• Courtesy of Rikki Snyder | John James

After the summer's devastating flood, it's no wonder that Vermonters are entering autumn thinking about more resilient living spaces. That theme takes many shapes in this issue of Nest, Seven Days' quarterly magazine on homes, design and real estate. In South Burlington, the new Hillside at O'Brien Farm development includes net-zero homes designed to stay powered up even through wild weather. In Shelburne, Teachers Tree Service schools clients on healthy natural environments. In Readsboro, artist Sienna Martz embraces nature with her sustainable, upcycled fabric wall sculptures. Across the state, developers are focused on smart reuse, too: A proposal in Greensboro would revive an old school into affordable housing, while army barracks-turned-college dorms in Colchester will be reinvented once again as apartments. In Barre, lumber from a COVID-19 testing site is being recycled in a Habitat for Humanity home. Necessity really is the mother of invention.