Our Favorite Images from 2012

We asked our Executive Director, Travis Marcotte, to share his five favorite photos from 2012 (OK, there may be six, but it was hard to stop!). It has been a great year for the Intervale Center. We’re proud of our accomplishments, but we also know that they wouldn’t be possible without your support. Thank you for your help sustaining farms, land, and people!

Building our New Barn!
You helped us raise over $400,000 to rebuild the Calkins Dairy Barn so that more Vermonters can access the best food in the world! The rebuilt barn also completes our historic homestead and honors the heritage of Burlington’s last working dairy farm. Taken on December 3, this photo (on the left) shows S.D. Ireland pouring and preparing the barn’s foundation. We can’t wait to invite you to the grand opening!

Strong Farms

From large dairy farms to New American vegetable farms, we worked with over 100 farms this year, helping them strengthen and develop their businesses.

One of my favorite success stories is that of the DeVos family of Kimball Brook Farm, whom I worked with in 2007 to plan their transition from a family-run organic dairy to one of the state’s largest organic milk bottling operations. And now, we can see the fruit (or the cream?) of their labors on shelves at City Market, Healthy Living, Shelburne Supermarket and Lantman’s.

Healthy Land & Clean Water
What do trees have to do with healthy farms? A lot, as it turns out! We need healthy forest buffers along our rivers and streams to protect our waterways from pollution and prevent soil erosion. They also play an important role in preventing climate change by sequestering carbon.

This year, we planted and gave away over 30,000 trees to conservation projects and post-Irene recovery projects. This photo depicts a planting project with 350.org, Friends of the Mad River, and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters volunteers. We planted over 600 trees in about four hours!

Fresh, Local Food for All
This is what you look like when you eat local food!

I love this picture of UVM student, Blair Borax, because it shows how excited college students are to be able to get farm-fresh, healthy food delivered right to campus. We’ve really pushed the limits of food access this year: whether to low-income families, professionals, or college students, we’re working hard to make sure that the best local food is available to anyone who wants it.

And, in the process, we’ve managed to return over $300,000 directly to Vermont farmers!

Food Systems Leadership
We’ve spent the past 25 years leading the way in sustainable agriculture, modeling the change that can happen when we re-localize our food system and invest in sustaining farms, land, and people.

This photograph marks the day that Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, Chuck Ross, and USDA Administrator David Shipman came to the Intervale Center to celebrate a $20,000 federal grant awarded to the Intervale Center. Also in attendance were Tricia Coates from Congressman Peter Welch’s office, and Jenny Nelson from Senator Bernie Sanders’s office.

Save the Date!
A Midsummer’s Feast at the Intervale:  Sunday, July 14, 2013

Join us again for the freshest dinner party in town! This year, it’ll be extra-special as we celebrate the Intervale Center’s 25^th anniversary.