School of the New American Farmstead

The School of the New American Farmstead offers leading-edge courses & Professional Certificates in regenerative farming and artisanal food production to support professionals and lifelong learners of all ages.

Check out the 2020 Class Schedule!

Students successfully completing these courses are awarded continuing education units (CEUs), included in the course tuition as listed. Students desiring undergraduate academic credit pay per credit tuition fees and must fulfill additional academic requirements. If you have any questions about when a course is being offered, how to register, or the process for receiving undergraduate credit, please contact us at newamericanfarmstead@sterlingcollege.edu. Courses will continue to be listed as they become available. Sign up for email notifications below if you would like to be updated.

NOTICE: Due to COVID-19, we have postponed all in person courses until June 2021 at the earliest. Online courses will be listed as available below:

Title	Course ID	Credits	Start Term	Faculty
Surviving the Future: Conversations for Our Time			Coming Soon	Shaun Chamberlin

Want to keep up with us?

Receive updates on courses, professional certificates,
special offers, scholarships and more!

Check out our new certificate programs!

Click the tile to learn more:

medallion that reads "artisan cheesemaking professional"

medallion that reads "sustainable food craft professional"

medallion that read "organic wine and spirits production professional"

medallion that reads "educational farm and garden management professional"

About the School of the New American Farmstead

We provide a variety of classes, study tours, and professional certificates that will inspire you, equip you with marketable skills, and provide you with new perspectives on regenerative farming and artisanal food production.

Our hands-on courses will require you to roll up your sleeves and dig in. The School of the New American Farmstead’s experiential approach will engage all of your senses and offer insights into techniques perfected by some of the world’s most skilled ecological farmers and craft-food producers.

Give your passion for food and farming the time and space it deserves. Explore professional opportunities and lifestyle choices that will feed your body, mind, and soul. Learn to replenish the land, relish its bounty, and revive time-tested culinary and agricultural arts–in Vermont’s majestic Northeast Kingdom, Brunnenburg Castle & Agricultural Museum in the Italian Alps, the dairy region of the Upper Loire Valley of France, and Point Reyes, California.

The School of the New American Farmstead at Sterling College is waiting for you to join our international network of students, alumni, and instructors. See our upcoming course offerings and new professional certificate programs below.

photo of many students surrounding a copper kettle filled with milk and extracting cheese from it

SNAF cheesemaking

SNAF Class

Students work on the Sterling College Farm

Students picking sugar snap peas in the Sterling Garden

Bread from SNAF Class

NOFA VT Farmer Olympics

photo by Sharon Palmer

Mushroom Class

Alex heats the metal to make it workable

Instructor Lucian Avery works with a student one-on-one

photo by Sharon Palmer

Chelsea Green Publishing Logo The School of the New American Farmstead at Sterling College is generously underwritten by Chelsea Green Publishing, the preeminent publisher of books on the politics and practice of sustainable living. Chelsea Green and the School of the New American Farmstead at Sterling College share a deep commitment to Sterling’s mission of empowering lifelong students to boldly advance ecological thinking and action in their communities.

Support the School of the New American Farmstead

Become an Underwriter

Click here to learn more

Questions?

Check out our FAQ page

Frequently Asked Questions

Open

Sweet Rowen Farmstead | Sterling Chronicles. @sweetrowenfarmstead bottles gently pasteurized, cream-top whole milk and makes delicious, GMO free cheeses and yogurt in their farmstead creamery. Founder, Paul Lisai, and Herd Manager, Nathan van Gulden are both Sterling College alumni. Both reflect on their education as providing a holistic approach to sustainable agriculture and an appreciation for the work they do, day in, day out.

This video was made possible by a generous donation from David Behrend ’60.

67 4

Open

Students learning about emerging small scale marine and coast-adjacent food and fishing systems during the fall intensive fished for mackerel in Eastport, Maine. They celebrated the bounty with an evening of fish tacos!

191 6

Open

EMERGENCY TO EMERGENCE PODCAST // Favor Ellis, Sterling’s Dean of Community, explores how one finds home and a sense of belonging. After working with unhoused youth, traversing varied geographical and emotional terrain, and moving many times, Favor found a place to call home at Sterling. She now shapes Sterling’s community to be one centered on care, where all are welcome to bring their whole selves, evolving identities, and hard truths and brave aspirations. While modeling truth-telling and vulnerability, Favor draws upon her studies in embodiment and somatics, her experience as a birthworker, and poetics (her own words and the words of others, to call forth emergent change and rebirthing processes). LISTEN: Link on bio.

📷: @freihoferphotography

118 3

Open

Sterling’s Green Bike Program provides us with a fleet of bicycles for use around campus and town. Outdoor Education student, Bryan Emery, is a force behind this program by repairing and maintaining bikes for the program but also looking at policy and infrastructure needs through his SYRP (Senior Year Research Project).

📷: @mwashburnphoto

113 1

Open

We greeted new faces and reunited with faces we've missed as we welcomed students back on Saturday and Sunday. That one thing that united us all: smiles.

📷: @mwashburnphoto

191 4

Open

All creatures great and small have returned to campus for another year of ecological thinking and action. 📷: @mwashburnphoto

159 3

Open

35 0

Open

Our welcome back tee for students! What do you think?

93 3

Open

CSA shares for new faculty : John, Tiana, and Meagan!

48 0

Open

Are you ready? We are all-hands-on-deck getting ready for the return of our students!

30 1

Open

During the final week of the sustainable agriculture and food systems field school, students completed projects such as a group-designed chicken tractor and visited urban agriculture sites in Burlington, including the refugee gardens of the New Farms for New Americans project.

110 0

Open

Student leaders are back on campus being the amazing humans they are - the countdown to Arrival Day is on!

49 1

Dig In!

The Rian Fried Center for Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Team

The Rian Fried Center for Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems is one of the finest farm facilities at any small college in the United States. The RFC wouldn’t be where it…

Nourish the Roots: A $9 Million Comprehensive Campaign to Strengthen Environmental Stewardship at Sterling

Sterling College has launched the most ambitious fundraising effort in its history. Nourish the Roots: The Campaign for Sterling has a goal of $9 million, and the College announced that…

Orange-Gated Community

Cover photo by Alexandra Oles. Last week, London-based Whole Foods shopper Nathalie Gordon took note of a newfangled way to market oranges. She snapped and tweeted a photo of whole-but-peeled…

Professional Studies

School of the New American Farmstead

Artisan Cheesemaking

Sustainable Food Craft

Organic Wine & Spirits Production

Educational Farm & Garden Management

The School of the New American Farmstead offers leading-edge courses & Professional Certificates in regenerative farming and artisanal food production to support professionals and lifelong learners of all ages.

Check out the 2020 Class Schedule!

NOTICE: Due to COVID-19, we have postponed all in person courses until June 2021 at the earliest. Online courses will be listed as available below:

Want to keep up with us?

Receive updates on courses, professional certificates,
special offers, scholarships and more!

Check out our new certificate programs!

About the School of the New American Farmstead