Every gift received by December 31, 2024 will help unlock an additional $5 million for the Coach Barn project, thanks to a Robert W. Wilson Trust challenge grant.
When we launched the nonprofit in 1972, we envisioned Shelburne Farms as a beautiful working farm and inspiring education center where young people and community members could have lifechanging experiences. Today, our activities and impact have amplified exponentially. It’s amazing how much can come together under one organization and in one place.
To advance our vision, we have been working quietly over the past several years on the Campaign for Shelburne Farms. You can read about the elements of the $50M Campaign in these pages or on our website. Thanks to our amazing Board, dedicated volunteers and staff, and generous lead supporters, we’re almost there.
We now have less than $1M to raise, and a major challenge in front of us! If you help us close the gap on our Campaign goal by December 31, 2024, we will receive an additional $5M for the Coach Barn project, thanks to a Robert W. Wilson Trust challenge grant!
Please consider making a special gift to the Campaign for Shelburne Farms. It is making so much possible, and your support is critical right now. We’re counting on gifts of all amounts from you, our community, to help us meet the challenge.
Thank you for your generosity, and for being a part of Shelburne Farms!
With gratitude,
Alec Webb, President
The $50M Campaign will deepen the nonprofit’s educational impact and secure its inspiring landscape to share with generations to come.
1 Increase our educational impact
Launching the Institute for Sustainable Schools, forging new collaborations with partners like UVM, and improving the Coach Barn.
2 Enhance our historic campus as a welcoming, living classroom Conserving a critical, beautiful area of the farm, stabilizing and protecting magnificent buildings, upgrading infrastructure and staff housing.
3 Support a thriving future for the farm and planet Increasing endowment for organizational stability, building staff capacity, and advancing climate action.
The Campaign is supporting the Shelburne Farms Institute for Sustainable Schools as the hub for all our professional programs and resources for educators. That includes seed capital to expand online classes, create new Education for Sustainability Graduate Certificate Programs together with the University of Vermont, and expand program research, evaluation, and communications.
As home to the Institute, the Coach Barn is another pillar of the Campaign. Beloved as a community gathering space as well as an educational one, it has had few improvements over the years. The Campaign is supporting essential system upgrades (electrical, lighting, fire suppression, and security systems). That’s just a start.
1 Increase our educational impact
In all our education programs and community gatherings, farm-grown food is part of the curriculum— harvesting it, preparing it, and eating it! The Coach Barn renovation will create a completely redesigned kitchen and food service area to better support workshops, community events, and gatherings.
“The Farm to School Institute is a chance to come together as a team, realign with our mission, dream, and plan—all in a beautiful place with incredible food. That’s not usually what you get in professional development, but you get it at Shelburne Farms.”
— Walter Huston, Principal Gill Elementary School, Gill, MA
The Northeast Farm to School Institute kickoff at the Coach Barn.
2 Enhance our historic campus as a welcoming, living classroom
The Campaign is delivering on Shelburne Farms’ long commitment to conserving land and infusing historic spaces with new purpose. It will conserve an especially beautiful, productive area of the farm called “Windmill Hill” (pictured above). That special area in the heart of the farm will support farming, wildlife, education programs, and an expanded walking trail system for connecting to the working landscape.
The farm’s historic buildings are integral to the experience of this place and their ongoing care is being supported by the Campaign, to enrich visitor experiences and learning opportunities.
Less visible, but no less critical, are the physical systems that support this campus for learning: water systems, staff housing, and landscape improvements. The Campaign is supporting all of this work, too.
Shelburne House & Formal Flower Gardens
The Shelburne Farms Inn, sometimes called “Shelburne House,” was originally built in 1888, and as an historic structure, it requires ongoing improvements and repairs. The Campaign has supported renewal of the beautiful flower gardens to enhance the visitor experience, as well as chimney repairs, lightning protection, and building infrastructure upgrades that include improved accessibility and renovations to its commercial kitchen.
Windmill Hill is being conserved as part of the Campaign.
The reshingling of the Breeding Barn and related exterior repairs have been made possible by the Campaign.
It requires tremendous resources—currently $14 million annually—to operate an education nonprofi t of this scope on an historic property of this scale. The final Campaign component supports endowment—the resources that will allow the organization to anticipate and respond to future challenges with thoughtfulness, strength, and flexibility. It also includes building staff capacity and resiliency at all levels of the organization for continued stability.
“No other place I know combines such stunning natural beauty with a quiet groundswell of commitment to planetary thinking and doing.”
— Julia Alvarez, writer and former Board member
3
Support a thriving future for the farm and the planet
Workers drilled down 500 feet to install ten vertical metal pipes as part of the Coach Barn’s geothermal system—an efficient, fossil-fuel free climate solution.
Climate change is the challenge of our time. Campaign funds are strengthening our climate education programs across the organization, and are helping us plan for and begin projects to move Shelburne Farms towards Net Zero by 2028. This includes a new geothermal heating/cooling system being installed at the Coach Barn. Drilling for that project was done this fall (photo at left).
Educators in our Climate Resiliency Fellowship program spent a fall weekend on Hurricane Island in Maine, seeing firsthand the impacts of warming waters and the work that’s underway to build more resilient, sustainable maritime communities.
What’s happening around the farm?
Farm Barn wall restoration
A Save America’s Treasures grant to rebuild the barn’s courtyard walls
Since 1890, the Farm Barn has been the nerve center of Shelburne Farms, and the breathtaking building that first welcomes you. Now, thanks to a new Save America’s Treasures grant, we’ll be restoring its historic courtyard walls.
The $500,000, subject to a dollarfor-dollar public match, will help this signature barn continue to safely welcome people to our learning campus and the many education programs that begin at its doors.
The Farm Barn is one of the four principal buildings, all designed by Robert H. Robertson, that earned Shelburne Farms recognition as a National Historic Landmark District in 2001. (The Breeding Barn and Coach Barn have also received Save America’s Treasures grants.)
The barn’s courtyard walls, made of local redstone, define one of the farm’s most public spaces, but a lot of their mortar has failed, allowing water to compromise and weaken their structural integrity. With the grant, we’ll completely rebuild the walls and better accommodate all the visitors who enjoy activities both in and outside the courtyard. Work is planned for 2025.
Biochar: hype or hope?
In August, we convened a full-day roundtable on “Biochar’s Role in Climate Change: Beyond the Hype.” More than 30 professionals from state and federal agencies, nonprofi ts, farms, and businesses gathered to tour the farm, then discuss and advance the collective understanding of the role of biochar in restoring degraded soils, enriching agriculture, and sequestering carbon. The gathering supported a growing network of biochar experts. This season, we again applied biochar to our manure pits, then spread it later on our fields.
More on biochar on our website
What is Biochar?
Biochar is a kind of charcoal made by heating biomass (tree trimmings or plants) in an oxygen-limited environment so that the carbon in the plants is trapped in the biochar left behind, not released into the air. Added to soil, biochar keeps that carbon stored for many, many years. Biochar is known as a “negative emissions technology” because of this sequestration.
Featured 2025 Programs, PreK-12
Education for Sustainability (EFS)
Programs offered in partnership with the University of Vermont
Foundations in EFS
JULY 7–11
A dive into social-ecological systems, strategies for elevating youth voice, and making change.
Immersion in EFS
JULY 22–24
A time to reflect, learn, and collaborate with colleagues on EFS.
EFS Leadership Academy
YEAR–LONG, BEGINS JULY 29–31
Aligning education towards achieving sustainability.
EFS Graduate Certificates MULTI–YEAR
Listed courses are core requirements
More Programs
Forest for Every Classroom
YEAR–LONG, BEGINS SUMMER
Develops hands-on experiences in the landscape for your curriculum.
Northeast Farm to School Institute
YEAR-LONG, BEGINS JUNE 24–26
School teams build action plans with lasting impact on classrooms, cafeterias, and communities. Offered with NOFA-VT. June 23–27:
Adaptation Program for state teams
Cultivating Joy & Wonder
JULY 14–18
Inspiring early childhood educators with fresh ideas for connecting to farms, food, and nature.
ABCs of Farm-Based Education
MARCH AND OCTOBER
A three-day workshop to help farmers engage and inspire visitors.
shelburnefarms.org/programs for all 2025 programs for educators
Educators recharge to bring new ideas to the academic year
Nearly 400 educators joined us this summer for programming and community to enrich their curricula and inspire their students.
In June, we celebrated the Education for Sustainability Graduate Certificate Class of 2024! (See in listing at left). These graduates completed several years of coursework to deepen their expertise in bringing sustainability to life for learners.
Every summer, educators find inspiration, joy, and connection in our landscape and teaching, and most importantly with one another. It’s a winning formula that ultimately transforms classrooms and students.
Because of his time with us, Mark Garner, a science teacher in Blairstown, NJ (in baseball cap above), is planning to establish a climate-resilient forest on school grounds as a site for students to plant climate-adapted tree species, study best practices in forest management, and collect data over time. “I’m hoping students will help document the changes and stories of the land,” says Mark.
“I started at Shelburne Farms camp when I was six or seven. It created the person I’m meant to be. Now I just want to recreate what I love about the farm for these kids.”
— Elijah Hines Shelburne Farms seasonal educator and former camper
Celebrating Cheese Week
As founding members of the Vermont Cheese Council, we were thrilled to join cheesemakers across the state to offer special programs on all things cheddar, on top of our programs that do that every day!
At one of our Cheese Week programs, Creamery Manager Andi Wandt shared her expert tips on how to create a delicious cheese board. A highly condensed version is below.
Four Steps for a Delicious Cheese Board
Choose 3-4 cheeses: 1 to 1-1/2 oz per person per cheese. “Something old, something new, something goat, and something blue.” (Old=aged; new=young.)
Choose 3 elements per bite for pairings: Cheese + accoutrement + vessel. Contrast textures or flavors, or use complementary flavors (smoked cheddar with bacon). “What grows together goes together.” (Vermont apples with cheddar!) Fruits, olives, tangy pickles, mustards, jams, nuts, vegetables are all great pairings.
Prepare cheeses: Cut cheddar into any shape (try cookie cutters!). For crumbly cheeses, make piles of little chunks by digging in with a fork or a knife and turning it. For rind cheeses, include a bit of rind in each cut. Don’t precut soft cheeses, you’ll have a goopy mess. Most cheeses are easier to cut straight from the fridge (but serve them at room temperature.)
Assemble it all: Create “anchors” of cheese: nice, high piles. Fill in the space with your accoutrements and vessels, or drizzle nuts into the space, or create a “salami river.” Add jams, jellies, and mustards last, in dishes or jars. Put items that are meant to complement each other together. But encourage people to explore, too!
For more cheese board ideas and to order our cheddar, visit us online!
Summer camps had added magic this year. A friendly goblin visited each camp seeking answers to the session’s guiding question, like, “What makes a community thrive?” The goblin, brought to life by the collective imaginations of our camp staff, was especially popular among our youngest campers!
Successful season at the Inn. The unparalleled views, farm-to-table dinners, welcoming staff, historic rooms, and lovely gardens were highlights for the many people who visited, stayed, and dined at the Inn this season. See you starting May 9, 2025! Make your reservation online.
A Day at the Dairy
Snapshots from a July day spent with the dairy team.
4:29 AM Renee starts morning milking 7:15 AM Alyssa hauls milk to make cheese 4:00 PM A daily Sun to Cheese Tour More on our website
PM 4H students train their calves
Your Gift Matters
Our Campaign for Shelburne Farms is making so much possible, and every gift is critical right now. With less than $1M to raise to reach our goal, your special Campaign gift by December 31, 2024 will help unlock an additional $5M for the Coach Barn project, thanks to a challenge grant from the Robert W. Wilson Trust. Gifts of all amounts from you, our community, will help us meet the challenge. Thank you for your generosity, and for being a part of Shelburne Farms.
Read more about the Campaign inside or on our website.
Make a gift today at shelburnefarms.org/campaign or use the enclosed envelope. Thank you!
Farms’ historic campus is a 1,400-acre diversified working farm located on the unceded, traditional, and contemporary homelands of the Winooskik band of the Abenaki.
Andy
Our home campus is located on the homelands of the Winooskik band of the Abenaki.
Shelburne Farms is a 501(c)(3) education nonprofit on a mission to inspire and cultivate learning for a sustainable future. We believe that transformative learning experiences sow the seeds for a more just and thriving world. Our work seeks to create the space, spark the conversations, and share the stories to inspire educators and students to build a better future for everyone.
shelburnefarms.org • 802-985-8686
1611 Harbor Road • Shelburne, Vermont 05482
PHOTOGRAPHY: Holly Brough, Ned Castle,
Duback,
Andrea Estey, Carey Nershi, SAS Architects, Robin Turnau, Sarah Webb
