeds, advocating for natural lawns safe for pollinators.
Copyright 2024 WCAX. All rights reserved.
Vermont
Rice Lumber makes history with Vermont's first outdoor electric forklifts
SHELBURNE, Vt. (WCAX) – Rice Lumber makes history with Vermont’s first outdoor electric forklifts.
Chirping birds filled the air at the Shelburne construction company. In the distance, the faint purr of an electric forklift. “It’s peaceful out here in the morning when they’re running them,” Rice Lumber’s Taylor Carroll explained. “You don’t have a bunch of smoke and loud noises.”
This spring, Rice Lumber bought two Toyota 80-volt Electric Pneumatic forklifts. They’re the first outdoor electric forklifts in Vermont. Northern Toyota Lift’s James Jimmo hooked them up. “These guys have stepped up to the plate,” Jimmo said. “I think it’s gonna be really good.”
It took some persuading to get there. Rice Lumber owner Wes Carroll wasn’t too keen on ditching the company’s die-hard diesel forklifts at first. “He took the brochure and threw it in the garbage,” Jimmo laughed. “Then we started talking numbers.”
The price tag: $80,000 a lift, around $10,000 more than their diesel lifts. “At first we’re nervous of, you know, they’re obviously expensive and we have chargers and all that stuff, and it’s new to us,” Carroll shrugged.
Crunching the numbers, Jimmo found each lift would save the company an annual $8,000 on gas and service. With those savings, they’d make up the price difference in less than two years. Rice Lumber was sold and got a $6,000 rebate from Green Mountain Power. “It’s exciting. I never thought I’d be the guy cutting the carbon footprint in the state of Vermont like this,” Jimmo smiled. “Being the pioneer.”
The forklifts run around eight to 10 hours a charge and plug in on-site, cutting out a weekly 20 gallons of diesel. Plus, they can handle thousands more pounds than the old diesel lifts and offer more safety features. Carroll says even their oldest employees prefer the EV lifts over the four remaining diesel lifts. “It’s looking like they’re working out pretty well,” Carroll said.
Jimmo says he hopes Rice Lumber’s success story encourages other construction companies to make the switch. “I think when other people see what a good thing it is, they’ll jump on board,” Jimmo said.
Rice Lumber is waiting to see how the forklifts perform through the winter before replacing their entire diesel fleet.
Copyright 2024 WCAX. All rights reserved.
Vermont
Congratulations Dr. Max! Vermont university awards honorary doctorate to cute feline; here’s why
A cute cat named ‘Max’, who has been residing near the university campus for the past four years, has received an honorary degree of “doctor of litter-ature”.
According to the Vermont State University’s Castleton campus, the ceremony is scheduled to take place on Saturday and Max will be awarded an honorary doctorate degree for his friendly and welcoming behavior with campus students.
In a post on Instagram, the school announced, “Max the Cat has been an affectionate member of the Castleton family for years.”
“While his adventures may have slowed, Max exemplifies the #CastletonWay and we are honored to have him as a member of VTSU’s #firstclass.”
“With a resounding purr of approval from the faculty, the Board of Trustees of the Vermont State Cat-leges has bestowed upon Max Dow the prestigious title of Doctor of Litter-ature, complete with all the catnip perks, scratching post privileges, and litter box responsibilities that come with it.”
Reacting to the post, one user wrote, “Dr.Max Congrats”, while another said: “This is the sweetest story I have ever seen on Instagram. congrats Dr Max!!”
Also Read: Officials investigate potential hate crime as 3 Palestinian college students shot in Vermont, suspect on the loose
Know about Max’s owner and his campus life
The adored feline belongs to a family who lives on the street leading to campus’s main entrance. Therefore, Max decided to visit campus and gradually started getting friendly with college students. He has been hanging out and socialising with them for nearly the last four years, owner Ashley Dow told AP.
Stressing that how excited students get on seeing Max, the owner highlighted that they all take selfies with him, pat him while he purrs, and even take him for campus tours.
“They pick him up and take selfies with him, and he even likes to go on tours with prospective students that meet at a building across from the family’s house,” Dow said.
“I don’t even know how he knows to go, but he does. And then he’ll follow them on their tour,” she added.
Dow recalled a time when Max stopped visiting to campus and quipped that the students had put up a shrine for him. “It had candles and everything. And the picture of Max that they had printed out and put in a frame.”
Dow is known as Max’s mother among the students, and graduates who return to town occasionally inquire about Max’s well-being.
While Max will not be attending the graduation, the degree will be later handed over to Dow.
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