May 12, 2021       

BF&M Mission: Inspiring and engaging generations through shared stories of Vermont’s rural culture and our continued practice of responsible agriculture.

  

A Note from Michelle This week I had the pleasure of putting together a presentation for the Board of Trustees of the Woodstock Foundation. As I reviewed pictures and information from the last 6 months I was struck again at the number of “things” we have accomplished together. I am especially proud of how we worked collaboratively, integrated our internal departments, and strengthened our relationship with our partners at the MBRNP and the WIR. Our projects have supported our mission and provided an engaging experience. A recent webinar I attended, hosted by an engaging motivational speaker, encouraged the audience to stop looking for the magic he said, “The magic is you. It is the people in your organization.” Yes. It. Is. Thank you for being you and being here right now. I am excited to see what we will do together in the next 6 months. Education & Interpretation News from Christine and Anna Thanks to everyone who helped make Draft Animal Day so successful. The activities were a big hit, and it was wonderful to see so many families and people out enjoying the day. We have a little bit of downtime before our next big special event, which is Dairy Days June 26 & 27.

The garden is coming along very nicely! The arch Gabi built is in its new spot, and it looks fantastic! It’s all built with reclaimed wood from Billings Farm & Museum, which makes it even more special. There are also plenty of things going into the ground. Seeds are planted, and Ben Pauly is providing us with some starts to plant later in the month, when the weather is more cooperative. We will also have plants growing in containers this

year, so we can show guests how they can grow a container garden at their own home. We will have potatoes in a bag, herbs in pots, and much more. We are about a week away from reopening the Farmhouse! There will be a training for farmhouse staff on Tuesday, May 18 from 1:00-3:00. At the training, we will go over the logistics of guests visiting that space as well as what the interpretation will look like in the altered tour. Norine, Caroline, Adele and I have been working hard on some new interpretive tools that I think everyone is going to enjoy. We have groups coming onsite starting next week. We will have some youth groups, adult groups, and school groups coming in the next month or so. There are also a few Virtual Field Trips on the books, so that is exciting as well. Particularly exciting is the fact that Zack’s Place is coming for an on-site program! They are thrilled to be coming back in person, and we are thrilled to have them. We have our first hybrid Billings Backyard this weekend (meaning it will be both in-person and virtual). Troy Hall of Hall Apiaries is doing a workshop on Beekeeping and Pollinators. We have a good amount of sign-ups already, and Troy is a great presenter, so I am sure it will be fantastic. Our next Billings Backyard will also be in person and will feature Tina Tuckerman leading “Backyard Goats.” I am very excited for that one too! The Blue Star program for Military families will start on Saturday, May 15. There is a sign in a frame that we will put out at the Ticket Desk and families will identify themselves. The discount sheet is up to date and the Ticket Desk Manuals have been reprinted and updated on the intranet as well. Thank you all for coming to the training on Tuesday and for bringing such great questions! We will send the recording of the training out to those who were unable to attend by the end of the week. Farm to Table with Emery What an incredible weekend we had on site. The amazing Susan did a wonderful job presenting our first Foodie Friday program on Ramps, and then again on Sunday with Shoofly Pie and Switchel for Draft Animal Day. Our own David Simmons said it was the best Switchel that he has ever had. Very high praise!! Well done, Susan.

Trail Break was a big hit over the weekend. It was nice to have them on site offering up a different experience for our guests, several of whom came solely for the fact that Trail Break was here. I have just received a great email from Topher, who said that his team is interested in being able to come back several more times throughout our Special Event Season! I am grateful for the feedback I have received from our team about Trail Break so far. If you have any additional comments, please feel free to send them to me via email.

Preparation has begun for our booth that will be on the Market on the Green this season from June 2nd to October 13th. We are preparing our banners and signs, forming our checklists of materials, and gathering supplies needed for a successful event. We will be selling our Billings Farm cheddars, an assortment of accompanying jams and crackers, and our ground beef! Another fantastic way to share our cheese story and interact with the wider community.

In the cheese world I am happy to have our marketing materials in hand that will be used to help sell our cheeses to new businesses in the local area and beyond. This has been an ongoing project, and thanks to the hard work of our PR team we have a beautiful document to bring to prospective customers. This document is meant to be an abbreviated way to tell our cheese story, while highlighting what makes our cheese unique. Please take a look at our story.

Sharing the Billings Farm Story from Marge & Jen Good News! Billings Farm & Museum was featured on NBC Boston 10 in a story about hosting the Woodstock Elementary 6th graders: The Pandemic Has These Vt. Students Going to School in a Museum https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/the-pandemic-has-these-vt-students-going-to-school-in-a-museum A Social Media Hit Thanks to Emery’s social media plan for #jerseymilkmonday we have a new cheese customer in Essex NY! Instagram posts led to an Instagram message from Essex Eats which led to a new sale. Congrats! Today, May 12, is #Farm24VT, a 24-hour celebration of farming. Check out posts on Facebook and Instagram from BFM and many of our partners in agriculture and food here in Vermont.

Coming Soon: Caregiver Admission Cards and Additional Children We will soon be introducing a new option for members – Caregiver Admission Cards. Here are the details:

- A Caregiver card is not a membership – it is good for admission for one caregiver plus the children of the named member

- A Caregiver card can be added to Family, Friend or other membership levels, but not Individual memberships, for a cost of $30 per caregiver.

- Members are limited to two caregiver cards per membership - Only the person named on the Caregiver card can be admitted, and they must show their ID - A Caregiver cardholder will receive a member sticker at the Ticket desk and 10% off discount in the Gift

Shop and Dairy Bar. Adult guests of a caregiver receive $2 off admission. - Caregiver cardholders will appear as a caregiver in the PastPerfect record under the membership name.

Also coming soon, members will be able to add additional children to a membership Currently, all membership levels of Family and above include 4 children. This option will allow members to add more children to their membership. Here are the details:

- Members can add up to three additional children per membership level at a cost of $15 per child. (At 4 additional children, they should consider moving up to the next membership level.)

- A member can add children to any level membership, including individual memberships. - The number of additional children will appear on the membership card next to the member level. - The number of additional children will appear on the caregiver card next to the member level, if

applicable.

Billings Farm’s Social Media, Marketing and Press     https://billingsfarm.org/billings-farm-at-home/      https://www.facebook.com/BillingsFarmMuseum/      https://www.instagram.com/billingsfarm/ Barn Brief from the Deomes First off we just want to congratulate everyone on a great Draft Animal Day this past weekend, we are looking forward to next year already! You may have noticed some animals are finally back outside after a long winter waiting for fresh grass! The sheep are back outside with the lambs and some heifers are enjoying all the fresh grass they can eat as well. As long as the weather holds for next week, we are hoping to start sending the milking herd outside during the day so stay tuned! We have had a bit of a quiet stretch of no new babies, however Maybelline was due on the 9th and has yet to calve so fingers crossed on a heifer. Next month looks to be a lot busier though with 10 cows due!

Archive and Curatorial News from Marianne & Emily I have received quite a few emails from those interested in helping with the Quilt Show install. I am so happy to have you on board. Some of you are veterans, and some of you are new to the process. I cannot wait to work with all of you to install this show!

If you have not responded yet, I want to extend another invite to help install the annual Quilt Exhibition. July 5th-16th, the accepted quilts need to be hung, their text blocks mounted, and the hall (aka Barn 4) transformed. I am looking for anyone interested in helping. Tasks include, but not limited to, reviewing text blocks before printing, heat mounting the blocks, hanging quilts, checking height/level of quilts, and other shenanigans.

On-the-job training will be provided for the hanging process. Below are some aspects of the hanging process. You do not need to be able to do these to help; there are plenty of other tasks that need doing as well.

• Holding 15 lbs. for a varying amount of time (quilts are surprisingly heavy). Two people tend to hold the quilt at a time as it is tied in place.

• Climbing ladders and rolling scaffolding unit. • Knot tying (with fishing line to make it more interesting)

Perks of the job: • Working in air conditioning (oh, the irony of hanging quilts in the summer) • Hanging out with cool people • Up-close encounters with the beautiful quilts

If you are interested or have questions, please send an email to ekoetsier@billingsfarm.org by Monday, May 17th.

Time for the Big Reveal! (queue drum roll and whatnot).

I think my clues were misguiding instead of helpful. This latest “What is it?” object is a hair brush, just one with powers. Susan L., Adele B., and Michelle A. guessed. Thoughts were a brush for pigs, a brush made with boar bristles, and a body brush to exfoliate and improve circulation, respectively. All good guesses, Michelle was closest to the right answer. This is Dr. Scott’s Electric Hair Brush. Now, do not worry; no electrical wires are involved. I mentioned in the April 28th newsletter that it promoted hygiene. What I was referencing is the directions explicitly state, “In no case should more than one person use this brush. If always used by the same person it retains its full curative powers.” And here enters the 1890 Sketchy aspects. Below are a few excerpts from the directions provided with the brush.

“The brushes should be used daily in place of an ordinary Hair Brush. They will always do good and never harm.”

“The ‘Odic Force’ can always be tested by moving the Brush near a compass. This power is so strong that if the compass is placed upon a thick Book or Table, and the Brush is moved in a circle beneath the same, the power will pass through the intervening Table or Book, and cause the needle of the compass to rotate rapidly.”

And my absolute favorite line: “Care should be taken to keep this brush out of reach of children and thus prevent their damaging it.”

I do not have a new round ready for this week. So, you may give your thinking caps a rest. I will hunt down a new mystery for you all in a couple of weeks after the Farm Manager’s House is put back together and ready for visitors on May 21st (Yikes!). Thank you all that have been playing along.