Gift certificate drawing at Rock Library; ‘Life of Pi’ in Ludlow; food fest at Shelburne; fairy house builders wanted; and chew & chat in Hyde Park

Through Sept. 20: Rockingham Library offers gift certificate drawing for school kids

From now until Sept. 20, students in K through 12 can show their Rockingham Library cards at the library to enter into a drawing to win a $10 Village Square Booksellers gift certificate.

According to Sam Maskell, Rockingham Public Library’s youth services librarian, a library card is your child’s best school supply. It’s free and provides access to a world of resources online and in print, all with the expert assistance of librarians. Librarians can find what you’re looking for, and they know resources that are not easily available to the general public.

The Rockingham librarians are ready to help students and patrons navigate the internet and online sources for the right information. Through ListenUp Vermont! and “One Click’” Library patrons have access to a large collection of freely downloadable ebooks and audiobooks. Through Vermont Online Library, a source for online reference, patrons will find news articles, periodicals, career resources; online courses; car repair, medical and legal databases.

Library patrons now have access to Universal Class, an educational service that provides access to over 500 high quality online courses.

Getting a library card is easy. If you live in Rockingham, or are a student at the Bellows Falls middle or high school, your library card is free. If you don’t qualify for a free card you can purchase a non-resident card. If you haven’t used your card recently, you may need to renew your account. The library is located temporarily at 41 The Square in Bellows Falls. For more information call the library at (802) 463-4270 or visit rockinghamlibrary.org.

Sept. 7: Award-winning ‘Life of Pi’ comes to Ludlow

The award winning, critically acclaimed Life of Pi will be shown at 7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 7 at the Ludlow Town Hall Auditorium at 1 Whispering Pines in Ludow. Presented by the Friends of the Ludlow Auditorium, Life of Pi is a 3D live-action/computer-animated adventure drama film based on Yann Martel’s 2001 novel. Directed by Ang Lee, the film is based on a screenplay by David Magee.

The storyline revolves around a 16-year-old Indian boy named Piscine Molitor ‘Pi’ Patel, who survives a shipwreck in which his family dies, and is stranded in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

The showing is free and open to the public though donations are appreciated. The Ludlow Town Hall is ADA accessible. Popcorn will be supplied by Berkshire Bank. For information call (802) 228-7239 or www.fola.us.

Sept. 15: Small Farms Food Fest  at Shelburne Orchards

Celebrate local food, the apple harvest and Vermont musicians at the 12th Annual Small Farms Food Fest 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept.15 at Shelburne Orchards
, 216 Orchard Road, Shelburne. The festival showcases prepared foods, live music, tractor hayrides, PYO apples, rope making, haybale maze,   and other family-friendly activities.

Vermont farmers and food producers will showcase specially prepared foods while local musicians perform throughout the day. Participants include: Adam’s Berry Farm, Aqua Vitea Kombucha, Ariel’s Honey Infusions, Bella Farm, Down to Earth Confections, Dragonfly Sugarworks, Folk Foods, Food 4 Farmers, Gadabout Farm, Huntington River Vineyard, Island Homemade Ice Cream, Kingdom Mountain Maple, Lincoln Peak Vineyard, Maple Wind Farm, Meeting Place Pastures, Midnight Goat Farm, Northeast Organic Farming Association, Potlicker Kitchen, Rockville Market Farm, Scratch N’ Earth, Shelburne Farms & O Bread, Shelburne Orchards, Shelburne Vineyard, Slowfire Bakery, Sonia’s Salsa, Stony Loam Farm, Stony Pond Farm and Taylor Farm.

Musical line-up includes Cartwheels, Red Hot Juba, Gordon Stone Band, Twist of the Wrist, and Zii Trees.

Admission is $5; free under the age of 6.5 or over the age of 65. Farm vendors may charge for the foods they’ve prepared. Donations will be collected for local food shelves.

For information, call (802) 985-2753 or go to: www.shelburneorchards.com

Sept. 28: Nature Museum seeks fairy house builders

Sylvan Dewdrop Tavern built by Dan Farrar. Photo by Wayne LeFevre

The Nature Museum at Grafton is now accepting applications to build a fairy house for its Fifth Annual Fairy House Tour, to be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 28 and 29.

Building a fairy house for the tour can be a way to promote a business or organization—or just a way to have fun with friends and family. Those participants who build a house will receive two free tickets to the tour. Fairy house builders will also receive recognition in publicity materials and in the tour program that all attendees receive. All proceeds from the Fairy House Tour support The Nature Museum’s year-round school and community nature programs.

To sign up to build a fairy house, visit www.nature-museum.org, call The Nature Museum at (802) 843-2111, or email the museum’s director of events, Carrie Roy King, at carrie@nature-museum.org. Guidelines for fairy house building and more information about the Fairy House Tour can be found at www.nature-museum.org. The museum is located at 186 Townshend Road in Grafton.

 Oct. 19: Apple pie and conversation

The Vermont Apple Pie Literary and Travel Society will meet 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 19 at the Governor’s Inn, Hyde Park, Vt., for the first of three evenings of dinner and discussion.

The first topic is “Guernsey Under the Occupation and Its Impact on the Daily Lives of the Islanders.” The discussion will continue at 6:30 p.m. on the following dates: Feb. 1 and March 8, 2014.

Inspired by the book “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,” the fictional Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society began for the people of Guernsey to enliven their existence during the WWII German occupation. The Vermont Apple Pie Literary and Travel Society began with two retired teachers hosting dinner discussions with good company to encourage a lively exchange of ideas and opinions.

Future topics being considered are Newfoundland, Rudyard Kipling in Vermont, Palladio and his legacy to American architecture, and Spices and where they come from.

The cost for the evening with dinner and the discussion is $45, plus tax. Seating will be limited to 14.

For more information, go to: http://www.onehundredmain.com/events/vermont-apple-pie-literary-and-travel-society

— Compiled by Susan Lampe-Wilson