Greetings!

From my first experience at Shelburne Farms at the age of four, I couldn’t get enough of the wonder of those four-legged creatures, the comfort of dirt on my skin, and the magic of wind on my face at the top of Lone Tree Hill. What’s more real than witnessing a calf entering the world, watching a storm roll in over Lake Champlain, walking through knee deep pasture flanked by my father and sister, or the calm of Lucy, the Clydesdale towering over me? Shelburne Farms allowed me to grow up with a deep sense of what was real and important in the world - family, animals, the mountains, and the wind - giving me a sense of personal responsibility for the stewardship of our planet.

By the time I was eight, my sister and I were spending blissful Saturday mornings doing every chore that Donald Campbell, then Children’s Farmyard farmer, would allow. At age eleven, Susie Marchand gave Donald a break by inviting us to join the new Shelburne Explorers 4H Club. This inspired my father to help establish the first Dairy Project at the Farm. I spent 13 years involved in 4H. I was in the Work and Learn Program, and was a seasonal Farmyard Educator for five summers. Shelburne Farms kept me connected to who I was, to my family, and to who I wanted to become.

After graduating from the University of Vermont with a degree in Animal Science and Wildlife Biology, I worked abroad and ultimately returned with a deeper understanding of and commitment to global stewardship. I’m now fulfilling that commitment here — at the Farm. As Assistant Manager of Family Programs, I hope to cultivate in children and their families the same wonder and inspiration that Donald, Susie, and the Farm staff inspired in me. I know that the work I do each day is part of a greater goal, to educate for a sustainable future. It is my great honor to give back to the land and Farm that raised me, taught me, nourished, and nurtured me.

Rachel Cadwallader-Staub
Assistant Family Programs Manager

Join us for our
40th Anniversary Celebration!

Saturday, JULY 28

2012 marks Shelburne Farms 40th year as a nonprofit educating for sustainability! Join us for an evening by the lake with neighbors, friends, and other members of the Farm. A silent auction, too! To benefit our education programs. $25/person; $10/child 3-12. Purchase tickets.

• Reflections & Remarks: 4:00-5:00 pm
• Cookout: 5:30-7:00 pm
• Music: 7:00-9:00 pm

Nourishing Traditions • FREE Series

Thursday-Saturday, JUNE 7-9

Join Sally Fallon Morell, author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, for three days of exploring the importance of organic farming, pasture fed livestock and a diet of traditional foods. Sally is founding president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, and a founder of A Campaign for Real Milk.

Space is limited. REGISTER ONLINE today or contact Tre McCarney, tmccarney@shelburnefarms.org. See Program Details.

The Oiling Of America/The Cholesterol Myths • Lecture

Thursday, JUNE 7 • 7:00 pm • Main Street Landing Theater, Burlington

REAL Milk • Workshop

Friday, JUNE 8 • 9–11 am • Lake Champlain Waldorf School, Shelburne

Traditional Diets • Seminar

Friday, JUNE 8 • 1–5 pm • Coach Barn, Shelburne Farms

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner • Lecture

Saturday, JUNE 9 • 9 am – 2 pm • Burlington High School

Sponsored by: Aqua Vitae Kombucha, The Burlington Weston A. Price Chapter, Dealer.com, Flack Family Farm, Healthy Living, Main Street Landing, NOFA-VT, Rural Vermont, Shelburne Farms, and Vermont Fresh Network.

Researching "greener" pastures

This season, we're partnering with UVM extension agronomist Heather Darby in a field trial to organically improve the soil health and nutrient richness of our pastures. As plants began greening up this spring, we sprayed 75 acres of pasture and hay fields with an organic soil conditioner made of molasses, other sugars, and enzymes. These fields will also be sprayed after each hay cutting with an organic product containing plant nutrients and minor trace elements to stimulate photosynthesis. This research is part of our vision for reducing the need for imported grain for our cows and building a healthy Farm food system.

This research is made possible by a major grant from the Lattner Foundation

Carbon negative energy & biomass talk

Thursday, MAY 24, 3:00 pm. Coach Barn
Event is Free. Register with jpenca@shelburnefarms.org

Hear Dr. Jerry Whitfield of Whitfield Biochar, LLC (Burlington, WA) discuss his current research into developing a technology to convert biomass such as wood chips, wood pellets, chicken litter and rice hulls to elemental carbon ("biochar") and clean, renewable syngas. The syngas is used to create carbon negative thermal energy. The biochar can help improve soil fertility and water quality. Dr. Whitfield is an engineer, entrepreneur and innovator in biomass energy.

Shelburne Farms is part of "Amazing Park Challenge"

This summer, the Champlain Valley Recreation Association is challenging friends and families to get outdoors in area parks. We're one of those stops! Register a team for $25, and receive a passport that grants one-time admission for all your members into pre-selected parks in the Champlain Valley. Complete activity pages and gather stamps in your passport to earn great outdoor gear prizes! Passports are for up to 6 people. Get yours at the recreation departments of participating towns: Burlington, South Burlington, Essex Town & Essex Junction, Shelburne, Charlotte, Milton, Hinesburg, Colchester, Williston

CVRA Amazing Park Challenge Kick-off Party! May 20. Charlotte Beach. 3-5 pm.

Walking trail improvements

"The new walkway is perfect for strollers and walking without worrying about cars passing by!" (from a survey respondent)

Over the next few weeks, we'll be improving the contours and drainage of our new walking trail to help with water quality and to make your experience more "Olmstedian." Bear with us during the renovations! And with our busiest road traffic season now upon us, we ask you to please stick to the paths at all times.

Join a focus group on farms and grassland birds

Wednesday & Thursday, MAY 23 & 24, 5:30-7:30 pm

Want to be part of a relaxed, informal discussion on Vermont farms and grassland birds? Shelburne Farms is cooperating with the University of Vermont and the University of Connecticut on research that is looking for how communities can help support farmers as they incorporate nesting birds and other environmental considerations in their farms' business plans. Help develop a novel, market-based approach to bird conservation in Vermont!

To volunteer, please contact Michael Siers at michael.siers@uconn.edu, 704-277-3086, or Stephen Swallow at stephen.swallow@uconn.edu, 860-486-8579. 10-12 volunteers are needed for each evening. Volunteers must be adults over 18 years of age, and will be reimbursed $40.

Sustainability Academy students speak out

At one of UVM's public seminars on education for sustainability this spring, several students from the Sustainability Academy in Burlington offered their "inside" view. Two fifth graders and a third grader shared (among other things) what they felt was most important about their school:

• Caring teachers who work hard to design lessons that will teach about the many ways sustainability is present in their lives.
• The community and friends from all around the world.
• Helping to design and spending lots of time learning in an outdoor classroom.

You can watch a video of their presentation here.

Shelburne Farms' Sustainable Schools Project is a partner with the Sustainability Academy.

 Shelburne Farms cultivates a conservation ethic for a sustainable future. We are a nonprofit
education center, 1,400-acre working farm, and National Historic Landmark.
1611 Harbor Road • Shelburne, Vermont • 05482 • www.shelburnefarms.org • 802-985-8686