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We appreciate the concern many of you have expressed for how the Farm fared during the recent flooding in Vermont. Unlike some of our friends in the state and on the east coast, we did not suffer major damage. Along with many of you, though, we are reaching out to those hit by the disaster. Last week, we contributed 10% of the revenue from the Inn restaurant and Farm Cart to the Vermont Farm Disaster Relief Fund set up by the Vermont Community Foundation and the Agency of Agriculture. Josh Carter is sharing surplus Market Garden produce to help farmers who lost crops meet their CSA commitments. And last Friday, we hosted 100 Moretown elementary students here, to help restore a sense of normalcy to their disrupted school year (see below). This Saturday, we will have donation barrels for the farmer relief fund at our annual Harvest Festival. We're looking forward to gathering to celebrate our amazing Vermont community and its farm traditions, and are grateful to hear from many Festival performers, farmers and craftspeople from flooded areas telling us, “We hope to be there!” Hope to see you there, too.
Alec Webb Farm therapy for flood-affected Moretown students
You can hear some of the actual field trip on VPR's Vermont Edition: "Irene puts school to test", as well as more details on the challenges that Moretown school is facing.
We're wrapping up some further stabilization work at the Old Dairy Barn, replacing rotted structural timbers (sound familiar?), and installing an interim roof that will protect the building until its future restoration as a residential learning center. At the front of the barn, we demolished the old milk house that was added in the late 1920s or early 1930s, exposing the building's original facade (see photos above). City Market supports Sustainable Schools Project City Market in Burlington selected our Sustainable Schools Project for their "Change for Local Non-Profits" program in October. Instead of refunding customers 5 cents for each reused bag, City Market has begun donating that change to a different local non-profit each month. So remember your bags if you shop there in October. (And if you shop in September, your reusable bags will support flood relief efforts in Vermont.) The Sustainable Schools Project works with schools and educators here and around the world to cultivate responsible, informed citizens, engaged and united in building a sustainable future. Coaching first FoodCorps team for a healthier nation "These volunteers will be key in continuing the momentum of farm to school in our country. They'll be the boots on the ground." — Erica Curry
We launch "A Park for Every Classroom" In August, in partnership with the National Park Service, we launched a Park for Every Classroom, an adaptation of our Forest for Every Classroom program, which is now a national model for the U.S. National Forest Service. “This was a pilot program to introduce national
parks and nearby teachers to place-based education and how
this model could work in their schools and parks," said Jen Cirillo, one of four educators who conducted the workshops at the Tsongas Industrial
History Center in Lowell, Massachusetts, and Washington’s Headquarters, a historical park in Morristown, New
Jersey.
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Dear Friend of Shelburne Farms,
Moretown Elementary School couldn't begin classes because of flood damage. Yet counselors
advised that students "get
out of the mud" and just be together. So the principal called Education Director Linda
Wellings who said, "Come on down!" Last Friday, we hosted all 100 students and 30 adults for a day of
exploration and team-building, with a community lunch of mac & cheese made by Inn chef David Hugo. 
Educator Erica Curry was just in Milwaukee sharing Farm to School ideas with the inaugural volunteers of FoodCorps — the first national AmeriCorps program designed to address childhood obesity through school gardens and programs in under-served communities. Before setting off across 10 states, these 50 young men and women learned ways to engage students with farm to school activities.
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