Goulet Farm: Conserved!

Over the past few years, South Hero Land Trust has been working with the Goulet and Swanson families, alongside our partners at Vermont Land Trust, to conserve 195 acres of critical farmland in the Keeler Bay Watershed. This land, which is home base for the beloved Goulet Farm, was conserved this summer thanks to the generosity of our community. 

South Hero Land Trust is pleased to announce this critical land base for the Goulet Farm is secured long into the future. To close the project, SHLT and Vermont Land Trust worked together to secure $918,000 in federal and state grants. The landowners also helped by lowering the price by $270,000 through what’s known as a “bargain sale.” This left a gap of $350,000, at which point the community stepped up in a huge way - together we were able to raise just enough to close the project and protect this land forever!

Now, the Goulet Farm is able to remain a productive business, working the land and providing food to the community through their popular farm stand. As Heather Darby declared at the SHLT Annual Celebration: “Farms and food matter. There isn’t anything more important to our survival as a community, and as a species, than working farms.”

Overlooking the Goulet Farm’s hayfields

To accomplish any conservation project of this magnitude, it takes many hands. Like Heather Darby, local artist Roy Newton, who designed the SHLT logo, was also inspired by the importance of this farm conservation project. So much so that he graciously donated 10 unique framed prints which SHLT is raffling off to donors who gave at least $500 to the project.

With the future of this farmland now secure, South Hero Land Trust and the Grand Isle County Natural Resources Conservation District are working with the landowners to explore potential clean-water projects on the property which would help manage drainage and reduce phosphorus going into the lake. 

On a September visit to the Goulet Farm stand, the shelves were bursting with sweet corn, preserves, and many more local products from around the area. As the only commercial vegetable farm in South Hero, Goulet Farm is an important part of the community here, and with conservation, we know it will remain so for a long long time.