Surveying the immensity of "The Barn".
No, not a manor or a chateau, but the "barn" at Shelburne Farms with Mt. Mansfield, highest peak in the state, in the distance.
Chasin' chickens, a favorite Shelburne activity.
Vermont prides itself on being something of a throwback to the 19th century, a sort of quint rural oasis in a vast desert of malls and sprawl. This image we have of ourselves is true in many ways and our refusal to rush headlong into every new permutation of growth and culture in America is the one thing that has preserved the charming beauty of our state. Of course, as a rural oasis we have our own theme parks. One of the most enjoyable of these is Shelburne Farms, about 10 miles south of Burlington. We took some of the grandkids there today to enjoy the scenery and pet the animals. This is no ordinary farm and one look at the barn will tell you that the whole thing sprang from the imagination of someone with a lot of money to burn. That in fact is the case and I leave each of you to read the history and mission of the place on their web site (www.shelburnefarms.org). But even though Shelburne Farms were clearly a fantastic and impossible manifestation of what agriculture "should" and "could" be, our day there was extremely pleasant. The animals and people were friendly, the skies were blue and we got some good information on raising chickens which is one of our projects for next year.
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