Farmer Appreciation Night

Last night was a rainy, mosquitoey fun time at the Calkins Barn! Thanks for everyone who came out to honor farmers.


Here are Travis, Director of Agricultural Development Services, and Glenn, the Intervale Center's new Executive Director, waiting to speak


Katie Fiore of Sugarsnap provided delicious pickle samples to go with her pickling demonstration.

Vermont Soy was a big hit with young and old alike.

Here Mandy displays the "Farmer Appreciation" supplies. Mark thought of this great idea. You can read the love and thank you notes we collected from partiers, who were eager to express their admiration for Vermont's family farmers, here!

LOVE LETTERS, PRAISE AND THANKS
TO VERMONT FARMERS - AUGUST 7, 2008

[Thank you, farmers, for] teaching me to reflect, life and death, and how it feeds me.

Thanks for all you do to provide us with wonderful food. Keep playing in the dirt!

Dear Farmers, You are wonderful. Thank you for feeding me and feeding the earth. All my love, Kristin

I love Eric Seitz’s veggies and him.

Thanks for making the stuff of life so tasty.

Thank you for your hard work that’s needed to grow fresh, local food.

My wife and I volunteer at Arethusa Farm and I just love getting in touch with the process of growing our food and the devotion of the people who grow it. So many of us take so much for granted – like abundant food.

Bless the farmers! Davis Bernstein

Is organic always a good choice?

How can I see the benefits of buying local? We LOVE you!

Dear Rob Rock, Thanks for growing veg’s. Tucker

Steady, safe, and fresh food source. True American Values

Dear Adam and his berries – I have so much gratitude for the pies, crumbles and cobblers that grew in your fields!

There is nothing like knowing where your food comes from and by whom it is grown.

I believe the Intervale and all the people who work for the foundation and farm the fields are a great an attribute as the lake in defining the greatness of Burlington. Thanks so much! K. Rossman

I appreciate the lights I see on once again in all the old barns that have stood empty for so long. I appreciate the now thousands that are rekindling our lands. And bringing sanity to our community once again. I appreciate all the folks who are not afraid of toiling with physical labors, I am proud to live in Vermont where so many folks understand the values it will take to survive. Greg G.

Thanks for feeding my family!!

I have great respect for farmers. I used to romanticize it but I now have a clearer picture of the incredible hard work involved in farming. It is such a privilege to live in a place where we can have a direct connection to our food – a place where my son can grow up knowing where peas-beets-herbs come from and where I can feel both proud of and confident about the food we eat. Thank you so much, farmers!

Susan, Jorg and Lukas

My first “involved” experience of a farm was as a WWOOFer in New Zealand. Sarah kept her farm garden viable while also engaged in two other lines of work. She was/is a study/”can do” woman and graced us with wondrous produce-based meals! Patti

Fresh veggies and fruit

Healthy options

I worked at a zoo for the past year and we were so reliant on our farmers (especially local farmers) to provide for the animals. Two brothers in the 60’s supplied all the hay (timothy and alfalfa) for the zoo – and considering our elephants alone ate 300 lbs a day – we needed them to fill us up often. Last fall one of the brothers passed away and the whole zoo was in mourning. This spring when a baby rhino was born we planned on calling it Howard after him if it was a boy – since it was a girl, we named her Clover, but her middle name is Hasley which was Howard’s last name. We love our farmers at the Buffalo Zoo.

Farmers do all the hard work that makes the veggies. They will grow our fuel in the future. They have cool tan lines.

Farmers grow everything I eat, wear and smoke. And they usually have hot daughters!

Essex Farm, Essex, NY
(Mark and Kristen Kimball)
Thank you for truly sustainable farming, including draft horses, for asparagus to raw milk to yogurt to beef to beets. Kim and Don

Dear Farmers of the Intervale,
Thank you so much for your hard work and low prices! Farming is a future aspiration of mine and maybe one day I’ll be able to work with you more closely. If not, then in solidarity. Love, Steve

Dear Farmers,
I admire you for creating food and a beautiful space for many people to enjoy. I hope to work on a farm for the fall, which will give me the opportunity hopefully to meat some of you. Thank you! Lauren Armstrong

I love all the farmers (especially S’ra) XOXO

Thank you for filling my belly with good food and my heart with song!

I appreciate farmers for helping out our pollinators! And the local food.

Thanks for growing things I can’t seem to successfully grow myself – those tomatoes are so picky! But they sure are tasty…

Farmers, you are amazing. Wendell Berry said that agriculture is the basis of culture, and I truly appreciate the kind of culture that is nourished by good, clean, local, organic food, the kind of food the farmers in the intervale and throughout Vermont bring to market everyday. I hope that this culture can one day also be the kind that fully supports and appreciates the people who feed us. Thank you!

Thank you for coming, and thank you, farmers! Cheers! Sona and Mandy