Robbie Anderman says Middletown was an exceptionally friendly place when he was growing up in the 1950s and 60s.

To me, everyone was helpful, Robbie says, in a phone conversation from his Morninglory Farm in Killaloe, Ontario, Canada.

One of my favorite places was Thrall Public Library, he says. The librarians encouraged and nurtured my love of reading and of books. As the years went by, they also encouraged my looking beyond my school assignments to do deeper research from the librarys collection.

In 2017, Robbie wrote and published The Healing Trees: The Edible and Herbal Qualities of Northeastern Woodland Trees and recently donated a copy to Thrall in gratitude.

Robbie was born in Middletown in 1948 and graduated from Middletown High, now the Twin Towers Middle School, in 1966.

We lived at the corner of Linden Place and Linden Ave and we walked everywhere, he says. I played French horn in the band and lettered on the soccer, swimming and tennis teams.

My father was a dentist, he says. And I had friends from all corners of the city.

After graduation, he headed off to Haverford College where his love for nature came to the fore.

They have a great arboretum there, he says. Including the offspring of the original William Penn Treaty elm tree. Its a wonderful place.

He transferred to Rochdale College in Toronto and honed his natural food cooking skills at a restaurant in Woodstock, N.Y. Robbie then spent six weeks in Bethel setting up campsites and a free kitchen to serve music lovers at the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in 1969.

A friend came up from Middletown and told me about this music festival that was planned outside of town, Robbie says. To me it was more of a demonstration of peace rather than anti-war, so I came down and helped out.

It was the co-operation, sharing, and feeding each other while enduring challenging weather and enjoying great music, he says.

Robbie was also a member of the Please Force and the Hog Farm and recently donated an armband to the Museum at Bethel Woods.

He returned to Canada, settled in Killaloe, in the Ottawa River valley, and co-founded a 100-acre land-based off-grid community that is still his home today. His love of nature grew and Robbie developed into an orchardist, nurseryperson, tree pruner, luthier, woodwind musician, off-grid forest homesteader, sustainable tree harvester and tree herbalist.

Land up here was pretty inexpensive back then, he says. Thats how we ended up here.

Fast forward 50 years and Robbie and his wife, Christina, were recently nominated for the Canadian National Farmers Union Hall of Fame.

Today, he works with his adult son, Ethan, and Christina in their pear and apple juice, cider and vinegar business; shares his organic orcharding and gardening knowledge and experience with visitors and offers tree medicine workshops.

But its the helpfulness of the Thrall Library workers of the 1950s and 60s that stuck with him.

Im grateful for all I learned there that helped lead me towards writing and publishing my book, he says.

John DeSanto is a freelance photojournalist. Find more of his 845LIFE stories, photos and videos at recordonline.com. Reach John at jjdesanto@gmail.com

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845LIFE: Library nurtured Middletown natives love of reading - Times Herald-Record