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Join us! Of Land and Local Art Exhibition & related events through October 26 

Presented by Burlington City Arts 
October 2014 Newsletter

"A great pumpkin is the solid foundation for your pie," says our Pastry Chef and recipe author Ashley Taylor. The Inn closes for the season Oct.19.

Upcoming Programs 

Some highlights:

Sat., Nov. 1
"Button Up" your home this fall by air sealing, insulating, and preparing for winter. Stay warmer, save money, and combat climate change! Submit a brief video by Oct. 19 to inspire action: Button Up Video Contest!

Shelburne Farms is a partner in Brighter Vermont, building a better energy future. Today.

Study Tour of Quebec Agritourism

October 29 & 30
Join fellow farmers, food business owners, hospitality entrepreneurs and educators to learn directly from the people who make Quebec's Eastern Townships a vibrant agritourism destination. Learn more and register.

Shelburne Farms is an organizing partner of this event.

Catalog is Coming

But you can find all our products online (including lots of new ones), all to support our work educating for a sustainable future. 

 

Food Hub Certificate

The University of Vermont recently announced a new certificate program in Food Hub Management. We're proud to have been part of the team that developed this great new opportunity.

Vermont Traditional Foods & Health

If you couldn't make it to any or all of this symposium in September, you can now find all the presentations on YouTube.

What We're Reading 

 

I'm used to operating chainsaws and tractors, but I'd never used them for art! 

Finding and cutting just the right pole trees for Nancy Milliken's environmental art installation this summer was certainly a change from harvesting firewood or lumber. Luckily, we had several Norway maples the perfect size for her sailing masts. Removing these invasive trees would help the woods, too. In July, we cut 25 crooked masts and brought them to the Breeding Barn where Nancy established her work space. 

There, she wove wool from our spring shearing through nylon webbing, then attached these graceful sails to the masts. In September, I drove the tractor equipped with a post hole digger and front end loader, and a crew of five planted them in the field east of the Inn. Windscapes was born.

It was inspiring to be part of this project and to see a creative vision take shape--uniting agriculture and art. It's a special way that the Farm can spur conversation around working landscapes. Hope you make it to the show. 

 

Best,

Marshall Webb

Woodlands Manager 

 

Watch this great exhibit preview by WCAX-TV.

October = Farm to School!

For National Farm to School Month, grab your camera and enter VT FEED's photo contest! Anyone involved with a Northeast Farm to School program is invited to enter an original photo sharing what you love about Farm to School. Entries due Oct. 22. Read about the successes of the movement in this blog by VT FEED Program Director Betsy Rosenbluth. You can also find other ways to get involved.

New Preschoolers at Farm

On Thursday afternoons this fall, we've chartered the King Street Red Bus to bring preschoolers from Burlington Children's Space to our all-outdoor Adventures program! We're committed to making our programs accessible, and this opens the Farm to kids who might otherwise not get here. Several BCS educators have attended our Project Seasons for Young Learners workshop, so the partnership is a natural, extending continued professional learning opportunities for staff. We look forward to nurturing this budding relationship.

The Farm at Slow Food

Next week, our Public Relations and Marketing Director Vera Chang will represent the farm and state as a Slow Food USA delegate to Terra Madre in Turin, Italy. It's Slow Food International's biannual gathering of people passionate about good, clean, fair food, with over 1,000 exhibitors and 300,000 participants from 130 countries. To share a taste of Vermont, we're participating in the Vermont Farmstand, sponsored by Slow Food Vermont and the VT Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets. We'll hear from Vera in our blog when she returns! 

Educators Share Hope

"When educators gather, something amazing happens that equals more than the sum of its parts. Some say it is when 2+2 = 5, but I like to think about when 2+2= Magic! That's what happened October 2nd at the Coach Barn at Shelburne Farms." Read more of Director of Professional Development Jen Cirillo's blog of this event.

Inspired in Puerto Rico 

"Laughter, clapping, and salsa music filled the air as students in Caguas, Puerto Rico enthusiastically guided us through their schools and got us to play local games like gallitos and Chequi Morena." Read more of educator Ryan Morro's blog on the Institute for Democratic Education in America's mini-summit on education reform.

Member Spotlight

People like you make Shelburne Farms possible. We're so grateful.

Having grown up in Vermont, I have seen many changes in our environment. I remember summers as a kid, swimming in Lake Champlain, with no thought of the algae blooms that plague it today. We need to teach people how to take care and treasure the world we live in, and expose young people to the wonders of nature. This is what the Farm does best. It is a beautiful place, with its eye on a sustainable future. I am happy to have included Shelburne Farms in my estate planning.

- Bill Coon, Stewardship Legacy Circle Member Starksboro, VT

Shelburne FarmsShelburne Farms  is a nonprofit organization educating for a sustainable future. Our campus is a 1,400-acre working farm, forest, and National Historic Landmark.  www.shelburnefarms.org * 802-985-8686