A Farm With a Mission

What is Shelburne Farms?  Is it a magnificent castle nestled into the English countryside?  Perhaps it is the grand manor of wealthy industry baron?  Well, sort of!  Shelburne Farms is a magnificent working farm in Vermont with an English inclination that was built in the early 1900’s by the prestigious Vanderbilt family.

In addition to being a fun and enchanting place to visit, Shelburne Farms has been a functioning farm and a model agricultural estate for over 100 years.  The grounds and trails of Shelburne were designed by Fredric Law Olmstead, the Creamery produces award winning Vermont cheddar cheeses, and their mission is to educate people about sustainable farming and conservation ethics.

Upon arriving at Shelburne Farms, Amanda and I hopped on the tractor-pulled wagon and bumped lazily down the path leading to the grand Farm Barn in the distance.  The path snaked through the cow-flecked pastures in classic Olmstead fashion, offering picturesque views of the Farm Barn that stood properly upright among the swelling green hills of Vermont.

As we stepped off the wagon at the Farm Barn we were shocked– neither one of us had ever seen nor imagined a barn this magnificent.  We viewed steeples varnished with a turquoise copper patina crowned the red brick of the barns and gray stone walls that enclosed the lawn where chickens and children roamed free.

Amanda and I made the social rounds of the barn, introducing ourselves to the residents of Shelburne which included cows, sheep, pigs, and goats!  After schmoozing with the barnyard locals we had worked up a farmer’s appetite.  Thankfully, there was a Farm Cart at the barn that served simple, farm-sourced lunch fare.

We ordered the most popular dish from the Farm Cart, a grilled cheese sandwich!  The grilled cheese was made with seeded sourdough bread baked at Shelburne Farm’s own bakery and the one-year-old cheddar cheese was made at the Shelburne creamery next door.  The bread was toasty with a hearty crust and the melted cheese inside was gooey and mildly sharp.  This grilled cheese made for a satisfying lunch and was a tasty introduction to the artisanal breads and cheeses they make at the farm.

After lunch, we were curious to see how the cheese was made and  to understand how great cheese is made, we first had to learn about the milk they use to make it!  Shelburne Creamery exclusively uses milk produced by its own herd of Brown Swiss dairy cows.  The milk from this breed contains a high butterfat that is perfect for making great cheese.

The farmers of Shelburne Farms take great pride in their herd Brown Swiss cows.   The cows are fed primarily by grazing on natural pastures and they are rotated to new pastures with fresh grass every day.  This ensures that the cows are happy and that they produce highest quality milk possible.

At the Creamery in the Farm Barn, we saw where Shelburne produces, ages, and packages all their award-winning cheese.  We watched one cheese maker as he traversed the edges off a giant steel tub, bending over and cutting the cheese curds into long strips with a knife.

After cutting a strip of curds the length of the tub, he lifted and stacked them on top of the mass of curds he cut them from.  In this process the stacked curds were formed into semi-firm “packs” that undergo lactose fermentation in a process known as “cheddaring.”

In another room, we watched other cheese makers slice finished cheese into blocks and dip each block into molten brown wax to be labeled and sold.  At a tasting table, we were offered tastes of some of Shelburne’s cheeses.  We tasted a six-month, one-year, two-year, and three-year aged cheddar as well as their rustic cloth-bound cheddar and pungent, smoked cheddar.

The one-year cheddar had a creamy consistency and subtle grassy flavors.  The longer-aged cheddars had increasingly crumbly textures, intensified earthy and musky flavors, more pronounced saltiness, and the presence of crunchy “crystals” that form naturally within aged cheeses.  The Clothbound Cheddar had a natural, moldy rind encasing a creamy interior with mature flavors of moss and fungus.  The smoked cheddar had a gentle and rich smoke flavor and deep-brown crust.

After all that cheese, Amanda and I were ready for a hike so we asked for directions.  “Go past the goats and the piglets, up the hill, and take a left at the donkeys,” were the instructions from one farm worker.  We followed this path and hiked up Lone Tree Hill where we were rewarded with a stunning view of the Inn at Shelburne Farms, Lake Champlain, and the Adirondack Mountains of New York in the distance.

We continued to make our way through a sunny meadow and a forest of maple trees connected by a series of tubes used for harvesting sap to make maple syrup.  At the edge of the forest, we came upon a pen of pigs and the Shelburne Farms Market Garden where we saw rows and rows of beautiful fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

Any vegetable scraps or waste from the garden is thrown into the pigpen for the pigs to eat with the sound of happy grunts.  In return, the pigs naturally fertilize the ground and churn the ground up with their hooves and rooting snouts.  The ground replenished, the pigs are rotated to a different area and the fertile ground planted the following spring!

Next, we came across the stately horse stables where horses trot the ground pulling fine sulkies and lazily chewing their hay in the fine old pens.  Across the road we walked down to the rocky cliffs of Lake Champlain and watched the sailboats bounce over the turquoise waves.

From the shore, we made our way to the nearby Shelburne Inn where guests loung on the patio and sit in the lawn chairs overlooking the lake.  We walked through the quiet old hotel and peeked into the dining room where the bounty of the Farm is transformed delicately into finished dishes.

After exploring the Inn, Amanda and I picked a few ripe apples from a nearby apple tree and sat on some lawn chairs ourselves.  We enjoyed a taste of luxury as we breathed the fresh air and admired the beautiful lake view.

On the hike back to the Farm Barn, we stumbled upon a small garden.  Amanda and I stopped to indulge ourselves with a few strawberries, raspberries, and cherry tomatoes that grew there.  I was thankful for this chance to eat these sweet garden treats. During the summer months I often feel an urgency to eat ripe summer delicacies while I can, and it seems I just never get enough!

It’s Shelburne’s mission to educate people about sustainable farming and conservation, and Amanda and I sure learned a lot.  Shelburne Farms is a full-scale model farm and a permanent exhibition of quality farming and responsible animal husbandry.

The cheese they make here is both a gift to humans and a tribute to the animals who produce the milk.  The grounds and trails are as beautiful and natural as any park we have seen so far and the gardens, lakes, and buildings that one discovers along the way make for an educational experience that is unique, responsible, and delicious!