Supporting Shelburne Farms

Supporting Shelburne Farms

by Danny Summers

I know when everyone first saw Shelburne Farms listed as part of our Tour Day at this year's Fall Event, they had to wonder "what does this have anything to do with garden centers?"  Right?Karen and I had heard some details of how wonderful Shelburne is... just like "the cousins" property Biltmore Estate. But it wasn't until we went there for the first time, did we begin to understand its mission today:

"Our work focuses on education for sustainability. That’s learning that links knowledge, inquiry, and action to help students build a healthy future for their communities and the planet. There is something for learners of all ages at Shelburne Farms, with a focus on agricultural, environmental, and cultural topics."

During our Group visit at Shelburne Farms, Marshall Webb, great grandson of Sheburne Farms' founders Dr. William Seward and Lila Vanderbilt Webb, shared a brief overview of the estate, and how it has transitioned into an educational foundation. He told of an important meeting with their dad, Derek Webb in the summer of 1969. Derek had been farm manager since 1938 and inherited the estate in 1956. He had worked for years to restore the farm into the original vision, but it continued to be a struggle. He had decided to develop part of the land. Marshall said a "golf course" was mentioned by his dad during the meeting as well as homesites. Marshall told us "we all reacted violently' to the plans and decided we had to do something to keep the farm together." Marshall told us how he and his siblings decided to form a non-profit foundation that would take on the original vision the great grandparents first had as a model farm and they would also educate the public. In 1972 they created Shelburne Farms Resources, a nonprofit organization with an environmental education mission. Derek Webb had given the Farm Barn to the nonprofit in 1976 and bequeathed the balance of the estate’s land and buildings upon his death in 1984.

 

Can you imagine being Marshall or one of his 5 siblings sitting there in that meeting with their dad in 1969? Their dad had worked so hard to restore and build the farm, but it was so difficult and he felt he had no other choice. Then on their part...

 

The decision to create a non-profit foundation that would eventually take over the estate... was giving away your family estate... in order to save it. 

 

This is an amazing story of family love and dedication to the vision their great grandparents had back in 1886. And now for "the rest of the story..."

 

Why Shelburne Farms Today?

What Shelburne Farms is doing today is very important for all of us. Not just Garden Centers across the country, but everyone in agriculture. How important do you feel it is to have children become connected to plants, growing in their garden, to know where milk, cheese, beef, chicken, and all the other wonderful "farm-grown" products come from? We know the answer... Extremely! That early connection to the garden can mean all the difference in the world!

 

The ability to expose children to different areas of agriculture is extremely important.  And Shelburne Farm's work goes far beyond the grounds of the 1400 acres in Vermont. They are creating educational content and even offering educator training that is available for you and others in gardening and agriculture to use in other parts of the country.

 

How Can We Help?

While Marshall Webb was so kind to share their story with us and answer questions, we discussed how we can best help Shelburne Farms. Here's a couple of ideas. 

PLEASE do at least one of these.

 

 

1. Join Shelburne Farms as a Member (the MINIMUM we should do)

Join Shelburne Farms as a supporting member. Membership starts at just $35 annually. There are a number of levels of membership to fit your ability to support.

 

2.  Utilize Shelburne Farms' Educational Content (the EASY thing to do)

Shelburne has a number of educational content that can help drive gardening activities with all ages of your garden center audience. Check out this page for all the options - Our Work. One of the very best publications that can be utilized for both email, web and even educational classes is the wonderful publication we have spotlighted earlier here in GROUPtalk called "Cultivating Joy & Wonder: Educating for Sustainability in Early Childhood Through Nature, Food, and Community". A wonderful resource and it is available by download PDF HERE. PLEASE be sure to give properr credit to Shelburne Farms for the content and point your audience to join Shelburne and support this important work too.

 

3.  Share the Vision and Need (the MOST IMPORTANT thing we should do)

We all need to share the Vision and Need with Those Who Can Make a Difference for Shelburne Farms. Marshall Webb shared with me during our visit they have an endowment but it only will cover about 50% of their operational needs each year. They need support for the rest and continued help to build their endowment. 

 

This type of support is probably the most import thing we can do to help Shelburne Farms... to tell others who have a greater ability to help support Shelburne Farms. Not only individuals who can support but other foundations who's missions are to support agricultural education. This also can fit public outreach goals of large companies in agriculture. Why not large food-based companies, health-related companies, farm equipment, fertilizer, and other allied companies in agriculture? We all know people. People who should know this story of Shelburne Farms and what an important mission they have today. PLEASE help pass this need and opportunity on to them. Let's make those few hours we spent at Shelburne Farms make a big difference for the mission they work at everyday... on our behalf.

 

For the complete story of Shelburne Farms see their website: Shelburne Farms

 

Shelburne Farms is a 501(c)(3) education organization and your gift is tax-deductible. 

1611 Harbor Road • Shelburne, Vermont 05482 
802-985-8686 (main) • 802-985-8498 (inn reservations) [email protected]

Share this post:

Comments on "Supporting Shelburne Farms"

Comments 0-5 of 0

Please login to comment