The Charlotte Land Trust this week released a study it commissioned to better understand the agricultural landscape in town and identify the roles conservation can play in the future of farming here.
Figuratively speaking, farmers have always had to “make hay while the sun shines.” But when growing hay really is your business, the old adage has special resonance.
In farming particularly, succession matters. Large pieces of land need to be worked to generate income, labor is critical, and the capital investment required to operate a farm is significant—a single piece of machinery can cost half a million dollars.
In the changing world of agriculture, new farmers are bringing exceptional creativity to one of the world’s oldest endeavors.
To meet Steve Schubart at the Grasscattle Company is to see our future and celebrate out past. A man with a mission and huge energy, an unstoppable combination.
In season, Stony Loam Farm offers a bountiful community supported agriculture (CSA) of fresh veggies and flowers. The name of the farm comes from the agricultural designation for the type of soil on the farm. A bit complicated, but it is a mixture of clay, sand and shells.
I’m tired of writing critical commentaries, which my last two have been. And besides, the natural world of Charlotte is not something one can easily criticize. Its skies, landscapes, clouds and harvest moons bring together many of the reasons for choosing here as home. Too often we fail to be conscious of the role our environment plays in our lives.
A year ago at a breakfast Alice Outwater hosted at Shelburne Farms, Lydia Clemmons (the younger) alerted me to her family’s plans to transform their farm into an African American Heritage and Multicultural Center here in Charlotte. I was impressed with their undertaking and drawn in by Lydia’s enthusiastic rendering of the Clemmons Family Farm vision. But it was meeting Jackson and Lydia (the elder) Clemmons and listening to their inspiring and often poignant stories about their lives in Charlotte as well as their family history back to the time of slavery that fully engaged my heart.
A crowd of prospective farmers, concerned neighbors and town officials gathered at Mt. Philo Hops on East Thompson’s Point Road to try to resolve fermenting tensions over their farming operations on Aug. 28. Though they have yet to put a single hop plant in the ground, just the prospect of things to come has been enough to put a bitter taste in neighbors’ mouths.
Editor’s note: In an effort to support local farmers the Charlotte Grange has volunteered to feature a new farm…
Spring in Vermont means many things, including muddy boots, late snowfalls, budding apple blossoms and the first plantings for…