As a landowner, when you make land available for farming you help secure a future for farming in your community. Farmers are looking for land—from a small vegetable plot, to livestock or crops. Productive, sustainable uses for all or parts of your property can bring many rewards!

Join the Vermont Sheep and Goat Association for a day long lambing clinic. Master Shepherd, Chet Parsons, will start the morning off with a class to go over the basics:  ewe nutrition, early signs of labor, when to intervene in a difficult labor, dystocia, handy equipment to have on hand, clip, dip, and strip.  After a potluck lunch, the class will move down to the dairy barn where Sam Dixon and Renee Lacoss will be in the middle of lambing 75 ewes.

Join herbalist Katherine Elmer to traverse the folk wisdom and modern scientific understanding of some common wild and cultivated forest fungi. We will taste mushroom chai, share recipes, and discuss the optimal processing and medicinal benefits of tonic varieties of medicinal mushrooms such as shiitake, chaga, reishi and turkey tail.

Come join Rural Vermont and Mary Lake on Saturday, March 18th at Center Farm in Montpelier for an on-farm slaughter and processing workshop. In the first half of this 2-part workshop, participants will learn how to humanely slaughter a lamb and then how to efficiently butcher and process a lamb in the second half of the workshop. 

The Vermont Wild Kitchen is back! Join Rural Vermont for the first episode of 2023 where they'll be cooking up a hearty trout dish served alongside a marinated kale salad dressed "Vermont-style" with maple, apple cider vinegar, and garlic. March's featured chef will be Ryan Yoder of Yoder Farm in Danby. Ryan's farm is known for the gallons of apple cider vinegar they produce every year with tons of local, wild apples! 

Live streamed on Youtube and Facebook!

Please join us Friday, February 24th at the Unitarian Church in Montpelier for a community conversation about the socio/economic/political/cultural/agroecological contexts of Cuba and the broader Latin America and Caribbean, as well as political updates, experiences of Vermont’s recent delegation to the Small Farmers’ Conference in Cuba, and opportunities for participation, engagement, and solidarity. 

This event is co-hosted by the Vermont Agroecology School Collective, Rural Vermont, and the Caribbean Agroecology Institute. 

5:30-6:30: Potluck Dinner

Yorlis Gabriel Luna, of the Asociacíon de Trabajadores del Campo (ATC in Nicaragua), the Latin American Institute of Agroecology Ixem Ulew, and La Via Campesina, will lead us in taking a closer look at the agroecology and food sovereignty movement in Nicaragua, discuss the role of peasant revolutionary thought in Latin America, solidarity and trans-nationalism, and how it all applies to the Vermont context. 

This presentation will be held on Zoom; please RSVP. 

Learn how to craft a beautiful autumn wreath using wild grapevine and a variety of dried flowers and locally foraged botanicals. In this workshop you will be instructed by local artist and wreath-maker Elise Clearly on how to twist and shape the vines into a 10" wreath which will support other natural materials woven into it. Immerse yourself in the satisfying process of using your hands to create your own unique and beautifully decorated wreath. Registration required.

Fall is the best time to dig medicinal roots, as the plants begin to set seed and die back for the winter. In this class, we'll go over what and how to harvest, with some ideas for how to prepare and use the roots from your garden. Participants will take home a rooty tea blend to enjoy! Bring garden gloves and your favorite digging tool. Registration required.

We strive to make garden education accessible to everyone. For information on scholarships and discounts, please contact [email protected].

Gain the skills and confidence that you need to harvest a successful Cannabis crop in your own backyard. Red Wagon staff member Chad Donovan will talk you through the different aspects of Cannabis harvesting with a focus on what you should be doing in early September to set your plants up for a successful harvest. He’ll focus on trellising, scouting for pest and disease, when and how to harvest, drying, and curing. Registration required.