birnam wood games

Birnam Wood Games
Independent Game Developers

Birnam Wood Games is a small gaming studio located in, you guessed it, Burlington, Vermont! We love that they call BTV their home.

Have an idea for a game? or an app? Let this team create it for you. BWGames will design it and develop it from scratch just like they have for Seven Days, Echo, JDK, Efficiency Vermont and Superconductor.

Or just try one of their own games:

– 8Bitfit – mobile game you win by running and walking – as in actually running (currently in beta)
– Loc – 3D puzzle game. See how it works here.
– Pathogen – turn based strategy game to be released Fall 2013

Birnam Wood Games is one to watch!

p.s. keep an eye out for 8Bitfit & Pathogen – they’ll be released this fall!

buy local. buy vermont.

This great infographic says it all.

Click to Enlarge Image

Why Buying Local is Worth Every Cent Infographic by CustomMade

mad river food hub

mad river food hub
supporting local food producers

The Mad River Food Hub in Waitsfield is a fully licensed, 40,000 sf storage, processing and distribution facility. Within Vermont, it was the first:

• for profit food hub
• shared use state-inspected meat processing facility

This is just the kind of partnering that Vermont needs to support our producers so they can continue to make and sell their made in Vermont foods for us all to enjoy. It allows small scale producers to share costs and grow their businesses. Producers can:

• rent a room by the day or weekly
• rent dry, refrigerated or frozen storage space
• become part of the weekly distribution to retail markets in vermont

Currently, the following producers are taking advantage of what the hub has to offer, you probably know of a few these and notice many are outside of the Mad River Valley:

• Kingsbury Market Garden
• Lawsons Finest
• The Vermont Meat Co.
• Knoll Farm
• Gaylord Farm
• Vermont Raw Pet Food
• Vermont Bean Crafters
• Vermont Yak
• Screamin Ridge Farm
• Starbird Fish Co
• Tannery Farm
• Rookies Root Beer
• Tonewood Maple
• Vermont Salumi
• Apple Cheek Farm
• New Village Farm
• Tangle Town Farm
• Liz Lovely Bakery
• Vermont Pub & Brewery
• Zero Gravity
• Prime Restaurant Group
• Bobcat Brewery
• Luna Bleu Farm
• North Branch Farm
• VT Whey Fed Pigs
• Winter Moon Farm
• Grow Compost

This food hub is a win win for producers, consumers and the Vermont economy.

Thank you Mad River Food Hub for doing your part in supporting local business and bringing these made in Vermont products to a store near us!

live-timing

live-timing
bringing your races to the world

can’t get to a ski race but want to know who’s winning? At the race, on the hill, not near the scoreboard? live-timing will let you know everything about that racer coming down the course – in real time! Watch the clock, second by second, on your phone, in your office or at home.

Live-timing will let you know:

• upcoming races & entries
• who’s currently on course
• racer’s bib number, team, class
• who’s finished, dnf’d or dq’d
• race results (unofficial) in real time
• race status messages

Isn’t technology great? You can watch races all over the world as long the club or resort is using split-second software in real-time. Once you get used to the convenience and information live-timing gives you, you’ll wish every race hill in the world was hooked up!

And yes, Live-timing is based in Vermont.

three revolutions

Three Revolutions
put your money where your mouth is

So by now everyone has heard of kickstarter, right? well, Three Revolutions is similar to kickstarter but it’s focus is food. And for those of us who love Vermont, want to buy Vermont, Three Revolutions is based in Vermont! They “fund food through community” and it is the first crowdfunding platform focused on farm and food related projects.

Not sure how it works? Take a look here where they outline the process:

• planters sow ideas
• pollinators spread the word
• cultivators fund planters so they can grow their ideas to fruition

We all have to eat. So why not go and take a look at the current projects and consider funding a food innovator that will bring something good to your table or town?

Will you be a planter, a pollinator or a cultivator?

ursa major

Ursa Major
Super natural skin care for men

Yes. Skin care for men. Their skin is different and should be treated differently than women’s skin. Exercising and eating right make the top of the list when caring for one’s body. But do men think about what they are putting on their body?

They should. The vast majority of products out there are made almost exclusively from water and synthetic chemicals, including some unhealthy ones. Learn more!

Ursa Major is a premium, natural and effective line of skin care products just for men. You won’t find any chemicals or fillers in these products, only:

• premium natural ingredients (98.5-100%)
• 50% organic ingredients (average across the line)
• subtle aromas (whole blends of essential oils)
• locally sourced ingredients from small sustainable farms (when possible)

Ursa Major products are better for your skin (and the environment). Look at all these testimonials from some pretty big magazines and retailers. And Ursa Major products are “made with passion, pride and purpose in the USofA”.

You can buy any of their products online or find a shop near you!

Get that guy in your life switched over to Ursa Major.

vermont independent bookshops

Vermont Independent Bookshops

Today is Black Friday and the eve of Small Business Saturday. Instead of heading to the big box stores, check out one of our very own independent booksellers:

bartleby’s books & music – wilmington
bear pond books  – montpelier & stowe
bennington bookshop – bennington
better planet books – st. albans & bristol
book nook – ludlow
boxcar and caboose – st. johnsbury
bridgeside books – waterbury
briggs carriage bookshop – brandon
brown dog books & gifts – hinesburg
cover to cover ltd – randolph
crow bookshop – burlington
ebenezer books – johnson
everyone’s books – brattleboro
flying pig bookstore – shelburne
galaxy bookshop – hard wick
green mountain books & prints – lyndonville
hopkins bookshop – burlington
misty valley books – chester
next chapter bookstore – barre
northshire books – manchester center
norwich bookstore – norwich 
phoenix books – burlington & essex
rivendell books – montpelier
ryan books inc – johnson
shiretown books – woodstock
stardust books & cafe – craftsbury
tempest bookshop – waitsfield
vermont bookshop – middlebury
woodknot bookshop – newport
village square booksellers – bellows falls
yankee bookshop – woodstock

We are so lucky to have so many to choose from.

Buy Local. Support our indie booksellers!

(know of one that’s missing? please let us know)

prmot.it

Prmot.it
Empowered Social Promotions

This new B2B Vermont startup is all about getting you sales! They’ll help your company run mobile and socially optimized promotions to connect you with a broader customer base.

Their end-to-end promotional system will help you design, distribute, and track Coupons, Contests, Sweepstakes, and other promotions, across your social network. Then, their SharePower feature will help your promotion to go viral, and reach a much broader customer base.

Once you have created your promotion, you’re able to track performance, customer demographics, distribution, and more from your Prmot.it dashboard. And, best of all, every coupon distributed is a high-quality lead for future marketing and incentivising.

So, if you want:

• valuable leads
• to grow your sales
• to spend less money on advertising
• to spend less time on social media
• to reach more people

Prmot.it is the solution for your business. They’re free for the first 30 days, so you have nothing to lose, and only leads and sales to gain!

the expeditioners

the expeditioners and the treasure of drowned man’s canyon
by s.s. taylor

vermont is more than beautiful views and amazing startups. it’s also home to many authors!

sarah stewart taylor’s (writing as s. s. taylor)  new book “the expeditioners and the treasure of drowned man’s canyon” is being released this weekend.

set in the future, when there is no more internet, “the expeditioners” has everything a young adventure reader wants in a book:

• maps
• mystery
• disappearances
• secrets
• fame
• wild riches
• smuggling
• exploration
• intrigue

just read chapter one and you’ll see – you’ll want to read what happens next.

“Full of kid power, clues, codes and maps, this will appeal to sophisticated readers who appreciate their adventure served with heaping helpings of cleverness.” -kirkus reviews

with wonderful illustrations by center for cartoon studies (which is in vermont, btw) graduate katherine roy, young readers will find her visual interpretation of the characters and scenes quite compelling.

sarah has a fun website too – readers can design their own maps of the world as well as their own explorers vests.

want a copy? order here or better yet, come meet sarah at these book signings this weekend:

• nov 17   2-4 p.m.    norwich bookstore norwich, vt
• nov 23   11 a.m.      bear pond books montpelier, vt
• dec   7    5-8 p.m.    center for cartoon studies first friday holiday open house
• dec   9    2-4 p.m.    misty valley books chester, vt

check here for more events.

buy local. read local.

meal train

meal train
support friends, strengthen communities

exactly as the name suggests, this website organizes meal trains – a train of meals made and delivered to friends and family who currently need help. think of your community, perhaps there is someone right now who:

• had a baby
• had surgery
• has an illness

their energies are no longer focused on food shopping and cooking. so delivering meals is a great way to take away that burden and allows you to help this person/family during this time. it’s a win-win all the way around.

meal train is the most efficient and effective way to organize meal deliveries. it’s all about scheduling and organizing in one convenient place.

you can either start a meal train for yourself or for someone else. when you make a meal train you are creating:

• an interactive, online meal calendar
• invitations to share via email and Facebook
• customized calendar dates, times, and meal preferences
• reminder emails prior to scheduled mail delivery

everything – dates, who’s delivering, what’s cooking – is all in one place. they even have useful information on mail train etiquette. magazines such as real simple have highlighted meal train as a daily find problem solver.

you probably know someone right now who needs to have their meals delivered. make them a meal train and allow their friends and family to support them.

take a look at what meal train has done so far:

• over 750,000 meals organized
• over 80,000 families helped in the u.s. and beyond
• over 2,500 meals organized most nights.

oh and by the way – meal train is free and yes, they’re located in vermont!