Hello Waltonians,
This week we invite you to share your ideas for Walton, remind you of some upcoming events around town, and share some regional links of local interest. Hope you enjoy!
Share your ideas for Walton
I've started an Are.na channel (https://www.are.na/the-waltonian/your-ideas-for-walton-nywhere) where we can all share ideas for improving life in Walton. Please feel free to add any ideas you might have. I've seeded the channel with some ideas of my own. You'll need an account to add to the channel, but signing up is free (you can also share ideas with me by responding to this email and I'll copy them over to the channel). I chose this over Pinterest because channels can be set to allow contributions from anyone (and it allows sharing text instead of just links).
Go ahead and share your ideas! We're just brainstorming here so any idea, presented constructively, is valuable.
You might also want to go through some of the links I've already shared and comment on which ideas you liked the most. I'm particularly fond of all the projects (from towns and cities around the world) presented in the Community Lover's Guide.
Calendar
The February village board meeting was held Monday, the 4th.
The next town board meeting is Monday, February 11th @ 6:00PM
The next board of education meeting is Tuesday, February 12th @ 6:00PM
Deadline for petitions to run for village trustee or mayor is February 13th. Elections will be March 19th.
There will be a presentation on compassionate communication at the village library on Wednesday, February 20th @ 6:00PM. The library is hosting several other events this month which you can find listed on their Facebook page and website.
Speaking of libraries! Did you know that all New York State residents are eligible for a New York Public Library card, which can used to check out ebooks (our local Four County Library System also has a good selection of ebooks), and also provides access to Kanopy, a site for streaming classic cinema, indie and foreign films, and top documentaries. You can apply online and will receive your library card by mail.
Further afield
I thought I'd also share some links to some news and projects from outside of Walton that may be of local interest.
The River is a newly launched newsroom in the Hudson Valley. Their most recent newsletter discusses shrinking school enrollments in the Hudson Valley region, a problem that has also affected Delaware County over the years.
The Greenhorns have published their New Farmer's Almanac. “In this fourth volume, dedicated to the Greater ‘We’, ninety contributing writers and artists explore the social, techno, and ecological processes of diversification. The New Farmer’s Almanac, Vol IV features essays and stories and poems from farmers, ranchers, ecologists, educators, food bank managers, grocers, gardeners, researchers, and advocates bound by their care for the land, the food system, and the survival of the natural world.”
Hudson Valley One has an article about how Women are making their way in the trades. Recommended reading. There's also a bit of discussion about how college is pushed on many young people when a trade might be a better option for them, especially in areas like ours where positions in many fields simply don't exist (I say this as a software developer looking for remote telecommute positions so I can stay here in my hometown).
As always thanks for reading! Feel free to reply to this email with comments and questions.
—Christopher Ogden
P.S. Please share this newsletter with a friend! Anyone who is interested can sign up at https://thewaltonian.substack.com/. We’re currently at 185 subscribers, thanks to all of you!