Underwrite the School of the New American Farmstead

Sterling College in Vermont is the grateful beneficiary of financial support from small businesses and corporations from both across the United States as well as right here in Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom.

Your decision to underwrite the School of the New American Farmstead at Sterling College will connect your business with a wide-ranging community of people who care about improving the human relationship with the natural world and building a just and sustainable local food system.

Each level of underwriting will provide you with twelve months of access to a customized channel to reach a like-minded demographic that recognizes Sterling College as the leading voice in higher education for environmental stewardship, and who are likely to purchase products and services based on their values and personal commitment to environmental causes.

Sterling College in Vermont was among the very first colleges in the world to focus exclusively on sustainability through academic study, work, and living in community. For over four decades, the core of the Sterling experience has been linked to stewardship of our environment. We were eating local food and advocating for sustainability in the 1970s, and we continue to do so today.

The School of the New American Farmstead, launched in 2016, offers short courses in ecological farming and craft-food production for agrarians, culinarians, entrepreneurs, and lifelong learners. These hands-on courses provide students with new perspectives on integrated, community-centered farming and food production. During its inaugural year, the School of the New American Farmstead brought 250 students to Sterling’s Farm and teaching kitchen; we project over 400 students will attend the wide range of classes we are offering for 2017.

Underwriting Levels

Sustainer – >$20,000
Partner – $10,001 – $20,000
Colleague – $ 5,001 – $10,000
Supporter – $501 – $5,000
Friend – <$500

Want to learn more about the School of the New American Farmstead at Sterling College?

Interested in our mission, faculty and 2020 programming?

Go to Homepage

Underwriting Levels

Sustainer – >$20,000

Underwriters at the Sustainer level will be recognized with the following benefits for the twelve months following their agreement to become Sustainers.

Current Sustainers include: Chelsea Green Publishing

Corporate logo displayed in print publications, electronic publications, on the Sterling College website, and select social media posts.
Corporate logo permanently displayed on the School of the New American Farmstead webpage.
Ability to contribute to SNAF course ideas that reflect your company’s mission.
10% discount on select SNAF classes for employees during the 12 month agreement.

Partner – $10,001 – $20,000

Underwriters at the Partnership level are recognized with the following benefits for twelve months following their agreement to become Partners.

Current Partners include: Vermont Creamery and the Cellars at Jasper Hill Farm

Corporate logo displayed in print publications, electronic publications, on the Sterling College website, and select social media posts.
All press releases about the School for the New American Farmstead will include a display of your corporate logo.
10% discount on select SNAF classes for employees during the 12 month agreement.

Vermont Creamery Logo

Colleague – $5,001 – $10,000

Underwriters at the Colleague level are recognized with the following benefits for twelve months following their agreement to support the School of the New American Farmstead:

Corporate logo displayed on the School of the New American Farmstead webpage.
Regular recognition in electronic publications and on social media platforms.
10% discount on select SNAF classes for employees during the 12 month agreement.

Supporter – $501 – $5,000

Underwriters at the Supporter level are recognized with the following benefits for twelve months following their agreement to support the School of the New American Farmstead:

Current Supporters include: Cabot Creamery and Edible Green Mountains

Corporate logo displayed on the School of the New American Farmstead webpage below list of Supporters.
Initial recognition on one of Sterling College’s social media platforms.

Logo from Cabot Creamery image of the Edible Green Mountains logo

Friend – <$500

Underwriters at the Friend level are recognized with the following benefits for twelve months following their agreement to support the School of the New American Farmstead:

Current Friends include: The Craftsbury General Store, Concept 2, and Champlain Orchards

Corporate logo displayed on the School of the New American Farmstead webpage below list of Friends.

image of the Champlain Orchards logo

Become an underwriter today!

To learn more about becoming an underwriter of The School of the New American Farmstead, please contact Christina Goodwin, Dean of Advancement & Alumni Relations, at 802-586-7711 ext 128 or cgoodwin@sterlingcollege.edu

Email Christina

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We recently partnered with the Kentucky Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation to plant 24 American Chestnut trees at the Brown Farm of the Wendell Berry Farming Program. These tall trees reigned forest canopies along the eastern coast for millions of years until the first half of the 20th century when heavy logging combined with the introduction of a fungal blight decimated their population.

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Creepy Crawlies | Sterling Chronicles

Michael Tessler '09 started catching creepy crawlies at a very young age. This passion was evident during his time as a student at Sterling. This love was further fostered in graduate school, first working on moss ecology at Fordham University and then on leech evolution at the American Museum of Natural History. He continued postdoctoral work on broader questions of plant and animal evolution across the tree of life. His research has led to over 30 journal articles, a textbook on phylogenomics, media coverage by the New York Times, and fieldwork across the globe.

Doing this research, he has mentored over 20 students (high school through doctoral), many of whom have helped co-authored publications. Currently, Michael is an Assistant Professor of Biology at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, where he continues his passion for teaching the next generation of scientists and grow my research in ecology and evolution.

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

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Some of the most beautiful aspects of Henry County, Kentucky, could go easily unnoticed, unless you stop to look. We're grateful for autumn weather and its fungal blooms, how about you?

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Cob oven skill swap full of clay shaping, hay snipping, watermelon harvesting, and dancing on cattails at the Wendell Berry Farming Program. The work IS the reward, students are excited for upcoming pizza nights at Hope Hill Farm!

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Student, Ruth Gardinet, talks about why she chose Outdoor Education and how community can serve as a support system.

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Celebrating Sterling College President, Matthew Derr. As nature has demonstrated, the only constant is change and disturbances are important for health and evolution. When a tree falls in the forest - a disturbance - there is a loss but also an abundance of opportunity and potential for new growth. Speaking in ecological terms, Sterling is in a moment of secondary succession.

As Matthew Derr’s last day as president approaches, October 31, we acknowledge the vision and passion that he has brought to his nearly ten years. Through his good work, he has inspired many to consider what is possible in higher education and how it can be a force that strengthens the human relationship with the natural world. The role of mission-aligned philanthropy has been a transformative component of our collective success and is critical to fulfill Sterling’s aspirations for the future.

In this moment, we invite you to show your support of this special institution, its collective vision, and all that we have accomplished during Matthew’s tenure with a tax-deductible gift. A gift today will help ensure a smooth transition for our community and ensure the Sterling experience for what it is known for: accessible, experiential, supportive, and interdisciplinary.

The future is brighter with Sterling in it.

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Students on the banks of Six Mile Creek during ecology class at the Wendell Berry Farming Program.

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New student, Oliver D'Orazio, speaks on the value of a small community.

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Student Anna Webber-Loomis provides gear repair services and education to the local community as part of an Experiential Work Learning Grant received from the Work College Consortium. The grant supports Sterling's new Community Gear Design and Repair Program which included the purchase of this industrial sewing machine. Students like Anna will provide gear repairs to students and employees as well as the greater Craftsbury community.

This new program at Sterling is a direct result of a course the College piloted in Spring 2021 by the same name, Gear Design and Repair.

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EMERGENCY TO EMERGENCE PODCAST // Laura Beebe joins Emergency to Emergence hosts, Nakasi and Dakota, for a rich conversation on the importance of the backcountry to human development -- her own and her students. Resisting a guide’s tendency to define backcountry in geographical terms or locate it far from the places that bear obvious marks of human development, Laura conceives of backcountry as a "state of being" reached through immersion in natural places, relationships with other species and with ecologies, and a sense of belonging among the same. But in this ranging and rich conversation, Laura also resists the all-too-common tendency to obscure the modern cultural forces that force separation, replicate problematic hierarchies and tend to make adventure and discovery exclusive. Reflecting on several decades of often being the only women in male-dominated spaces, Laura also delves into the inclusive aspirations of Sterling College’s Wilderness Field Program and illustrates how extended backcountry education, paired with the study of natural history and cultural ecology, allow students to see into deep time, celebrate continuance, and figure out more about how they want to be in the world. TAKE A LISTEN. LINK ON BIO.

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Last week we hosted a group of 10 new Sterling College students at The Farm Between. They spent an afternoon harvesting apples, as the surrounding hillsides were just beginning to show color. We grow around 40 varieties of apples at The Farm Between, which we sell wholesale: early, mid and late season apples, cider apples and dessert apples, red apples, speckled apples, russeted apples. For those interested in growing your own, we still have trees available for sale in the nursery. Please email thefarmbetween@sterlingcollege.edu or call (802) 335-2000 to schedule an appointment.

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Ashland’s Story | Wendell Berry Farming Program. Ashland Tann found the Wendell Berry Farming Program challenging. “It’s definitely the kind of place where you have to take an active part in your own education. You have to determine for yourself what you are going to get out of it.” It fueled his interest in farming and helped him shape his long-term goal of running an educational farm with a restaurant that would demonstrate the viability of locally sourced food. In the end, he says, he “couldn’t imagine how it could have all turned out any better.”

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

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Dig In!

Spencer Mast ’17 Awarded Union Bank Scholarship

Spencer Mast is a 2nd year student at Sterling College studying Environmental Humanities and minoring in Draft Horse Management. An Eagle Scout from New London, Minnesota, Spencer came to Sterling…

New-Found Skills and Hand-Made Packs

Customers receiving their long-awaited, hand-made, bespoke climbing pack from John Campbell may find, enclosed with their order, a small square sticker that reads: “Alpine Luddites: No social media. No one…

Community Coffee Club

On Sunday mornings before brunch, Sterling College’s coffee connoisseurs gather for their weekly meeting in the Dunbar Dining Room. At each Coffee Club gathering, the members sample coffees from around…

Become an Underwriter

Underwrite the School of the New American Farmstead

Underwriting Levels

Want to learn more about the School of the New American Farmstead at Sterling College?

Interested in our mission, faculty and 2020 programming?

Underwriting Levels

Sustainer – >$20,000

Partner – $10,001 – $20,000

Colleague – $5,001 – $10,000

Supporter – $501 – $5,000

Friend – <$500

Become an underwriter today!

Spencer Mast ’17 Awarded Union Bank Scholarship

New-Found Skills and Hand-Made Packs

Community Coffee Club