Mary Ann Forrester is living proof that “life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.” The familiar lyric from John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)” offers a perfect picture of her path to home ownership and fierce commitment to her son’s health and wellbeing.

It was 2023 and Chelsea Langevin was in the market for a new home. It wasn’t Chelsea’s first time buying a home, but it would be her first time doing it on her own. Chelsea knew she needed some help weighing her options and helping her through the homebuying process. That’s when she discovered the team at the HomeOwnership Center in Elkins.

As you drive north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, through Velarde, it might be easy to miss the small vineyard nestled in the middle of Black Mesa. If you stop in, though, you will have the opportunity to taste wine flavored with local choke cherries, prickly pear fruit from the property, and chiles grown in the valley. If the taste of New Mexico doesn’t let you know where you are, the chile ristras and relaxing mountain scenery will.

On a tranquil spring evening in Ohio’s northeastern Ashtabula County, community members filed into the Jefferson High School library for its monthly board of education meeting.

The evening was a celebration as the board recognized “Students of the Month,” athletes who qualified for state meets, and its high school band, which received a superior score at an annual competition.

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If it weren’t for Susan Noesen’s sense of humor and optimistic outlook on life, dealing with her tragedy would have been much more difficult. Noesen, a resident of Alexandria, recalls the very day that the unthinkable happened: a tornado ripped through her town, temporarily displacing her after her home was significantly damaged.

“We are not the first to sugar here,” says Kate Goyette of Sweet Bear Farm in Corinth, “but we do it differently than they did.” She nods at a rusted boiling arch on an ancient stone foundation, saplings and soil consuming the twisted metal in a relentless march of decades that long ago claimed its protective wooden shack. Among the maples surrounding the monolith, zigzagging blue tubing conducts sap to an unseen collection tank by way of vacuum suction.

“We are not the first to sugar here,” says Kate Goyette of Sweet Bear Farm in Corinth, “but we do it differently than they did.” She nods at a rusted boiling arch on an ancient stone foundation, saplings and soil consuming the twisted metal in a relentless march of decades that long ago claimed its protective wooden shack. Among the maples surrounding the monolith, zigzagging blue tubing conducts sap to an unseen collection tank by way of vacuum suction.

The Castleton Free Library (CFL) in Castleton, Vermont is a beloved historic institution that serves its community far beyond the conventional role of book repository. By collaborating with other libraries throughout the region, the staff takes a proactive approach to expanding collections to meet local needs. Residents with spotty internet service can reliably access a clean signal in the building or parking lot—a crucial component of learning and working for kids and adults during COVID— and CFL also loans laptops to those without hardware.

The Castleton Free Library (CFL) in Castleton, Vermont is a beloved historic institution that serves its community far beyond the conventional role of book repository. By collaborating with other libraries throughout the region, the staff takes a proactive approach to expanding collections to meet local needs. Residents with spotty internet service can reliably access a clean signal in the building or parking lot—a crucial component of learning and working for kids and adults during COVID— and CFL also loans laptops to those without hardware.