Billings Farm

Closed
2023-11-03, 2023-11-06, 2023-11-07, 2023-11-08, 2023-11-09, 2023-11-10, 2023-11-13, 2023-11-14 and 7 more dates | Billings Farm and Museum, 69 Old River Rd, Woodstock, VT, 05091, United States

Billings Backyard: Introduction to Vineyards and Verjus-Cancelled
2023-11-04 10:00 - 11:30 (America/New_York) | Billings Farm and Museum, 69 Old River Rd, Woodstock, VT, 05091, United States
Thank you for your interest! This workshop has been cancelled.
Price: $15 person/$10 member
Presenters: Sharen Conner & Martha Esersky Lorden
Location: Visitor Center Learning Kitchen
Ages: 16+
Curious about starting your own vineyard? Wondering what to do with the grapes once they’ve grown? Sharen Conner and Martha Esersky Lorden are here to answer your questions! They’ll discuss how to select, plant, and care for your own vines and introduce you to the wonderful world of Verjus—a unfermented, acidic juice made from unripe grapes and delicious in sauces, salad dressings, and more. The class will discuss the history and uses of Verjus, how to make it, and include demonstrations and tastings of a few recipes made with the delicious product.
About the Presenters
Sharen Conner is the viticulturist and verjus entrepreneur for Lincoln Bridge Farms. She formerly worked 40 years in education as a learning specialist for special needs students. Her family planted a one-acre vineyard (600 vines) in 2009. In 2016 and 2017, she learned to make wine in a commercially conventional manner and in 2018 and 2019, she experimented with “wild fermentation” using an ancient technique called “pied de cuve” or foot of the barrel. In 2020, Sharen turned her focus to verjus and produced some for the farm stand and again the next year. In 2022, she obtained a food producers license and began to sell to restaurants and retail outlets. Sharen is committed to caring for the environment through employing organic methods and providing experiential education to her “farm stay” guests and wwoofers (wwoof.org) who come to help and learn these aspects of agriculture firsthand.
Martha Esersky Lorden is a food writer, culinary historian, and cookbook reviewer. Her travels and education, particularly her years living and cooking in Italy honed her natural love and instinct for good food. During the years she lived in Italy, she worked the wine harvest, plucked chickens, and made pasta with her Italian farming neighbors. She studied cooking at Apicius, the culinary institute of Florence, the Bologna Cooking School, and took courses at Johnson and Wales College in Providence, Rhode Island and studied food writing at Boston University. A member of the Culinary Historians of New York, she also studied with noted food anthropologists and culinary historians. Martha reviews cookbooks for Publishers Weekly, has written features for its online newsletter, Cooking the Books. and interviewed many chef-authors. She created of the Good Books for Cooks column for the Hanover Consumer Food Co-op monthly magazine, and profiled women farmers for the nonprofit New Hampshire Farms Network (www.newhampshirefarms.net). Her blog, (www.outtathekitchen.com) is a melange of food memoir, culinary history, travel, and recipes was launched in 2012. Until recently, she enjoyed a five year adventure running a food truck called Martha’s On A Roll. She teaches courses in historical cooking and world gastronomy for the adult extension education program, Osher at Dartmouth, including topics such as Gastronomy of the Netherlands, Culinary Adventures with Lewis and Clark, Cowboy Cuisine, Dining by Rail, and Victorian Victuals.
View our Safety Policy
Cancellation Policy: There are often waitlists for our courses, so please let us know in advance if you are unable to attend. Refunds are available up to 7 days before the class is held. There are no refunds within 7 days.
Contact info@billingsfarm.org with questions.

Today's Schedule
2023-11-04 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-11-05 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-11-11 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-11-12 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-11-18 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-11-19 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-11-24 10:00 - 16:00, 2023-11-25 10:00 - 16:00 | Billings Farm and Museum, 69 Old River Rd, Woodstock, VT, 05091, United States

Woodstock VT Film Series: Whitman Brook
2023-11-04 15:00 - 17:00 | Billings Farm and Museum, 69 Old River Rd, Woodstock, VT, 05091, United States
Whitman Brook: An Apple Orchard and the Nature of Time
Directed by Ben Silberfarb. 68 minutes. Not rated.
Q&A with filmmaker Ben Silberfarb and Whitman Brook Orchard’s Terry Dorman following the Saturday screening
Showings take place at 3:00PM in the Billings Farm & Museum Visitor Center Theater. Tickets are $15 person/$12 Billings Farm member.
Purchase Tickets
When Terry Dorman moved to Quechee, Vermont, in 1980, his plan didn’t include rescuing an abandoned, 100-year-old apple orchard. His mind was on the farm he and his wife, Sara, were planning to build, an idea rooted in the loss of his family’s land in Massachusetts decades earlier. But there it was—rows of gnarled, drooping trees in danger of being reclaimed by the forested hillside. So, he began to experiment with restoration pruning and grafting and soon he was in the orchard in every season, in every kind of weather.
Whitman Brook is the story of an orchard, and also its stewards—Terry and the others who work among the trees. It’s the story of love, of loss, and of rejuvenation through the act of caring for a place that will continue long into the future. And it’s a call to pay attention—to the natural world, to the passing of time, and to each other.
This film is about life’s pace. It’s about our place in time, environmental stewardship, and it’s a love story.” ~ Ben Silberfarb, Director
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Woodstock VT Film Series: Whitman Brook
2023-11-05 15:00 - 16:30 | Billings Farm and Museum, 69 Old River Rd, Woodstock, VT, 05091, United States
Whitman Brook: An Apple Orchard and the Nature of Time
Directed by Ben Silberfarb. 68 minutes. Not rated.
Q&A with filmmaker Ben Silberfarb and Whitman Brook Orchard’s Terry Dorman following the Saturday screening
Showings take place at 3:00PM in the Billings Farm & Museum Visitor Center Theater. Tickets are $15 person/$12 Billings Farm member.
Purchase Tickets
When Terry Dorman moved to Quechee, Vermont, in 1980, his plan didn’t include rescuing an abandoned, 100-year-old apple orchard. His mind was on the farm he and his wife, Sara, were planning to build, an idea rooted in the loss of his family’s land in Massachusetts decades earlier. But there it was—rows of gnarled, drooping trees in danger of being reclaimed by the forested hillside. So, he began to experiment with restoration pruning and grafting and soon he was in the orchard in every season, in every kind of weather.
Whitman Brook is the story of an orchard, and also its stewards—Terry and the others who work among the trees. It’s the story of love, of loss, and of rejuvenation through the act of caring for a place that will continue long into the future. And it’s a call to pay attention—to the natural world, to the passing of time, and to each other.
This film is about life’s pace. It’s about our place in time, environmental stewardship, and it’s a love story.” ~ Ben Silverfarb, Director
﻿﻿﻿﻿

Homeschool Club: Draft Animal Power
2023-11-16 10:00 - 11:30 | Billings Farm and Museum, 69 Old River Rd, Woodstock, VT, 05091, United States
November 16, 2023
10:00AM-11:30AM
Ages 7-11
$20/student, $15/member student

Draft Animal Power

Learn about the original tractors—Draft Animals! We’ll visit the farm’s draft horses and working steers and learn more about the work they do. We’ll also explore historic artifacts, photographs, and tools that tell us more about the importance of these powerful animals in early farm work.

Woodstock VT Film Series: Dusty and Stones
2023-11-18 15:00 - 16:30, 2023-11-19 15:00 - 17:00 | Billings Farm and Museum, 69 Old River Rd, Woodstock, VT, 05091, United States
Dusty & Stones
2022. Directed by Jesse Rudoy. 83 minutes. Not rated.
Q&A with film editor Loulwa Khoury following the Sunday screening
Purchase Tickets
Showings take place at 3:00PM in the Billings Farm & Museum Visitor Center Theater. Tickets are $15 person/$12 Billings Farm member.
The screening of Dusty & Stones is part of the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival 2023 Vermont Fall Tour. Eden Ciders, Shelburne Vineyard, and Iapetus Wines are sponsoring the Fall Tour, and will present tastings in the Billings Farm Visitor Center from 2-4pm on both Nov 18 and 19. Guests can also purchase a glass or bottle of wine or cider.
ABOUT THE FILM
Dusty & Stones is a continent-crossing hero’s journey story told through country music. The documentary intimately chronicles the remarkable ride of cousins Gazi “Dusty” Simelane and Linda “Stones” Msibi, a determined duo of struggling country singers from the tiny African Kingdom of Eswatini (known as Swaziland at the time of filming) who long for their big break.
When they are unexpectedly invited to record their songs in Nashville and to compete in a Texas battle of the bands, Dusty and Stones embark on their long-awaited first pilgrimage to the ancestral heart of country music.
Over a momentous ten-day road trip through the American South, Dusty and Stones bring their music to life in a top Nashville recording studio, explore the storied locales of their favorite country songs, and excitedly engage with the culture they’ve long felt part of from afar.
But this sense of kinship is abruptly thrown into question when Dusty and Stones arrive in the small town of Jefferson, Texas to compete in the battle of the bands. There, the hostile leader of the local backing band threatens to derail the cousins’ debut American performance. As their family and friends back home wait for good news, a shell-shocked Dusty and Stones must take the stage and fight to bring home an award for Swaziland.
Dusty & Stones was supported by the HBO New True Stories Funding Initiative, the Gotham Documentary Feature Lab, Film Independent’s Fast Track, Durban FilmMart, and the XTR Film Society.

One of the most compelling and joyful music documentaries of the year.” ~ Living Life Fearless
“Captivating crowd-pleaser that weaves contemporary politics in its backdrop…a character study rife with terrific music and presence.” ~ The Film Stage
“[A] wondrous ten-day road trip through the American south” ~ DOC NYC
“A triumph of musical storytelling” ~ Sonic Cinema
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Thanksgiving Weekend
2023-11-24 10:00 - 16:00 | VT
Give thanks, share, and learn at Billings Farm’s Thanksgiving! Enjoy an experience for the whole family with 19th century Thanksgiving traditions, crafts, and food. Step into the past with a display of a Thanksgiving table from the 1890s and the delicious aroma of traditional food cooking on a wood stove. Play “What’s For Dinner” and guess what foods were featured in an 1890’s Thanksgiving, make your own mini apple pie to take home, and share your favorite family traditions on the Sharing Tree. Warm up by the outdoor firepits with hot cocoa and s’mores – available for purchase.

Open Friday, Saturday & Sunday, 10AM-4PM.

EVENT SCHEDULE

11AM – 3PM Make your own Mini Apple Hand Pie
11AM, 1PM, 3PM Guess What’s for Dinner: 1890s Thanksgiving Edition
12PM & 2PM Listen to a Children’s Story

Throughout the Day:

Craft a Woven Paper Placemat
See the Cooking Demos in the 1890 Farmhouse
Share Family Traditions on the Sharing Tree
Follow the Story Walk featuring Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning

Need a warm beverage and a sweet snack? Hot Cocoa, coffee, and S’mores are available for purchase.
Shop for the holidays in our gift shop. Peruse our unique selection of local Vermont gifts, children’s books, adorable stuffies, specialty food items, and, of course, Billings Farm cheddar! There’s sure to be something for everyone on your list!
