Erik Goodling Strafford Vermont

HW Breadworks.  Erik Goodling

Teacher, Baker, Adventurer  

Susan Cloke

Journal Opinion Winter Columnist

April 2, 2014

 “My mom taught me to bake as a kid.  Now I make Old World European breads, French sourdoughs and whole grain breads,” said Erik Goodling of HW Breadworks in Strafford.

“I make a bread called Jed’s sourdough.  The starter for that bread comes from the famous, and now closed, Jedediah’s House of Sourdough in Jackson Wyoming.  I’ve been making that bread for 20 years.

“In 2010 I was getting ready to get on a plane and go on vacation when the volcano erupted in Iceland.  Because of the volcano, air traffic was shut down and I ended up with 10 days vacation and nothing to do.  So I built a brick oven for making bread.”

Goodling makes a Maple Anadama – traditional New England bread made with cornmeal and molasses.

The Anadama from HW Breadworks is made with maple syrup from Kendall Farm and local organic cornmeal.

“There’s a story behind the Anadama,” said Goodling.  “The story is that a farmer’s wife left him and she left cornmeal and molasses in the kitchen for him. And he made bread all the while saying ‘Anna damn her’ thus Anadama.”

“I collect bread cookbooks and love using the book “Bread” by Jeffrey Hamelman, the head baker at King Arthur.”

Goodling sells his breads on Sundays out of the house.  In bad weather he brings bread to Café 232 in South Strafford.

To see what is being offered or to order bread for pick up, email hwbreadworks@gmail.com

He didn’t plan on being a breadmaker.  He studied literature at Bennington with a focus on Russian literature.  Goodling says, “If you put “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina” side by side you’ve got enough to think about for the rest of your life.”

“I went to Bennington to study philosophy and literature.  19^th century literature and ethics and I let my hair grow long.  Bennington was the most intensely creative place I have ever been.  We lived in a free for all of creativity.  Finding that place was awesome for me,” said Goodling.

Goodling started college at the University of Cincinnati studying electrical and computer engineering.  One day, walking through the hallway and talking about artificial intelligence with a fellow frat member he was asked, “So you’ve built a thinking, feeling thing – can you turn it off?”   He realized then and there that he would switch to study philosophy.

After graduation from Bennington there was the question of what to do with a degree that shows you’ve studied Tolstoy and Plato and Socrates.

He was being a ski bum and cooking in a pizza place in Killington when he met his wife to be and they married on her grandparents’ farm on Caper Hill in Redding.

After marriage, they lived in South Strafford and Goodling worked as a chef at Simon Pearce, at the Prince and the Pauper, and at the Norwich Inn.

He loved cooking but he also loved talking about books and literature and philosophy.  He left the kitchen and went to Newton Elementary School to teach 8^th grade English, Social Studies and to take on the very fun task of directing the school play.  His children still go to Newton School.

After a year at Newton he was offered a job at Richmond School in Hanover where he taught 9^th grade English for 13 years. 

Those same questions of philosophy that he’s been asking himself about life made him decide to take a leave of absence last year.

Now Goodling is teaching at the Okemo Mountain School in Ludlow.   His students are in the 6^th to 12^th grades.  They spend the morning on athletics and then come to him to in the afternoon to study English, Social Studies and History.

Goodling is also an adventurer.  In 2009 he set out on a quest to see Mt. Everest.  “I was trekking, not mountain climbing,” said Goodling.  “I’ve been hiking all my life and seeing Mt. Everest was a lifetime goal.

“I spent three weeks in Nepal.  Once we were out of monastery country we were on a windy, narrow trail next to a 2000’ chasm and you really understood how mankind could develop a spiritual sense of connection,” said Goodling.  “We climbed to Kala Patthar (18,500’) and we had the greatest view, the view of Mt. Everest.”

Goodling has also traveled in Africa. He was on a trip to Kenya when there was an attempted government coup. 

“We were in a hostel and could see fighting and it got put down.  We were living with the Maasai at the time and they were our only protection.  When I got home there was a picture on the cover of Time Magazine of a woman who had been killed in the attempted coup,” said Goodling.

“I can’t say that there is one image that defines me.  So many pieces contributed to who I am,” said Goodling.

Born in Chicago in 1967, Goodling’s family moved to Weston Connecticut when he was young.  He remembers his dad, a graphic designer, sitting at the drafting table and smoking a pipe.  He has memories of his parent’s friends and how it felt to be with that circle of close and tight friends.

Goodling’s mom now lives in Randolph and “she’s my inspiration,” said Goodling.  “I plan to expand the Breadworks.  The future is also a bit scary but the process of making bread allows me to get lost in my own brain and making bread is calming.

“I also want to also make cheese.  I was on this Iberian Island eating incredible cheese.  It’s the classic story of cheese made in one place for centuries and the younger generation is leaving the Island and the way of making this cheese is getting lost.  I would love to go there and learn how to make this cheese and start making it back home in Vermont.”

Peabody Library Post Mills Thetford Vermont

Peabody Library
Post Mills Thetford Vermont

The Peabody Library

Susan Cloke

Journal Opinion Winter Columnist

March 19, 2014

The Peabody library, given to the people of Thetford by George Peabody, is well cared for and well loved.  You are invited to join Librarians Peter Blodgett and Emily Zollo for a fun-filled evening of Celtic music at the Peabody Library in Post Mills on Wednesday, March 26, at 7:00 pm.

Peabody has been called “America’s First Philanthropist” said Blodgett, Library Director at Peabody and Latham Libraries.  "In 1866, when the Peabody Library opened it was the 6^th largest library in Vermont. It is the oldest library building in the State that is in continuous usage as a library and it has the most elegant public room in Thetford.”

Emily Zollo reading "Lemonade in Winter" and making
lemonade with Sadie, Maggie, Max and Garrett

Zollo, Children’s Librarian at Peabody, talked about the library and how well used it is by the community. “The Library is open weekly, on Tuesday evenings and Wednesdays from 2 – 8 pm.  It has an active after school program, well attended by Thetford Elementary School students and an adult book discussion series.

“The Library also hosts annual events: the Celtic Concert, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day; Chocolate Indulgence for Valentine’s Day, the summer Penny Carnival and our Winter Solstice Readings,” said Zollo.

“At the Valentine’s Day event the long, original, central table is loaded with chocolate cakes, mousses, handmade chocolates, chocolate cookies and chocolate pies.

“The Winter Solstice is celebrated with holiday stories from around the world read aloud.  The Library is decorated with boughs and lit with historic candelabra,” said Zollo.

Dalia Panani, a volunteer librarian described the Penny Carnival saying, “It’s great because the 10 -13 year olds set up the carnival for children under 6.  The price is one cent per game and everyone wins.”

Peabody was born in 1795, one of eight children, to a family that struggled to get by.  He went on to be one of the most successful American businessmen in London. Peabody’s fortune came from his merchant and banking companies.

“He never gave up his loyalty to America,” said Blodgett. He was famous for hosting an elaborate yearly dinner in London to celebrate the 4^th of July.  When Queen Victoria wanted to bestow a knighthood on him for promoting Anglo-American harmony he refused because he wanted to remain an American Citizen.”

Local lore tells of George Peabody, when he was a fifteen year old teenager, walking the 150 miles from his hometown in Danvers (now Peabody) MA to Post Mills VT.

“He would walk 10 miles in a day and then stop at a local town and ask for meals and a place to sleep in the barn. In exchange he would split wood and do other chores,” said Blodgett.

The young Peabody arrived in Post Mills and lived for a year on the farm of his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Dodge, according to a manuscript published in 1882.

(“THE LIFE of GEORGE PEABODY” By PHEBE A. HANAFORD

Boston, D. Lothrop & Company.  Franklin Street 1882)

Hanaford wrote, “With such grandparents and such surroundings, George Peabody’s year at Post Mills must have been a year of intense quiet, with good examples always before him, and good advice whenever occasion called for it; for Mr. Dodge and his wife were both too shrewd to bore him needlessly.

 “The interest with which Mr. Peabody remembered his visit to Post Mills is shown by his second visit so late in life, and his gift of a library – as large a library as that place needs,” wrote Hanaford.

In a letter, dated 1866, from Peabody to the Library Committee, Peabody writes about the library and speaks of his “…  sense of gratitude for kindness shown to me in my early life by my late revered uncle, Eliphalet Dodge, and his excellent wife, who still lives in your village,” and of his “desire that there shall always be three of their descendants … among the trustees of the library.”

In his lifetime he established The Peabody Trust.  The Trust continues to “provide housing of a decent quality for the artisans and labouring poor of London.”

He is best known for establishing the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University; the Peabody Museums at Harvard and Yale Universities; the Peabody Academy of Science in Salem, MA; the Peabody Room of the DC public library; and the Peabody College of Vanderbilt University.  At the end of the Civil War he established the Peabody Education Fund “… to encourage the intellectual, moral, and industrial education of the destitute children of the Southern States.”

The Peabody library in Post Mills is listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings.  The 850 square foot, one story, white, wood building is an iconic Vermont public building with both Greek Revival and Palladian architectural references.  It sits right on 113 with flags flying from the columns.

Meet the Thetford Walkers

The Thetford Walkers
Houghton Hill
Sue Gault (with snowball), Susan Rump, Lynne Miller
Cathy Newbury, Mary Johnson, Marcia Dunning
photo credit Susan Cloke

Meet the Thetford Walkers              

Susan Cloke

Journal Opinion Winter Columnist

I’m a ‘winterer’ in Vermont.  I longed for freshly fallen, soft snow, gloriously white with sunshine reflected off its surface.  I sought the profound silence of winter.

Sitting in my living room in Santa Monica California friends asked, ‘Won’t you be lonely?’  And I wondered about that. 

My daughter, her husband and their twin boys live close enough for me to go down on most weekends and I have a few friends here, having been to Vermont before.   Still winter can be a long time.

Enter the Thetford Walkers.  A lively, engaging, and kind group of people, they gather at 10:00 every Friday morning at the Latham Library and choose where they want to walk.  Usually covering 2 to 4 miles depending on terrain and weather.  Through the Thetford List Serve they invite anyone who would like to join them.

Inge Tribetz, one of the founders of the Thetford Walkers, serves on the Steering Committee of the Thetford Elder Network (TEN). http://www.thetfordvermont.us/thetford-elder-network/

Answering my question about how she got to Vermont she said,  “In high school I worked as a reporter at a small paper in Germany.  I covered evening meetings of the Goat Herder’s Club and other local events.  I thought it would become my profession.”

But then she married and her husband’s work brought them to the United States.  Both are avid skiers and hikers and decided Vermont would be a wonderful place to retire.

“We didn’t know anyone when we moved here but we saw an announcement of a Working Day for the Green Mountain Club.

It was our introduction to the people of Vermont.”

http://www.greenmountainclub.org/

Look for Tribetz in Thetford and look for her at the Ski Marathon in Canada! 

Susan Rump is a Plein Air painter. Right out of high school she almost went to art school.  Instead she decided to prepare for teaching. 

A Thetford Academy teacher for 29 years, she is now retired. Although she still sometimes puts on workshops at Thetford Academy connecting art, writing, reading and thinking - all organized around literature.

A TEN Board Member, she is a co-founder of the Thetford Walkers, this is their 5^th year, and she is also an organizer for the popular Senior Luncheon held at the North Thetford Church.

“It’s a small community and the scale suits me well.  People who come here look around and see the gorgeous countryside and many people come here because it’s possible to live lightly on the land and make a difference in your own world,” said Rump.

Marcia Dunning followed in her mother’s footsteps and became a nurse.  She worked as an orthopedic nurse at Dartmouth for 31 years.  About her work, she says, “It was mostly elective surgery and people mostly got better and so they thought I was great!”

“Now I can spend all the time I want on my big garden.  I grow all the vegetables my family needs – eight varieties of potatoes, tomatoes, beans, lettuces, broccoli, and all colors of peppers,” said Dunning.

In addition to being part of the Thetford Walkers she volunteers at the elementary school to help teach cross-country skiing, is a member of the N. Thetford Library Board and is on the Rivendell Trails Association.   http://www.crossrivendelltrail.org/history.htm

Mary Johnson’s husband spent his childhood summers in Vermont.  It was because of his memories of Vermont that their family came here in 1974.

They both worked at Dartmouth.  When Dartmouth gave her the opportunity to study to become an X-Ray Technologist she took it and, after graduating from that program, stayed at Dartmouth-Hitchcock until 2011.

Now retired, she belongs to a handcrafting group, participates in her Lutheran Church disaster relief program, and exercises at the Thetford Community Center in the old white school building.

‘I saw the walking group on the List Serve and thought, these people have been doing this for so long and I’ll never be able to keep up.  But Sue Rump told me to come and walk and go at my own pace,” said Johnson. “I’m glad I did.”

Sue Gault came to Vermont after a long career at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) where she started as a Tech Writer and went on to be Manager of Information.

“My husband and I had always loved Vermont and in 1995, after we retired, we moved up here, eventually ending up on Gove Hill,” she said.

“We both loved antiques and became antique dealers.  We focused on American antiques before 1850.

“When my husband passed away I decided I needed to meet people and got involved with TEN.  I ended up making a flyer for the walking group.  I had a blast when I joined in.”

Gault is also on the Board of Directors of Willing Hands.  They pick up food that would otherwise go to waste and deliver it to organizations for people in need.  It’s a very hard- working, hands-on Board of Directors,” she said.  “We dig potatoes and get dirty.” 

Lynne Miller lived with her parents on her Grandfather’s farm. “Then my dad bought a farm nearby and we lived there and loved it,” she said. “ Life was different then.  Kids had lots of freedom.  We would ride our ponies all over and go swimming in the creek and just run free.”

She studied fine arts and elementary education and got her Master’s Degree in Special Education.  In 2000 she retired from teaching, moved to Vermont and bought a farm in East Thetford.  A place for her two horses.  She trains, she rides, she competes.

Miller has been on horse trips all over the world – including Iceland, Banff Canada, Kenya, Chile and Argentina.

“The walking group has people with a wide range of interests.  We seem to all understand the importance of having a positive attitude and supporting each other,” she said.

I agree.  The Thetford Walkers have been a wonderful part of my winter here in Vermont.  Come join us!