Remarks from the Steward Reception - July 24, 2026

Ben Freeman, Chair, Shelburne Farms Board of Directors:

Welcome everyone. My name is Ben Freeman. I'm the chair of the Board of Directors at Shelburne Farms, and I'm delighted to be here tonight. And on behalf of the entire board, thank you so much for being here, and thank you so much for your wonderful generosity to this incredible organization. It's wonderful to be able to spend time with you all tonight in this inspiring space and sharing it with people who care so deeply for this incredible organization. 

One of the things I love about Shelburne Farms is that people seem to come here from all different walks of life for all different reasons. People come to walk the trails, they come to go to the Inn to have dinner, they come for educational programs, or to send their children to the camps. 

I myself first came here as an educator and joined through one of the education programs. Back in 2017, which isn't that long ago, I first participated in the Education for Sustainability Leadership Academy, which is a yearlong educational journey where I got to interact with some of the most, wonderful, inspiring and visionary leaders in education that I've had the privilege to know in my career as an educator. 

I've spent my career thinking about how and why people learn and how that learning transforms those individuals in their communities. I can say with no hesitation at all that my experiences at Shelburne Farms made me a better educator and improved my practice and improved my thinking and improved my relationships and my networks with others. And although my cohort—that I got to know very well in my time here—hasn't quite fixed all the world's problems yet, we're working on it. And I feel better knowing that every day, the good folks at Shelburne Farms and all the people that it inspires are working hard to bring us closer to that vision of a more sustainable future. I know I'm not alone in my growth from my time here at Shelburne Farms, and I know I'm not alone in my gratitude for this place and the people that make it so special. 

What struck me when I first came here and continues to inspire me today is that Shelburne Farms doesn't simply teach about sustainability, it creates opportunities for people to experience it. Here, learning is active, it's joyful, and it's grounded. It invites people to ask questions, to make connections, and to imagine together what's possible. 

Every year, more than 1,500 educators participate in our programs at the Farm. They leave with new ideas, fresh perspectives, and tools that reach thousands of students in classrooms and communities throughout the region and around the world. Having experienced those programs firsthand has shaped the way I also think about my role as Chair of the Board. Every strategic decision we make ultimately comes back to one simple question. How do we strengthen Shelburne Farms’ ability to deliver its mission? How do we inspire and cultivate learning for a sustainable future?

One of the biggest decisions we've had to make recently was to launch the rehabilitation of this amazing space in the Coach Barn. It was a significant investment, as you can imagine. But as the home of Shelburne Farms Institute for Sustainable Schools, it is and will remain at the core of our work as a place where educators gather, connect, inspire, and learn together. 

And thanks to you, that's exactly what's happening. Just yesterday, the Immersion in Education for Sustainability cohort wrapped up their time here in the Coach Barn. And next week, a new cohort of education for Sustainability Leadership Academy, the program that I did many years ago, will be here launching their own journey through the seasons at the Farm. And I have to admit, I'm a little bit jealous. 

But beyond being a past Shelburne Farms program participant and the current board chair, I'm also, like you, a dedicated Steward of the Farm. Through our support, together, we're investing in everything that makes this place thrive. Not just the magnificent buildings and the landscape, but the educators, the students, and future changemakers who leave the Farm connected with deeper understanding of the place, the environment, our communities, and of one another. Together, you and we are helping cultivate a more sustainable future. And for that, all of us on the board of trustees are profoundly grateful. Thank you, thank you, so very much. Without further ado, I'd like to introduce our president, Alec Webb. 

Alec Webb, President, Shelburne Farms: 

Thank you so much, Ben, and thank you to all of our amazing board members, past and present, and including those of you who are here this evening with us. 

It seems like every year my report is that we're at an exciting and particularly challenging point in the history of this ever-evolving nonprofit endeavor. At our Steward reception last September, we were celebrating the reopening of this building as our new education and convening center, and appreciating everyone who's played a part in the success of the Campaign for Shelburne Farms. 

Our Board’s wisdom and constant encouragement, our relationships with each of you and every supporter, our incredible team of staff and volunteers, all of you underpin everything we do and keep us moving forward. And speaking of underpinning our success, I want to take a moment for us to appreciate Robin Turnau, who, often behind the scenes, provided our campaign management and leadership, who has just retired as our Chief Advancement Officer. So thank you, Robin for all you've done and continue to do for Shelburne Farms. 

So picking up on what Ben was saying, I was down here yesterday, and it was really wonderful to see a group of educators engaged in the EFS Immersion programs, one of the learning programs we offer here through our Institute for Sustainable Schools. And they were having an experience very similar to what Ben just shared with us. These rooms have been buzzing every week this past month with the National Farm to School Institute, Education for Sustainability workshops, and our Cultivating Joy and Wonder program for early childhood educators. And teachers taking a series of our courses can now earn an Education for Sustainability certificate through our partnerships with the University of Vermont and Vermont State University. So amazingly, we're on track for serving more than 1,500 educators again this year through our professional learning programs both onsite and online with teachers all around the world. 

We're also collaborating with other nonprofits holding their own programs and hosting a number of community events here as well. So from the beginning, going back to the formation of the nonprofit, we've been working on parallel tracks and on a continuous upward spiral of creating an inspiring campus for learning, developing our program offerings, increasing our protected land area, improving our stewardship practices, rehabilitating our historic landscape, gardens, and buildings, and building organizational capacity and resilience.

And it's incredibly exciting to see the progress that your charitable support is making possible. One example, which has been happening right outside my office window at the Farm Barn is the rehabilitation of the Farm Barn courtyard walls that's underway this summer. Like rebuilding the garden walls at the Inn, it's really amazing to see the incredible craftsmanship that's going into creating another inspiring outdoor classroom and community gathering space. For me, this work is saying we honor the past while we look to the future. That while constant change and impermanence is part of life and the universe, this organization and this place is here to stay and is going to be of service for the long haul. The social benefit returns and our investments across the Farm are going to be immeasurable.

Just imagine the type of transformative improvements we've made here at the Coach Barn, extending across our farming and food, woodlands, grounds and hospitality operations and to the Welcome Center, Farm Barn and Breeding Barn. Once again, we're so grateful to you for helping make everything we do possible. And honestly, we're going to continue to rely on you in the future. We're dedicated to serving young people as Ben was speaking to, and educators who nurture their growth, standing and advocating for the power of education and fostering positive social change.

So much of the learning that goes on at Shelburne Farms is beyond these walls, actually, out in the land. And the farm at Shelburne Farms is at the heart of everything we do. 

I'd like to introduce Sam Dixon to share his reflections as he prepares to retire this fall from his current role managing our dairy livestock operations. And like many of our staff, Sam has invested 30 years of his life's work here. Sam, we're grateful to you for your service. 

Sam Dixon, Dairy Farm Manager, Shelburne Farms:

Thank you very much, thank you very much. When Alec asked me to come speak to you all, I was deeply honored that he would consider it. And I must admit I'm a little more comfortable in my bib overall, under the maple tree, by the barn. But I'll try to talk a little bit about what we've done and how the years have gone by. 

First off, I am extraordinarily grateful to everybody in this room who has contributed in their own way to all the different work that's going on here. The amazing renovations of the buildings, the educational programming, and also conserving the land, which is foundational to what I do, which is running the agricultural operations and the livestock operations here on the Farm. 

That doesn't mean that we are not part of the educational mission of the Farm. I remember one week last September when we had 17 different groups come to the dairy. There were seven property tours, seven classes from the University of Vermont, two teacher professional development groups, and a Dairy for Every Classroom school group that came to the dairy. So we’re embedded in the educational mission, but we're also deeply engaged in the working landscape. 

And we produce a lot of food on this Farm and in just this past year, at the dairy, we harvested 20 beef, 100 lambs and made almost 170,000 pounds of cheese from the livestock operations. That's not even including the work that Josh does at the Market Garden with the fruits and the vegetables and the flowers, or the work that Dana Bishop does in the woodlands with the maple sugaring and the mushroom production and all the lumber that's turned into beautiful furniture at Lone Tree Lumber by Joe and Chuck over at Southern Acres.

So there’s a lot of agricultural activity. Andrew Meyer once said that he thought we were the most diversified farm in the state of Vermont because of the wide range of things that we do here. And the foundation of that is this beautiful land that we're on. I know we all come to Shelburne Farms and we're struck by the beauty of the landscape and the historic nature of the planning of the landscape, and the beautiful buildings. 

But from my point of view as a farmer, this is also an extremely good farm just in terms of the Champlain Valley. You look at our soils, our climate—all of those things make it a really, really nice, rich agricultural land. We've got these palatine soils that are well drained and high in calcium, which are not found very many other places in the Champlain Valley. So we have a really, really nice farm here, too. And that makes it much easier for us to do the farming here. So I've been very grateful and it's been my great honor and privilege to be able to have been the farm manager here for the past 31 years. 

So, looking forward, I think the key is what we do with the land and how we manage the land. There's going to be a lot of pressures on the land, as the area around us becomes more and more built up. But I think the conservation of this land is critical. 

And the other thing that I think has been amazing that Shelburne Farms has done has been to sort of synthesize all these different uses. Not only are we an educational organization, not only do we provide excellent hospitality, we also provide this Olmstedian idea of a respite from the chaos of the industrial world, with all of the walkers and all the people that use the property on a daily basis. 

We were, I think, really key to many people's mental health during the pandemic. The organization's decision to keep the grounds open so people had a place to go was really important. We've also been able to integrate this agricultural production within that landscape. And I think it's a great example of how you can have multiple uses of a property and address a lot of different stakeholders, including the wildlife that share the land. 

One of the most rewarding and interesting things that I've been able to participate in has been this field nesting songbird research study. I think this year was the 25th year of that. This is a long-term study of these birds; it’s very unusual to have a study that goes on that long. And from that research, recommendations were developed on how all types of different farmers could manage their land for wildlife and field nesting songbirds. We actually had a group from some land trusts down in Virginia who came and visited the spring, because they were very interested in some of the strategies that we were using. So, that's been extremely rewarding on how we can still have agricultural production and then accommodate wildlife. 

But then also the people who are interested in seeing the wildlife on the farm, and how we can integrate all of that together. I think it's really unique about Shelburne Farms. So, I'm a man of few words, and I just want to express my gratitude for everything everybody has done, and for giving me the privilege and the honor of being able to work here for these years. I hope to continue to support the efforts of the Farm. And we have a new dairy and livestock manager hired. He’s been working since March, and he will be coming on with his family in about a month to move on to the Farm. And I'm looking forward to continued success for the livestock operations at Shelburne Farms. 

Alec:

Well, there is no better note to end on than hearing from Sam. Thank you all for coming, and thanks for our whole team here who put this gathering together for us. Thank you again for all your support. Enjoy the rest of the evening. Thank you.