Of course, that could change any second. And when it does, some Westporters will spend plenty of money heating their homes.

Others — not so much.

One difference is energy efficiency — including hard-to-manage and often-overlooked areas like insulation.

Help is at hand. In fact, it has been for a couple of years.

Since March of 2010, over 300 Westporters have taken the “Home Energy Challenge.” That puts us Number One — ahead of 13 other towns — in a contest for the most “Home Energy Solutions” visits and upgrades.

The goal is for 1,000 residents to decrease their energy consumption by 20% by July 2013. It’s a worthy aim — with benefits for your own home, and the environment at large.

Need another incentive to “join the Challenge” — besides the fact that for just $75, you’ll reap hundreds of dollars in savings?

Well, for every home energy upgrade commitment made by the end of February, a blanket will be donated to a family or child in need.

That should warm your heart (and home) too.

(To learn more, and sign up for a Home Energy Solutions visit, click here or call 203-200-0626. Tell ‘em Dan Woog sent you.)

Yikes.

Just 48 hours later, we’ve got 48-mile-an-hour winds (give or take a few gusts).

And this is the scene on the Merritt Parkway, south of Exit 41:

(Photo/Adam Stolpen)

Merritt is, of course, known for killer trees.

Hopefully this one took only a car. Not a life.

The story noted that a panel studying the state’s readiness for future major storms recommended selective burying of electric wires, new utility performances standards (with penalties) — and “dramatically enhanced tree-trimming.”

Well!

As Scott says: “If you thought deer were sacred cows in Westport, just wait till the town or CL&P tries to take down someone’s favorite old tree in the name of public safety.”

Scott says a lot more, too. Here are his thoughts on trees, wind, snow, and What It All Means To Westport:

The birch tree that caught Scott Smith's attention.

Walking my dog recently on the marsh side of Sherwood Island, I came across a stately old white birch that is the biggest I’ve seen. Great shape, full canopy, marbled white trunk as thick as an old oak. Set just off by itself from a grove of other birches, it was encircled by brush, through which rose a tangle of vines that threatened to strangle it.

On my next walk, I tucked a pair of long-handled pruning shears under my coat and brought them with me to the glade. While the dog stood by with a tennis ball in his mouth and a puzzled look on his face, I worked my way around the old tree to nick the strands of wild grape and oriental bittersweet (the nasty invasive vine with bright orange roots) that vied to take it down.

I don’t know if that makes me a vandal of state property, but it sure brands me as a tree hugger.

I’m no arborist, but I have my favorites: trophy trees around town that I marvel at through the seasons. I could easily point out a dozen, even in my own neighborhood, that I consider landmarks, if not old friends, that always catch my eye.

Westport and its surrounds are studded with trees that individually, and all together, are truly one of the great things about living in these parts. It would be cool to see a townwide census of the best specimen trees of all types, to honor them, protect them, appreciate them while they last.

But no doubt about it: We have, ahem, a growing problem with trees.

A Westport scene less than 3 months ago -- right before Halloween.

As CTMirror stated, a key step in better preparedness, a statewide panel recommended, involves recognizing that past vegetation management efforts were insufficient. Fallen trees and limbs were responsible for the bulk of the outages in 2 recent storms, including 90 percent of those during Irene.

CL&P proposed last month that it increase its tree-trimming budget by 10 percent compared with its annual average over the prior decade.

According to CTMirror, the state panel did not recommend a specific increase, but called for a statewide tree risk assessment study. This would be followed by a 5-year collaborative effort among utilities, towns and the state to implement an enhanced tree-trimming program.

CTMirror says the panel also recommended that Connecticut establish a statewide Hazardous Tree Removal Fund. It would provide matching grants to residents, who would help pay to remove trees on private property that pose a risk to electric wires.

I wonder how the Town of Westport will respond to this report. I know we have a tree warden, but I’m pretty sure that’s a puny, patronage-type position. (The warden came by my house a few years ago because I was worried a rotted old maple on town-owned property alongside my driveway might fall on my car; he said he couldn’t do anything unless a tree was an “imminent danger.” The tree fell in the next nor’easter, missing my car but landing on my house.)

An unfortunately familiar scene in the windstorm of 2010.

What Westport needs is not a tree warden but a tree czar. My neighbors on the private street down the way from my house squabble endlessly about who pays for tree maintenance – homeowners or the street association? With every passing storm another towering oak falls across their road and the power lines, taking out our entire neighborhood for a week.

In a way, I don’t blame them – who knows when a time-bomb of a tree will drop? Homeowners’ insurance is sketchy at best, and I know a lot of my neighbors – the retirees, especially – don’t have the $2,000 or $5,000 lying around needed to cut down a big old tree proactively.

I like the idea of a state tree removal fund, but we need someone local with authority, someone who can see the proverbial tree from the forest and act before it’s too late. I imagine the lines of jurisdiction and responsibility and red tape – not to mention hard-core NIMBYism — will be a lot harder to cut through than the vines that swarmed around my pet birch at Sherwood.

Too bad there’s not much need for wooden masts or stout roof beams, or capacity to make homegrown furniture these days. I bet as a resource, the new old-growth forests lording over our houses, streets and power lines are every bit as valuable as the virgin stands harvested by the first settlers 3 centuries ago.

Our tree trouble isn’t going away anytime soon; it will surely get a lot worse, as our forest canopy ages and the nor’easters and hurricanes strengthen. This is the calm before the next storm.

More than any other natural disaster, trees are our earthquakes, our forest fires, our floods. I don’t want to depend on the state, the feds or, god forbid, CL&P.

So what’s our plan?

They're called "killer trees" for a reason. This scene is from the windstorm of March, 2010.

But Wakeman Town Farm is hardly settling down for a long winter’s nap.

There’s plenty going on at the sustainability center on Cross Highway.

For example, registration has just opened for the “Farm Apprentice” program. Middle schoolers learn all about organic farming and gardening through hands-on instruction — from seed to harvest.

Spring session activities include garden planning, seed starting and planting, garden preparation and maintenance, and composting.  Students also help care for chickens, rabbits and bees. (Enrollment is very limited — for more information click here, call 203-557-9195, or email wakemantownfarm@gmail.com)

Orders are still being taken for the winter Community Supported Agriculture program. Run through Winter Sun Farms, the CSA works with small local farms to distribute to distribute delicious frozen and preserved vegetables and fruit.

Members pay in advance for “winter shares.” Pickup is the 2nd Thursday of every month (1-7 p.m.), now through April. (For more information or to join, click here.)

Also in the works: a new WTF website. And a membership program, offering advance sign-up privileges for programs and events, plus discounts.

Finally, this news: Carrie Aitkenhead has ordered 7 gorgeous baby chicks — all different breeds. They’ll arrive in April.

There is indeed plenty new under the Wakeman Town Farm sun. Even if, in winter, it’s up for only a few hours a day.

And then there’s that big, beautiful tree, still hung with tinsel and ornaments. Pretty soon, it too will have to go.

But where?

As usual, the Boy Scouts ride to the rescue.

This Saturday (January 7), Boy Scout Troop 39 will pick up your tree. In keeping with the Scout’s focus on the environment, it will be chipped into mulch and used by the Town of Westport.

To register for this much-needed service, click here.  The tree should be placed by your mailbox by 6:30 Saturday morning.

Tape an envelope with a check (“Boy Scout Troop 39″ ) to your front door. Cash is fine too — hey, Scouts are trustworthy, right?

The suggested donation is $15 per tree, though I’m sure the Scouts would not refuse higher amounts.

After all, the money helps fund Troop 39’s activities, including food drives, community service projects and high adventure backpacking trips.

The Boy Scouts are well known for helping little old ladies across streets.  In Westport, we thank them for helping little old ladies — and strapping young men — dispose of big old Christmas trees.

And he seldom charges for his talents.

For the Wakeman Town Farm’s holiday open house next Sunday (December 11, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., $5) — and a “welcome home” to stewards Mike and Carrie Aitkenhead — he drew inspiration from a famous farm painting: Grant Wood’s “American Gothic.”

As the poster notes, the open house features refreshments, wreath-decorating, games, and a tour of the farmhouse.

What Miggs left out of the poster is that the Town Farm’s new logo will be unveiled there. Mugs, t-shirts and hats with the new logo will be available for holiday gift giving.

And who designed the soon-to-be-seen WTF logo?

Miggs Burroughs, of course.

And they’ll say “thanks” to everyone in town who worked with them to bring former-and-present farm stewards Mike and Carrie Aitkenhead “home for the holidays” with an open farm house.

On December 11 (Wakeman Town Farm, 134 Cross Highway, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., $5), Westporters are invited to raise a cup (cider), and toast both the return of Mike and Carrie and the reopening of the Town Farm to the public.

The Aitkenhead family.

Also on tap:  the unveiling of Wakeman Town Farm’s new logo, designed by  Miggs Burroughs.  Mugs, t-shirts and hats with the new logo will be available for holiday gift giving.

Youngsters can decorate cookies and make gingerbread homes, while adults learn about the Town Farm’s upcoming events:  educational programs, kids’ camps, and internships focusing on sustainable farming.

Welcome home, indeed!

One post showed this photo, from Newtown Turnpike:

Katherine wrote:

There is a strange phenomenon going on where I live in Westport, CT.  It seems everyone in town wants to be a chicken farmer.

Doctors, Wall Street guys, real estate agents, yada yada yada, all seem to have sprung chicken coops in their backyards over night.  Westport is an upscale surburban community about an hour from Manhattan.  Here you would expect the members of the community to exercise too much, travel the globe and get overly involved in their kids sports.

This all may be true but Westport can also be a real small town where people get involved in local causes, care about their neighbors, the environment and appreciate the basics.  I believe Westporters want to make the world a better place and start right here at home.

Now I am not sure what raising chickens has to do with all this but I love receiving fresh eggs from all my friends and taking pics of all the new chicks in town!

Among those chicks:

This one’s from Cypress Pond Road.

Just a few days earlier I’d seen chickens at a friend’s house, on Bayberry Lane.

Clearly, this is a case of chickens coming home to Westport to roost.

Eventually, they’re picked up.  Then it becomes our job to dispose of them.  When was the last time you used the yellow pages?  Or called someone’s land line?

The more environmentally conscious Westporters try to recycle their unwanted phone books.  The other day, “06880″ reader JoAnn Davidson drove to the transfer station, with 10 soggy phone books that sat by her condo mailboxes for at least 2 weeks.

Here’s what she saw:

How these puppies will be recycled is anyone’s guess.

But they’re not letting grass produce grow under their feet.  They’re also busy organizing upcoming events — all the way through the summer.

Weekend gardening workshops for adults will start “sooner rather than later.”

In November Erin Ostreicher, a rising star in the world of flower arranging, hosts a Thanksgiving Centerpiece workshop.  Events include cornucopias, hollowing out pumpkins to fill with flowers, spilling over with gourds and flowers, and more.

December brings a wreath-making workshop, with perhaps a holiday tea and tree trimming event.

Wakeman Town Farm will soon hum with activity.

Looking further ahead, a summer “Junior Farmer Camp” for kindergarteners through 2nd graders (called “Homesteaders”) will include animal husbandry (aka collecting eggs from nesting boxes, plus feeding chickens, bunnies and goats); tending a garden, harvesting veggies and turning them into delicious snacks, and making crafts from whatever the Homesteaders grow.

The camp’s 3rd through 5th graders will do all of the above activities, along with a more intensive botany/animal biology curriculum.  They’ll start plants from seed; do succession planting, harvesting and trellising, and enjoy arts and crafts that are age appropriate for this “more mature” set.

Middle school “apprentices” start before the summer.  Youngsters sign up for the full year (as an after-school activity), with the option of staying on throughout the summer.  They’ll learn about farming from seed to harvest — and all things in between.

High school internships — including the special last-quarter-of school senior internship program — will also continue.

Parks and Rec is promoting many of the Town Farm activities.

Who says there’s nothing new under the sun?

Called “Frazier Forman Peters:  At Home With Stone,” it honors the man who is arguably Westport’s most famous architect.

Frazier Forman Peters

Peters — also a builder, teacher and writer — was born in 1895 to a New York Episcopalian clergy family.  He graduated from Columbia University as a chemical engineer, but quickly grew disgruntled with the industry,

He came to Westport in 1919, hoping to work the land as a farmer.  The rocky soil intrigued him, and he soon found his calling as a designer and builder of stone houses.

Peters’ homes can be found from Virginia to Maine — but most are in Connecticut.  Between 1924 and 1936 he designed and built over 36 stone houses Westport.  His designs are revered for their unique fieldstone wall construction method, as well as their spatial organization and sensitive placement in relation to the natural environment.

Susan Farewell wrote:

Were Frazier Peters to build houses today, he’d be receiving all sorts of accolades for being an architect on the leading edge of environmentally-conscious, energy-efficient, sustainable design and construction.

The thick fieldstone walls (as much as 16 inches) typical of a Peters stone house make them energy-efficient; the stones effectively hold the heat in winter and keep the interiors cools in summer….

He segregated rooms by giving each one a separate identity, and through the use of step-downs, varied building materials, and interesting transitions. He was also taken by how beautifully European stone structures aged and compared them to American-built frame houses that “droop and pout if they are not continually groomed and manicured.”

Another important component of Peters’ designs was the marriage of the house and its surroundings. He wrote a great deal about this and was especially enamored with the brooks, hillsides, and woods of Connecticut.

Adam Stolpen — who lives in a Frazier Peters house — adds:  “He was our first ‘green architect.  And he was completely self-taught.

“These are definitely not cookie-cutter McMansions.  They are homes meant to be lived in.  And each one has a bit of whimsy.”

A Frazier Forman Peters house on Charcoal Hill. (Photo by Alan Goldfinger/Westport News)

The exhibit includes photographs of his houses; artifacts, and a model of stone construction method and materials.

But it would not have come about had it not been for a modern Westporter with an affinity for history — and a connection to Frazier Peters homes.

A few years ago, longtime town volunteer Mollie Donovan wanted a plaque for her son’s family.  Dan and Nicole Donovan had just bought a Peters house near Charcoal Hill — one of Peters’ favorite areas.

Most homes with a historic plaque are at least 100 years old.  But Bob Weingarten — the WHS member in charge of authorizing plaques — realized that the style, beauty, and placement of the Donovans’ house warranted one.

His interest in Peters was piqued.  He searched for other houses.  Each time he found — and verified — one, he sent a note to the WHS (and Mollie).

After a dozen, she decided Peters should be honored too — with an exhibit.

Frazier Forman Peters died in 1963.  Mollie Donovan passed away last April.

But — thanks to both of them — an intriguing, informative exhibition lives on.

So do Frazier Peters’ houses.  According to Bob Weingarten, of the 36 houses he’s found that were designed and built by Peters, only 1 has been demolished.

In today’s Westport, that might be Frazier Peters’ most enduring legacy of all.

(The Westport Historical Society exhibition runs through December 31.  Click here for details.)

Another Frazier Forman Peters house view. (Photo by Alan Goldfinger/Westport News)

Okay, they hoped for 200 people.

Be careful what you wish for.

Starting early, crowds poured across the lawn.  They were hungry for pancakes.

Mike Aitkenhead (left) addresses the overflow crowd at Wakeman Town Farm.

Hungry to say hi to Mike and Carrie Aitkenhead, the once and future farm stewards.

Hungry to experience the farm on a gorgeous fall morning.

John Hooper — owner of Christie’s Country Store just down the road apiece — had been cooking since 5 a.m.  He’d hired extra staff.

His 1st batch — for 60 people — went quickly.

Then another.  And another.  And another.

The WTF’s runner flew back and forth.  It was like the fish and loaves.

The Town Farm organizers loved it — but grew worried.

John never stopped cooking.

Finally — there is only so much pancake batter in the world — John ran out.  The last people waiting in line said, well, “WTF.”  They offered to let the Town Farm folks keep the money as a donation.

And then — another miracle! — John sent over the final pancakes.

Two of the 800 happy pancake breakfast eaters.

It was successful.  It was incredible.  It was a great tribute to the new group running Wakeman Town Farm; to the Aitkenheads; to everyone who believes in community agriculture.

And it never would have happened without John and Renee Hooper, who cooked, hired help, donated condiments, time and love.

Of course, there comes a time to pay the piper food provider.

That time came yesterday.

John had offered to cook up to 200 breakfasts free.  The Town Farm group would cover anything over that, at cost.

Monday afternoon, John sent over his bill.

Uh-oh.

Are you ready?

It was…$0.

Zero.  Nothing.  Nada.

Yes,  Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

His name is John Hooper.

And he lives just an apple’s toss away from Wakeman Town Farm, on Cross Highway.

No matter where you live in Westport, feel free to wander over.

And say, “Howdy, neighbor.  Thanks!“

That Sunday, 4 feet of water filled the streets.  A bit seeped into the garage.  But the house had been raised by the previous owner, so there was no damage inside.

Like the rest of Westport, the Williamses waited for power to return.

At 8:30 Tuesday night, it came back on.

Pumps throughout Saugatuck Shores roared to life at once.  Tremendous pressure filled the sewer line.

A check valve — attached by a hose and clamp — is supposed to prevent outside sewage from flowing back into the tack.

Dan’s clamp failed.  It ripped off the line.  Sewage poured into the tank at enormous speed — and found the closest exit points.  They were a pair of 1st-floor toilets, and a tub.

Sewage shot out “like a volcano,” Dan says.

And it kept coming.

“There was no way to shut it down,” Dan says.  “We tried to shut the power off — nothing worked.”

The house was destroyed.  Everything on the 1st floor was lost.

It finally stopped only when the 130 or so tanks in the neighborhood were empty.

Into the Williams’ house.

His “wonderful” neighbors rushed over.  The used shovels, brooms, mops — anything to get the estimated 6,000 to 9,000 gallons of sewage out of there.

“I can’t thank them enough,” Dan says.

He has harsher words for the sewer line engineers.

“There should have been 2 check valves,” Dan notes.  “In the planning stages, one of my neighbors was an outspoken opponent of only 1 check valve.  And he’s a pump expert — that’s his job.”

A small part of the damage to the Williams' home.

The Williamses — Dan, his wife Stacy, 2 teenage girls and an 11-year-old boy — vacated their ruined home immediately.  They stayed with friends for a couple of weeks.  Now they’re in a rental house.

His kids are “better,” he says.

But Stacy is “an absolute mess.  This was her home, her decorations.  It’s all gone.”

Dan did not go to work for 3 weeks.

“No one knew what to do,” he says.  “We had to figure everything out.  We had to rip the house apart, start reconstruction, get a cleaning company to verify it will be okay — there was so much to do.”

His insurance company was no help.  “They were inundated” after the storm, Dan says.  “Getting someone here was a headache.  It’s been almost impossible to talk to anyone.”

What about the town?

“What about them?” Dan counters.

Brian Thompson — the Public Works Department’s lead engineer on the project — “did a wonderful job holding my hand that night, and the day after,” Dan says.

“But he’s the only one from the town I’ve heard from.”

The pump manufacturer — E/One — has already replaced area residents’ setups with stronger hoses and clamps, Dan says.

No one from the company has contacted him.  “I’m sure they’re lawyered up, waiting for me to come after them.”

Dan says that he has heard the town will put in 2nd check valves — at no cost to homeowners.  However, he adds, “if you haven’t hooked up to the system yet, you have to pay for (the 2nd valve) yourself.”

“We’re coping as best we can,” Dan says.  “On a good day, we can smile.”

Yet, he notes, “I still can’t wrap my head around what I need to do to go forward.

“How do I make sure my family and property will be okay?  Who verifies that?

“Will my house be devalued?  What if someone in my family gets sick?

His family, he says, is “heartbroken.”

Meanwhile, their home has been gutted down to studs and beams.  Rebuilding could take 4 to 6 months.

Reconstruction is underway on the ruined interior.

Insurance covers their rental.  But, Dan says, “they say we’re 100% covered for damage.  But we don’t know.  Can we just buy new furniture?  Will they say our contents were depreciated?

“This is the 1st time I’ve had to deal with tearing a house apart — with deconstruction and reconstruction.”

Dan spends his days talking with insurance agents and lawyers — and trying to talk with town officials.

“There’s not a lot of help,” he says.  “It’s unbelievable.”

“Not a lot of help,” he repeats, unbelieving.

Or, “Why isn’t there another word for synonym?”

He’d love this:  The old blue recycling bins we used are non-recyclable.

Recently, Westporters celebrated the town’s move to single stream recycling.

An alert “06880″ reader writes that she loves her new green mini-dumpster.  But when she asked officials what to do with the now-obsolete blue crates, she was told they can’t be dumped into the mini-dumpster.

Chop them up, she was instructed.  Then put them in the garbage.  They’ll end up in landfill.

Beyond the ridiculous concept of not recycling recycling bins…have you ever tried to make even a dent in one of those blue bins?

Steven Wright would be very, very proud.

"We" recycle. But the bin does not.

The Westporters who now run Wakeman Town Farm are committed to getting Mike and Carrie Aitkenhead back as stewards.  It will cost $20,000 — but the hard-working organizers have added a bit of humor to their fundraising drive.

Consider the Miggs Burroughs-created poster for this Sunday’s (October 2) pancake breakfast:

Yes, that’s Mike and Carrie Aitkenhead — not a dour Iowa farm couple.

What a clever way to promote an event that include pancakes from Christie’s Country Store; nitrate-free bacon and sausage from Graze Delivered; fresh maple syrup, coffee, juice and more — plus goods from local craftsmen and artisanal farmers who will donate part of their proceeds to the farm.

There are games and other activities for the kids.  A prize-winning fiddler.  A raffle for a chicken coop.  (What — you expected tickets to a Yankees game?).

Also:  chickens, pygmy goats and an Angora rabbit.  (For “educational purposes only” — not part of the meal.)

The Aitkenheads will be there, talking about their plans for the property.  They’re eager to hear from the public, too.

And — proving that sustainable agriculture humor is not limited to a Grant Wood poster takeoff — organizer Betsy Phillips Kahn’s email signature reads:  “You’re never too old.  Unless you’re a cheese.”

(The cost of the pancake breakfast is just $5.  If you can’t attend, but want to contribute — any amount — you can make a check out to “Town of Westport,” with “Wakeman Town Farm” in the memo line.  Send to:  Elizabeth Beller, 4 West Ambler Rd., Westport, CT 06880.  For more information, click here.)

Wakeman Town Farm.

According to spokeswoman Elizabeth Beller, the transition team — which also includes Liz Milwe and Cathy Talmage — is working diligently to restore WTF to an “educational center for sustainable living.”  The emphasis is now on education, not farming.

Fundraising is the primary goal.  Once funds are secured, the team plans to go before the Board of Finance to demonstrate its financial viability.  The hope is to do this in early October — at the latest, early November.

An energetic, rapidly growing group of volunteers is working to maintain the farm.  Former steward Mike Aitkenhead and his family are among them.  “We hope they will return as stewards,” Elizabeth says.

“A core group of volunteers is working on a new mission statement, logo, and a signature image,” she added.  “Most importantly, we want the message out there that we are an ‘inclusive’ group, hoping to involve the entire community in our efforts.”

A website is live:  www.wakemantownfarm.org.  So is a Facebook page:  “Wakeman town Farm Sustainability Center.”

Recently, the team visited Ambler Farm in Wilton.  Elizabeth calls it “a thriving, town-owned, school-teacher-as-steward run facility, with a wealth of educational programs, summer camps for kids, and membership opportunities for the entire community.”  It’s a model WTF hopes to learn from.

Mike Aitkenhead (kneeling) and his family will soon be back at Wakeman Town Farm.

Ambler Farm’s steward and a board member spent 2 hours explaining their philosophy and management, giving a tour and answering questions.  “We left the meeting inspired that we could do everything they’re doing at Ambler,” Elizabeth says.

Also ahead:  a summer camp for youngsters; adult (and kid) workshops, and a farming intern program for middle and high school students.

There will be a new flock of baby chicks, and bunnies, in the spring.  Maybe French Angoras — to harvest their wool for spinning into yarn — along with dwarf dairy goats.

The bad news:  The group has to raise $25,000 to cover operating costs for one year.

The good news:  They’re passionate about doing it.  And — like the transition no one thought possible — they’re getting it done.

(The 1st WTF fundraiser is a cocktail gathering this Saturday, September 10, 5-7 p.m. at the Bellers’.  A 2nd fundraiser is set for Sunday, September 25, at the home of Andrea Mathewson.  Tax-deductible donations — payable to “Town of Westport,” with “Wakeman Town Farm” on the memo line — can be sent to Elizabeth Beller, 4 West Ambler Rd., Westport, CT 06880.)

Her father — a naturalist — was into sustainable agriculture long before it became a buzzword.  Her grandfather raised Rhode Island reds, and had a compost garden long before it became popular.

Elizabeth was the weeder.  She loved the fresh vegetables, but the rest — meh.

Elizabeth Beller

For many years as an adult, Elizabeth did not have a garden.  But after moving to Westport 4 years ago she got into yoga and massage therapy.   She saw connections between the human body and what goes into it.

She wanted her children — now 17 and 11 — to understand the food they were eating.  “They needed to know that eggs came from chicken’s bottoms,” she says.

Her kids’ reactions:  “Eeew!”

Undeterred, Elizabeth researched the most effective ways to raise chickens.  A crucial idea:  putting the coop no more than 25 yards from the back door.

Which is how — right outside her West Ambler Road house — Elizabeth is raising 6 adult chickens, and 9 baby chicks.

The 8×8 coop — with an attached 8×16 run — plot is completely deer-proof.  (Woodchuck-proof too, thanks to her dogs.)

The birds are hardy, bred to survive harsh winters.  “They all huddle together,” Elizabeth says.

A few of the Bellers' eggs.The menagerie includes a variety of breeds. They're colorful -- and they lay colorful eggs. Some are green, others chocolate (the color, not the flavor). The bantams lay little eggs -- but they're very rich and tasty.Her eggs, Elizabeth says, "look nothing like the market. They're all different sizes and shapes."

Her families eat the chickens’ eggs — every day.  So do the dogs.  Theirs are fried — resulting, Elizabeth says, in “beautiful coats.”

Leftovers go to the Bellers’ friends.  They are grateful — but they often have questions.

Most common:  “Where’s the rooster?”

“There is none,” Elizabeth replies.  “You need one to make baby chickens — but not eggs.”

A while ago Elizabeth and her daughter Brie decided to chronicle their life.  The result is Simply Chicks, a blog dedicated to all things chicken.

Brie Beller and friend.

“We share our adventures, misadventures and problems,” Elizabeth says.  “It’s nice to hear different perspectives.”  The blog has attracted readers as far as California, Australia and New Zealand.

“Chickens are great pets for kids, especially if they have dog or cat allergies,” Elizabeth notes.  “Chickens are affectionate.  They’re fast too.  Watching kids run after them is better than a swing set.  It’s a game, and kids get totally exhausted.”

Chickens serve another purpose, Elizabeth says.  They allow her family to be part of the food process “without the hassle of a vegetable garden.”

Once you start raising chicks, she adds, you want more.  “It’s like eating potato chips,” she says.

But much healthier.

Today, the Town of Westport takes over Wakeman Town Farm from GVI.

Mike and Carrie Aitkenhead — the couple whose contract as “town farmers” was not renewed, leading to a townwide controversy and the resignation of 5 Green Village Initiative board members — have agreed to volunteer at the farm.

“They will be a very visible presence,” promises Elizabeth Beller, who heads the transition team.

The "GVI" sign may come down, now that the town has taken over operation of Wakeman Farm.

The transition group plans to continue the farm’s popular programs.  Mike’s Staples High School horticulture class will work at the farm; Staples’ Club Green, and the middle school environmental clubs, will also work there after school.

The full transition team will be appointed by first selectman Gordon Joseloff.  Former GVI members will be included.

Already, team members have met with the Board of finance a member of the Friends of Parks and Rec to discuss the umbrella organization that will help the Town Farm retain its not-for-profit status.

Additional meetings are scheduled for early next month.  That will pave the way for a $20,000 fundraiser.

“The Board of Finance naturally has questions about funding and capital expenditures,” Elizabeth says.  “The town wants assurances that the farm won’t cost them anything.  Right now, things look very good, and very positive.”

(A training session, for anyone interested in volunteering at the Wakeman Town Farm, is set for next Sunday, August 28 (9:30 a.m.).  Mike Aitkenhead will lead the session.  For more information, email elizbeller@gmail.com)

Antonella Lisanti’s group — Engineers Without Borders — does good.  But it also makes sure the good survives after it goes.

The 2008 Staples grad — currently a biomedical engineering and pre-med major — has been involved with Yale’s student chapter for several years.  She applied as much for the travel opportunities as anything else.  But after being selected — and getting her hands dirty on a few projects – she was hooked.

Antonella Lisanti builds a latrine with a villager in Kikoo, Cameroon.

A recent experience in Cameroon cemented her belief in the importance of EWB.  The community of Kikoo had always used water from polluted streams.  The result was a continuing plague of waterborne illnesses like gastrointestinal infections and dysentery.

The Yale team designed a water distribution and storage system to alleviate water pollution.  Antonella was involved in latrines.

That’s a lot harder than it sounds.

“We were building latrines with better ventilation, and that are more sanitary,” she explains.  The group spent plenty of time before arriving trying to figure where to place the latrines.  Without cellphone or email access, that’s not easy.

One of the latrines — for an elementary school — was designed with 2 holes:  one for males, one for females.  But when the group arrived, the headmaster said he wanted a 3rd, for teachers.

“There was a lot of negotiating,” Antonella says.  Her group altered their design, reconfigured their supplies, changed concrete slabs, and ultimately provided the village with the latrines it needed — and wanted.

Their work — which included 9 kilometers of PVC piping, and 14 standpipes — did not end there.

“Engineering projects can make people’s lives better,” Antonella says.

“But you can’t go into a developing country with your own agenda.  You can’t just build a latrine; you need training.  And then you have to help the community take ownership of it.”

EWB works with the same communities, year after year.  “They feel these projects are their own,” she says of the villagers.  “We train them on maintenance.  We go back.  We address problems.  We’re really partners with them.”

It's not all work and no play for Antonella Lisanti in Cameroon.

There are over 250 EWB-USA chapters, including 180 on college campuses.  They work on more than 350 projects in dozens of developing countries.

This year, Antonella’s Yale chapter — of which she is now co-president — received EWB-USA’s Premier Project Award.

It’s a tremendous honor.  But Antonella deflects credit, to her fellow volunteers and their mentor, Dave Sacco.  “We learn so much from him,” she says.  “Not just engineering, but thinking on our feet, working with different cultures, learning to navigate community politics.”

Her experience in developing countries has solidified a desire to continue this type of work, focusing on health issues.  After graduating next spring, she hopes to work in the public health sector, before heading to med school.

Antonella’s love for science was nurtured at Staples.  The high school “trained me to be diligent,” she says.  “I learned to stick with things, no matter how difficult — like college, and the trip to Cameroon.”

Westport was “wonderful” to grow up in, she says — “but it’s a small place.”  Going to college made me realize there’s so much more to the world.  I really want to see it.”

College students talk about graduating, and heading out into “the real world.”

Antonella Lisanti has 2 semesters to go.  But in many ways, she’s already there.

(EWB accepts contributions to help fund its projects:  Engineers Without Borders — Yale Student Chapter, PO Box 206615, New Haven, CT 06520.  For more information, email antonella.lisanti@yale.edu).

A new board will be appointed once the transition is complete.

The transition team welcomes involvement from the entire community during the transition, and beyond.  Interested volunteers should email Elizbeller@gmail.com

Westporters are encouraged to volunteer for the Wakeman Town Farm transition committee. (Photo/Inklings)

I would like to express how deeply moved my wife Carrie and I have been by the flood of support we have received from the community.  It has affected our lives in ways I cannot fully express in words.

Ironically, it has taught us the true meaning of what we first set out to create here at the Wakeman Town Farm:  community.

On behalf of my family, we thank you.

The Aitkenhead family

The board of directors of the local nonprofit Green Village Initiative and the office of the Westport Selectman announced today that GVI will end its lease of the Wakeman Town Farm & Sustainability Center.  “The farm and its improvements” will be returned to the town.

Over the past 2 years, the press release says, GVI has invested over $150,000 in the farm.  It has also arranged “in-kind donations from local businesses and (organized) thousands of volunteer hours between the GVI team, Staples interns and Builders Beyond Borders students.”

“We are grateful to GVI for its wonderful generosity in gifting the improvements and for the work it has done to restore the property to a working farm,” said First Selectman Gordon Joseloff.

“Through the application of funds and volunteers, and with the support of literally hundreds of families and local businesses, GVI in two years transformed the Farm into a new historical, refurbished facility that benefits the entire town.”

Added Selectwoman Shelly Kassen, “GVI has never wavered from its commitment to this community.  They are a gem that we can all be proud of.”

Three former GVI board members will continue providing support to the farm by assisting the town with its management.

GVI’s remaining 19 board members will “resume the work of carrying out the group’s mission.”

GVI chairman Dan Levinson said, “we at GVI have decided that the town is the best steward for this project long-term while we dedicate our efforts to other community-building and environmental projects in Westport and surrounding towns.  This outcome is best for the community, best for the farm, and best for GVI.”

Peter Wormser and Liz Milwe — GVI board members who left the board in the controversial decision not to renew the contract of “town farmer” Mike Aitkenhead — will stay active with the farm.

The couple said, “we think this is a great gift that should work extremely well long-term for the farm and the town.  It also works to keep the community and especially the kids involved with the future of The Farm.  GVI’s gift to the Town will be appreciated for generations to come.”

Over the past year, the press release said, the farm “has been managed by Mike and Carrie Aitkenhead, who are departing The Farm.”

The release added:

“The Aitkenheads were a great couple for The Farm and GVI is forever grateful for their hard work and enthusiasm and their good accomplishments at Wakeman’s,” said GVI board member Sal Gilbertie.

“They leave with our sincerest thanks and very best wishes for their continued success and good example to the Westport community.”

So it’s nice to hear this story from alert reader Lori Cochran, director of the Westport Farmers’ Market.

Lori also volunteers at the Humane Society.  Staff members there know the Market collects food for the Bridgeport Rescue Mission and Westport Gillespie Center.

Last week, a Humane Society staffer named Mindy pointed out the Humane Society’s 2 raised beds, used to grow vegetables and herbs to feed rabbits.

Mindy wondered if the Humane Society could harvest them for donation to the Bridgeport Rescue Mission at the Thursday Farmers’ Market.

Could they?  Of course!

“How cool, right?” Lori writes.

“At a time when every non-profit is looking inward at how they will survive, the Humane Society thought about how it can help others.  To me, that is the definition of community.”

And, Lori notes, there are no rabbits at the shelter now.  So no bunnies were harmed in the making of this donation.

Both sides in the GVI Wakeman Town Farm/Aitkenhead dispute met today.

It was, the spokesperson said, “a long, productive meeting with good exchanges.”

There was, however, no resolution.

The GVI rep added:  “Results will be forthcoming.  Everyone is hoping for a positive outcome.”

First, the organization had to establish itself.  What would it do, and how?  Where would it work?  Who would it represent and respond to?

GVI quickly plowed new ground — figuratively and literally.  A community- supported agriculture program took off.  An internship program harnessed the passion of Staples students, who walked over from the nearby high school and poured their hearts into the project.  Films and lectures carried the “environmental and community change” message to people of all ages around town.

The bucolic-looking Wakeman Town Farm was rocked by controversy this week.

But the heart of GVI was the farm and garden.  Under the direction of Staples AP Environmental Studies instructor Mike Aitkenhead — Westport’s 2009 Teacher of the Year — and his wife Carrie, the GVI-renovated farmhouse and adjacent land became the centerpiece of an ongoing, constantly evolving effort that combined a Vermont back-to-the-land sensibility with a Westport education-activism ethos.

Yet all along, GVI occupied a little-understood space in town.  Was it a municipal organization?  Quasi-civic?  Who ran it, and who was run by it?  For a community organization, it seemed to be led by a small group of people who — I often heard — had a “my way or the highway” management style.

(Wakeman Town Farm is, in fact, owned by the town — which leases it to GVI for $1 a year.)

Earlier this month — several weeks before the Aitkenheads’ contract came up for renewal — a faction on the GVI board scrutinized the couple’s stewardship of the farm.  Fault was found in many areas — including, I am told, that one of their young child’s toys was in a community area.

The Aitkenheads cannot speak publicly.  But, I have heard from others, it seems as if their entire lives at the farm had turned into a public event.  I liken it to living at Old Sturbridge Village, 24/7/365.

The Aitkenheads’ contract was not terminated.  It was simply not renewed.

Last October, 10-year-old Charlie Colasurdo cut an environmentally friendly plant ribbon at the Wakeman Town Farm's opening ceremony. (Photo by Annie Nelson/Inklings)

But the effect — on the farm’s many interns, the Staples and Westport communities, even GVI as an important town organization — is the same.

Few people are talking on the record.  At least 4 board members have resigned — quietly.

“06880″ teems with comments.  But — at least so far — no one in a position of authority seems to be listening to the passionate pleas of the hundreds of men, women, teenagers and younger children the Aitkenheads inspired.

In fact, their concerns have not even been acknowledged.

The bond between WTF and the twin communities of Staples and Westport is crucial.  The Aitkenheads — and GVI — have developed more than a farm and a garden.  They’ve created an organic, living entity that — though still in its infancy — shows signs of growing into one of the most important elements of our community “family.”

Yet GVI seems willing to let it die.  Or — perhaps more harshly — seems eager to kill it off.

Several meetings have been held over the past few days, in an attempt to resolve the issue.  As with the Washington budget talks, progress seems impossible.

Much of the “06880″ chatter has focused on the enormous good that Mike and his family have done for WTF, Staples, children, families, Westport — and GVI.

It’s time now to move the discussion in another direction.  We need to ask:

• Is the non-renewal of the contract a done deal?
• Where do leaders of the town — which owns the farm — stand?
• Has GVI lost its legitimacy?  Can it survive?  Should it?
• And where do we go from here?

Farmers don’t like to talk a lot.  They prefer actions to words.

Westporters do talk.  But eventually we act too.

Let’s start hearing some straight, action-oriented talk from everyone.

And then let’s do whatever we can to get the Aitkenheads back on the farm, and the farm back to work.