How do humans build culture from nature? How do we fuel our sustenance, make our shelter and produce tools to do both? These are the questions central to our work
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What do we do here?
We believe every technique or technology we employ has complex effects on the form of society and so we aim to choose them wisely. We generally focus on manual techniques, crafts that are within our grasp literally and figuratively. All things we need were historically made from local natural materials, and we focus on these materials and the manual technologies of their conversion. When you visit here you will find that for us the culture of agriculture is just as much about growing trees and making the tools we need from wood as it is about plants and vegetables.
We have broad interests but due to limited time and resources we’ve focused on a few special focus areas so far. Hopefully as we grow our capabilities and gain access to more expertise through visiting fellows and experts we can expand into other aspects of husbandry.
Our areas of focus
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Agricultural crops of the historic region
We put historic crop varieties and cultivation methods back into the field and onto the local table.
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Forest to workbench- trees, wood, and material culture
This is one of our most important research areas, in the pre-industrial era so many things were made from wood and few survive, many being crude and simple solutions. Green woodworking has been an important part of the history of the farm and region from toolmaking to shingle making and it is important to us in creating many of of the tools we need to do our work.
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Traditional butchery and meat preservation
The keeping of the family pig was and is an essential part of the economy of this and most every farm. There is a broad world of tradition around curing and storage of meats, from ham to sausage, we are bringing home the bacon.
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Traditional construction, preservation, and vernacular architecture in context
Throughout history it has been possble for man to cost effectively build his vernacular architecture from the landscape, why does this seem less possible today? We practice traditional framing and sheathing techniques and believe they are a viable answer to the question.
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The mechanics of historic agricultural machinery
The nineteenth century witnessed the rise of the machine in the form of the reaper binder, the threshing machine and the fanning mill. These heralded the decline of manual techniques but are an important part of the farms history and important for us to use and understand as part of our interpretation of history.
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Tool library and workshop
Do you like historic tools and methods? This is the right place for you. We are deeply involved in craft tradition and the study of both Early American and European tools and we have an extensive tool library and workshop.
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The Root Cellar
The root cellar is the literal core of a historical farm complex, here is where many biennial crops, such as cabbage, turnips etc. must be stored in root form so they can produce seed. It is also where saurkraut and fermented and canned foods are kept along with potatoes, salt pork, eggs, and much of the bounty of summer. We are very interested in the role and function of the cellar through history.
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Fiber and textile work
We have been involved in the exciting work of the Green Mountain Linen project, right here in the valley, as both growers and researchers of historic processing techniques, and we look forward to doing more fiber work and including sheep and animal fiber in our program in the future.
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What's missing? Whats next?
This is just the beginning of a large undertaking, there are large areas missing from our expertise, and we are actively looking for fellows to join us with experience or interest in these areas. The most essential elements we hope to incorporate next are the hay economy, a draft power program and small scale dairy.
Our community work makes the impossible possible.
Our expertise in areas of traditional practice and our team of experts and apprentice volunteers can often tackle difficult tasks in the community. We can provide a wealth of experience and capacity in many aspects of husbandry. Often what seemed an insurmountable problem can be a great learning opportunity when there are have the right skills and enthusiasm.
We’ve helped people build affordable traditional houses with timber from their own land, we’ve repaired endangered historic structures when there was no budget for a company, we’ve helped get in important crops by traditional handwork, helped sheath buildings with traditional shingles, and we are enthusiastic to do more. If you have a project that requires specialists in traditional rural methods, let us know.
