One of the things I’ve long admired about my parents’ adopted home state of Vermont is the way it has managed to balance tradition, preservation, conseravation and progress. And I don’t mean “balance” in the Bushie’s sense of the word. As Frank Bryan wrote (and I paraphrase slightly), “We Vermonters are conservative. We like to conserve things.”

The Boston Globe just ran an article called The Brand Called Vermont, in which it makes the not-so-preposterous point that

…whether you’re a hardscrabble dairy farmer or a countercultural back-to-the-lander, chances are, if you’re making food in Vermont, you’ve benefited from a state government that has doggedly sworn to brand and protect.

The article is nice weaving together of Vermont’s history with its value-added agricultural present. And you’ll learn a bit about maple sugar purity laws.

Thanks for the link, Sean!