How do you bring life to a 2,000-acre campus that’s mostly unused? How do you develop a business model to renovate old buildings? How does a vision for rural regeneration unfold over time?
The Other Farm is a playful proposal for a series of projects rooted in the physical landscape, which could be introduced in stages over the next twenty-five years. Its spirit is one of experimentation, as embodied by its quirky name (this is not those other farms that already exist, this is The Other Farm).
The proposal includes a fellowship program exploring the synthesis of human culture and the natural world; a collection of products using natural materials in innovative ways; a series of “observatories” made in collaboration with contemporary artists and installed in the physical landscape; an incubator program for young companies working in some way with “nature”; a gathering hall made from the salvaged remains of seventeen crumbling Vermont barns; a restaurant in the hayloft of an old gambrel-roofed building; a ferry service connecting with the Burlington waterfront so that visiting travelers can arrive here by boat; a design hotel geared at art aficionados; an annual festival for creative practitioners from all over the world; a wellness center exploring alternative healing techniques; a community marketplace in the old Shelburne Farms Breeding Barn; a walkable village in the living landscape.