I appreciate this detailed response. Regarding some of the items you mentioned…

I’m not worried about the points in your first paragraph. I’m very accustomed to self-sustained living/solitude and crave it. I’ve been waiting to move out of suburbia since they were born over 20 years ago, and to me, intense solitude=peace, not loneliness. (Plus, I don’t drink and never have aside from a very rare glass of celebratory wine, etc. Never had the inclination to.)

I may need a slightly larger community than the village/hamlet/etc to find community with as PTA is out along with anything church or hunting related. I respect people for enjoying those things, but I do not. I’m also not a veteran or into fishing, but I’m an avid backpacker, hiker, camper, cross-country skier, etc, so perhaps I can find folks who enjoy those things?

I love the points about off-roading as I am currently in the process of selecting and outfitting a vehicle for overlanding, so that’s perfect!

Regarding dogs, I also agree about dog parks (not a fan) but I prefer to have my boy off-leash as trained recall/long-line as back ups instead of an e-collar, but again, I appreciate the suggestion!

Should I decide to make VT my home, I’m looking forward to it all (including the suck!) 👍🤗

Well damn I think you're right, by https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/passed/2022#both-house-and-senate

Casella in VT has been doing zero sort recycling for ages around burlington. Everything...one can.

wtf is gourmet fairy floss?

We actually have applied for a wholesale account with RapidStop for RATS tourniquets yesterday. It’s a great product because you can also use it on dogs.

Here is another area that I don't think is paid much attention to, I'm not a medic/first responder, but I've been in a situation or two:

Dexterity/Ease of use - Things need to be easy to access or use, whether solo work on a victim or solo on yourself and it needs to be done with one hand. Possibly in gloves, whether latex/nitrile gloves or cold weather gear.

One handed, simple tourniquets like RATS are invaluable in this case (the windlass tourniquet you listed is good and effective, but I feel like it takes a lot more dexterity to work effectively with one hand), same with trying to open packaging for dressings/pills/anti-bacterials/liquids.

I'm sure there are lots of rules about how things like pills and liquids can be stored, but a little tear off packet sucks in a low mobility or challenging environment.

I put stuff like these in a plastic vial with a pop cap that I can flick off or force off with a squeeze or brush against something. Probably not realistic for a product, but something to think about.

In my town several select board members are unelected, even the editor of the local paper told me this. There are unelected positions in other towns as well.

I don't want anyone making any decisions for a town to be unelected, and they are. Besides doxxing myself, what else do you want?

I like domino's. They are cheap and good. There are something like 5 of them in or near Burlington. 2 near Montpelier. We don't need Little Ceasar's.

Good luck to you! I'll bet you're in for a big surprise if you're going the rural route; assuming you last beyond 5 years. Many relocates dream of the pastoral peace/quiet/solitude that a remote homestead exudes; only to find it also leads to isolation/lonliness/drinking. Surviving takes extended family or a fat checkbook, maybe both.

Go to Town Meeting Day, sit in the back, keep opinions to self, recon who the 'fathers' are. Volunteer to be helpful but not seen as an agent of change. In 10yrs your opinion may matter.

Give your business to locals first; both in the trades and to the farmers (whole milk, eggs, meats and the like). That goodwlll goes a long way.

Small town/village/hamlet, wide-spot-in-the-road, is for sure a community that's tightly knit; by generations of inter-marriage. If your kids are grown then PTA or school connections are out; save the annual hunters' dinner perhaps. Are you a church goer? Besides schools, that's about the only other 'institution' in town that's part of its glue that bonds.

A veteran? The local Elks club is a gathering hole. Do you hunt? Join a range, target shoot, take instruction; familiarize self w/local gun shop. Enjoy fly fishing!

Get in your ride and explore all the dirt roads for 30min around you. Lots of nooks and crannies to enjoy by foot. Just about anywhere there along the longtrail there are networks of hikeable woods. Avoid dog-parks. Train you pooch to an ecollar so you can let them enjoy the woods leash-free; most of the time you'll be the only person around anyhow.

If you're coming from (sub)urbia you'll have an eye-opening experience, that's for sure. Embrace it, including the suck!:)

So this is not a position on the select board. edit You are clearly conflating "Town officals" with "Selectboard members". Learn the difference.

No housing.

Mostly because there are a million people in your exact same situation that want to move here

idk id take a dominoes over Little C's. Ill admit tho Little C's cheesy bread is top tier but doms got better pizza i think

It’s cotton Candy I think

It’s incredible how much things have changed in just the past five years around here; I’ve been fortunate enough to land a decent job myself recently but would not know what I’d do if I didn’t and was moving here from another state with family nowhere in sight. Grateful for family, girlfriend and what I have in life (I.e my health and good friends).

I'd think targeting and later diversifying based on ecological zones is an untapped space that would make a lot of sense because it's not a saturated market like the one you're entering. Insourcing to some level would help you diversify in that space.

Yes, please go to IndieGoGo, find us under Frugged and support us if you can. These will be the cheapest the kits sell for before retail. Thanks again!

Yeah baby, gotta get me that $20 hardtack crust, ketchup sauce, and bagged, pre-shredded mozz because it's "local". Vermont restauranteurs are all using the best local ingredients, paying their staff fair wages, making large charitable contributions regularly, and providing a great value to the good people of their communities.

MyMedic is VERY pricy and 7-8 years ago when I started using them, they were about the only game in town for kits of this caliber, so kudos to you and your team trying to put together well thought out kits at a better price. I'll be watching and supporting.

Its Woodstock

We are getting way off topic from my original post. Our Director of Logisitics has everything setup without getting into details. Yes, we would love to do everything local once we have enough revenue. We already have a warehouse and office space. Frugged is just a new product line from Garnet Health here in Essex VT.

Per the article: The full-time position at Hartford Redemption pays $15 an hour and after one year of employment includes one week of paid vacation, paid federal holidays and paid sick time, Trombley said. Part-time employees make minimum wage, which in Vermont is $13.18 an hour.

Also per the article: But in recent months, the center has struggled to maintain a full-time employee. Trombley had to fire one employee for stealing from the cash register, he said. Another hire showed up for only two days. More recently, “a couple of weeks ago,” Trombley found a Hartford center employee “slumped over inside his car” from what appeared to be a state of intoxication.

So the issue is finding people to work who aren't thieves or no-loads, for a job that pays $15/hour. Maybe someone could make more money at a place like McDonalds, but do you think an employee who acts like what Trombley describes in the article is going to last any longer at a moderately higher paying job, where there's probably more responsibility? There are people who want to work and those who don't.

Now I wonder, why I don't feel any sympathy or empathy for people who, as you say, just want to pay their heating bill, yet they steal from work, show up hammered, or otherwise drugged-up.

T-Mobile is the only provider to have 5G at my location.

As someone who lived in Midtown, Buckhead, and Kirkwood for 16 years - and moved back home to VT to raise my kids, I feel everything about this post.

And my God that drive sucks. Don’t miss it one bit.

Edit: Peachtree City? Did your family own a golf cart?

It's like the Palmer "chocolate" of Maple Syrup.

For sure, carrying 500 ml of saline or DI is a weight concern for someone carrying a kit in a daypack or backpacking.

I was thinking more like the Base Camp kit would include a sterile water source.

For a lighter weight kit, maybe some Iodine drops/tablets to clean up an unknown water source. Yes, cleaning a wound out with any water is better than none, but a little insurance that you aren't adding bacterial infections in a deep or dirty wound might go a long way in prevention.