Local foodies have been swooning since Craftsbury’s Sterling College announced its School of the New American Farmstead last week.
Geared toward adult and other nontraditional students, the program includes a core curriculum of two-week courses taught by internationally recognized leaders in food, drink and agriculture. Former New York Times food critic and Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl will help teach a course in food writing, while Vermont Salumi‘s Peter Colman will teach butchery and charcuterie. Former visiting professor Sandor Katz will return to Sterling to lead a course on fermentation, and Hill Farmstead Brewery‘s Shaun Hill will offer classes on small-batch brewing. The program also includes weekend workshops on everything from holistic fruit production to cultivating edible mushrooms.
Students looking for a longer course of study can get down and dirty with a six- or 10-week “integrated farming practicum” that offers intensive instruction in aspects of small-scale, diversified farming, ranging from agroforestry to vegetable production to animal husbandry and working with draft horses.
All courses will take full advantage of Craftsbury’s working agricultural landscape and local resources (think cheesemaking at the nearby Cellars at Jasper Hill). Many will feature produce grown on campus.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Old School, New School”
This article appears in Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2016.
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