Contacts:
Kelly Loftus, Agency of Agriculture, (802) 828-3829

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Montpelier, Vt. - Julius Caesar was the Father of Leap Year and originated leap year in 45 BC. The early Romans had a 355 day calendar and to keep festivals occurring around the same season each year a 22 or 23 day month was created every second year. Julius Caesar decided to simplify things and added days to different months of the year to create the 365 day calendar, the actual calculations were made by Caesar's astronomer, Sosigenes. Every fourth year following the 28th day of Februarius (February 29th) one day was to be added, making every fourth year a leap year.

“It’s not often that we are given the gift of time. This extra day gives all of us a chance to catch up on things we’ve been meaning to do,” said Roger Allbee, Secretary of Agriculture. “We hope agricultural will be part of your leap year plans. ” We have 29 suggestions to help you celebrate leap year…

1) Book your CSA share
2) Reserve your local leg of lamb for Easter
3) Start your tomato plants inside (29 of course)
4) Help your farm neighbor shovel his roof
5) Make plans to visit a Maple Producer during Maple Open House Weekend
6) Try 29 different Vermont cheeses
7) Eat a Maple Creamie
8) Visit a ski resort and dine on a Ski Vermont Cheeseburger
9) Toast leap year with a local wine
10) Buy a pair of llama or alpaca mittens for the final 29 days of winter
11) Drink 29 ounces of milk
12) Knit up a special gift with Vermont wool
13) Take your sweetie to dinner at a Vermont Fresh Network Restaurant
14) Make your reservations to stay at a VT Farms! establishment
15) Make sure you have 29 Vermont Specialty Food items in your pantry
16) Order 29 chicks for your backyard chicken co-op
17) Subscribe to Agri-View - the Agency’s newspaper
18) Take the family for a horse-drawn sleigh ride
19) Become a Localvore for the day.
20) Join a 4-H Club
21) Visit a winter Farmer’s Market
22) Make a pie with Vermont apples
23) Check out the Agency’s new and updated website
24) Join your local Co-op
25) Get your fairs and field days passes
26) Are you a farmer? Spend the day developing a strategic business plan for the upcoming year
27) Grow 29 varieties of vegetables and enter them in the fair contest this year
28) Go horse back riding
29) List 29 things to keep Vermont agriculture strong

To learn more about agriculture in Vermont, visit www.vermontagriculture.com