29 Sep News from Experienced Goods October 2022
It happens every year. The light shifts in the evening and suddenly it’s too dark to use the grill for supper. The sun rises too late for me to safely go for my morning run (at least not for my comfort level), so I have to come up with another way to get aerobic exercise, even if that means joining the gym again. I have pulled up my lovely garden that produced so many luscious tomatoes and cucumbers and zucchinis; now the remaining kale plants look like so many miniature palm trees, waiting for me to mix them into braises and soups. It is noticeably cooler: Flannel sheets are back on the bed and the cats sleep pressed up against me all night.
At Experienced Goods we started putting out fall jackets and sweaters in August when the temperatures were still in the 80s and 90s, which seemed crazy at the time, but customers scooped them up, ready for the textures, fabrics and colors of autumn even though the weather outside was still screaming tank tops and shorts. There is such pleasure in a new season of styles and materials. I feel lucky, living in Vermont, to get to experience the thrill and anticipation of a whole new set of weather phenomena every few months. When I pull out my winter clothes and boots, it’s almost like getting a new wardrobe, or at least reacquainting myself with clothes that are like old friends.
We are also so lucky to have so many options when it comes to clothing ourselves. I was talking with one of our volunteers who, like me, loves to sew her own clothes, except that she claims to be afraid of sewing machines and so makes all of her garments by hand. Completing a hand-sewn garment is a lengthy endeavor, and we were both in awe of the amount of work that went into the production of clothing before the invention of sewing machines. Two hundred years ago, elaborate gowns, finely tailored suits, even everyday clothes, took weeks and hundreds of thousands of tiny hand stitches to complete. The average person may not have had more than one or two new outfits a year, and then only when the old ones wore out. Many of us today are so cavalier with our shopping habits, buying “fast fashion” that is relatively cheap and may only last through a few washings. When a donation of vintage clothing comes into Experienced Goods, I am amazed by the attention to detail and the complexity of design and how well made the garments are. These are clothes that have lasted for decades and possibly been worn by several owners, and they come to us still beautiful and evoking another era, but ready to be worn and enjoyed again.
Fall weather also heralds that most thrift store of holidays, Halloween! Once again, we have been saving costumes and home décor to fulfill your spookiest and most elaborate Halloween fantasies. It’s never too early to start planning your costume or designing your trick-or-treat front porch tableau. We have shelves of witchy, pumpkin-y tchotchkes and racks of costumes to spark your imagination. You can count on the staff at the shop to be dressed up on Saturday the 29th, and the store should be hopping with shoppers putting together the perfect costume.
The other big news from Experienced Goods is that we are now taking donations Tuesday-Saturday from 11-3. We had reduced our donation time to one day a week when we reopened during the pandemic in July of 2020. Since opening the new store at 80 Flat Street, we had been taking donations on Saturdays only, but recently decided to resume taking them daily for the convenience of donors and to help us streamline processing. This is great news not only for donors, but for staff and shoppers as well! We want donating to be a smooth, enjoyable process that fits into everyone’s schedule and allows us to continue to bring quality recycled goods to all.
If, like me, you have said goodbye to your garden for another year and are maybe admiring the colorful jars of canned vegetables on your pantry shelves, kick back, relax and start planning your winter reading, knitting or (maybe) sewing list. I have a basket of green tomatoes sitting in my kitchen waiting for me to make pickles this weekend, a last little embrace of the beauty of summer. Then it’s on to imagining and making my Halloween costume . . . who will she be this year? You will just have to stop by the shop on the 29th and see!
~Jennie Reichman