Photographer Robert Layman returned to the sugarbush at Spring Lake Ranch this spring to take a series of sugaring photos. Gardens Work Crew Leader Lisa and her companion Zoey were featured on the front page riding shotgun on a sap run while others were featured in the People & Places section of the Rutland Herald. 

We had the pleasure of working with the Family Room's Jackie Reno when we produced a video to honor her award as Early Childhood Educator of the Year for the Permanent Fund for Vermont's Children.

Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services announced that nominations are open for a new series of awards: "These awards recognize victim activists who have inspired us through their acts of courage and compassion, programs or individuals whose work has been particularly innovative and pioneering, and those who exemplify the long-term commitment that characterizes many of Vermont’s victim service providers, some of whom are themselves victims of crime."

We're delighted to welcome NIM.MERSION, a Swedish relocation, immigration, and destination services company, to the Marketing Partners' family of clients with a mission focused on serving companies with employer brands based on positive practices and quality workplaces.

Since its original founding in 1995 by Lena Rekdal, a Swedish native educated in the U.S. and U.K., what was originally known as Newcomers Immigration & Relocation has offered a full range of services to employers seeking to support employees recruited to Sweden, and Swedish companies with employees relocating outside the country.

"He started to find himself again on a 10-by-15 foot garden plot, at the Rock Point School in Burlington." This was one of several stories Vermont Public Radio shared of Vermont veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and who have begun to find healing through farming and connection to the land.

Rock Point School is located on a 146-acre peninsula jutting into Lake Champlain two miles north of Burlington. Rock Point hosts the school, community gardens, a conference center, hiking trails, a large solar-power installation, and one of the most famous geological features in Vermont. Listen at:
Vermont Veterans Find Peace And Purpose In The Soil, on Vermont Public Radio

Vermont Rural Ventures through June 2017 has raised more than $47 million in new capital through the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program to support 15 projects in Vermont and neighboring areas, creating 559 new jobs and retaining 1,332 existing jobs.

NMTC funds are used to retain and create jobs and essential services by financing key community developments in downtowns and village centers and in other concerted efforts that demonstrate positive community impacts. Using New Markets Tax Credits, these investments provided $47,693,516 of equity to 15 projects, allowing expansion and job growth. Vermont Business Magazine ran the story first.

Locally owned retailer bucks national retail trends. Small Dog Electronics was proud to announce its selection as an Apple Premier Partner, one of a small, elite group of independent Apple resellers and service centers serving North America. Small Dog Electronics is one of only 55 independently owned and operated Apple Premier Partners currently in North America.

Small Dog Electronics has been an authorized service provider for Apple's range of iPhones, MacBooks, iPads and more for many years, and is pleased to have earned the prestigious new Apple Premier Partner title in 2017 after meeting Apple's strict standards for exceptional customer experience and repair support.

Veteran transportation reporter C.B. Hall of Vermont Business Magazine was onsite as AllEarth Rail's Budd cars pulled into Montpelier en route to their servicing and resting spot in Vermont. The excitement about community rail returning to our state was palpable.

Read all about it at VermontBiz.com, and learn all about the Budd cars at https://www.allearthrail.com/remarkable-budd-rail-diesel-car-rdc-resources

'Conserving lands, healing people' is the title of a wonderful piece by Julia Purdy in the Mountain Times about the June event at Spring Lake Ranch to celebrate a double anniversary: Spring Lake Ranch’s 84th and Vermont Land Trust’s 40th. The two organizations became partners in 1993, when Spring Lake Ranch put a major portion of its property into the land trust.

"The two organizations share complementary missions: while the Vermont Land Trust conserves cherished old Vermont farmland, the Spring Lake Ranch Therapeutic Community nurtures and treats adults with psychiatric illness through productive physical work amid a tranquil farm-and-forest setting." 

Elaine Ezerins of the St. Albans Messenger tells the story of local maple sugar maker Branon Family Maple Orchards in Fairfield, to illustrate how integrating bird conservation practices into their forest management plans helps to protect birds and their habitats.

Elaine interviewed Cecile Branon and Audubon Vermont conservation biologist Steve Hagenbuch for an original and detailed piece that explains how the project works and its benefits as well as any we've seen. Education on bird-friendly habitat and recognizing participating maple producers are both goals of Audubon Vermont -- a win-win for people, business and the birds!