Rural Vermont

08/31/2026

Bear Management Rule Public Comment Period

The Department of Fish and Wildlife's proposed bear management rule is open for public comment and seeks to create a single bear season running from September 1st through the last day of the regulated deer season. The rule would require a bear tag to take a bear during the season, allow a second bear upon approval, and prohibit intentionally taking sows with cubs.

Find information on the rule and public hearings here: https://secure.vermont.gov/SOS/rules/results.php

08/29/2026

Want to win $100 to or pies from the and ? All you have to do is come play a good old fashioned game of Bingo with us on Sunday at Rural Vermont’s Pie Situation!

Join us Sunday from 10 - Noon at Longest Acres Farm in Chelsea for what’s shaping up to be good weather, good food, and good company!

Details and RSVP here:
https://www.ruralvermont.org/events/2026/8/30/830-pie

08/29/2026

A viable and thriving agricultural economy that supports small, independently or cooperatively owned farms and farm businesses requires scale-appropriate regulations, including direct-to-consumer sales for producers. This article shares voices of some of the producers whom we have worked with in VT’s adult use cannabis community, who speak specifically to how having no direct access to consumers and being restricted to selling wholesale is hurting producers, consumers, and VT’s farm economy. For years, Rural VT has advocated for direct markets and other basic tenets of fair and just agricultural markets for small cannabis producers in VT, along with the VT Cannabis Equity Coalition (VT Racial Justice Alliance, VT Growers’ Association, Green Mtn. Patients’ Alliance, NOFA VT).

Check out the VT Community News article: https://vtcommunitynews.org/2026/08/18/artisan-cannabis-cultivators-are-struggling-to-make-money-in-vermont/

08/28/2026

Join Rural Vermont at BALE Commons (35 South Windsor Street, South Royalton) on Monday, September 14th for a screening of LABOR HISTORY in VERMONT & BEYOND. Learn the history of our labor movements and why we have to organize. Doors open at 5:30. Screening begins at 6pm. Hope you'll join us!

This webinar is organized by NEKO (Northeast Kingdom Organizing).
Screening organized by Rural Vermont.

08/28/2026

Check out this article NFFC posted on its listserv that breaks down some of the farm bill's deficits in layperson’s terms. Although it endorses a biofuels policy (year-round E15) we may not support, it's otherwise helpful, I think. We could say that, “This article came through our friends at the National Family Farm Coalition. This article, written by a farmer who is a member of NFFC, succinctly explains some of the very important structural failures of the farm bill and greater ag policy. Though we don’t support the “year-round E-15” program cited in this article, we do understand that many commodity producers are looking for any market they can find to stay afloat.

Lawmakers must stop pretending this Farm Bill works. As Charles Givens once said, “Doing more of what doesn’t work won’t make it work any better.”

08/27/2026

Join us for a one-of-a-kind waterfowl on-farm slaughter workshop at Sugar Top Farm, LLC in Hyde Park, Sunday, October 11th, from 9:00am–12:00pm, featuring Muscovy ducks. The workshop will explore Muscovy ducks as a sustainable protein source for the homestead, offer step-by-step slaughter and butchering instruction and demonstrations, and provide hands-on learning from our farm host & lead instructor, Kristin Plante.

Workshop tickets are $75 and include a copy of our host's (Kristin Plante) Muscovy e-book with poultry tractor design, two printed Muscovy duck recipes, and a package of two Muscovy duck breasts for each participant.

Registration: https://www.ruralvermont.org/events/2026/10/11/1011-muscovy-duck-on-farm-slaughter-workshop

Thank you to our sponsors!
Guy’s Farm & Yard, Hunger Mountain Co-op, Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op, Northfield Savings Bank, andSouthern VT Dairy Goat Association

08/24/2026

Are you interested in raising a highly sustainable (and very tasty!) protein on your farm, homestead, or backyard? If so, we invite you to join (us) Rural Vermont and Giant Journey Farm in Newfane on Saturday, November 21st, from 11:00 am - 2:00 pm for a rabbit butchery workshop.

More details and registration at: https://www.ruralvermont.org/merch/giantjourneyrabbit