Vermont Housing Conservation Board 2005 - Vermont Housing and ...

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O’CONNELL FARM, CORINTH Chris Doyle/Upper Valley Land Trust 24 BRINGING A SMALL FARM BACK TO LIFE Conservation Helps a Family Make It Work Rich O’Connell was tired of life as a builder and residential developer in the booming suburbs of Boston. So one day, he says, “I just got into my van and I drove and I drove.” He came to a quiet crossroads in West Corinth. There was a “For Sale” sign out front of a small, aged farm. Its sagging red barn had been empty of cows for a decade or so. “I stopped and talked to the farmer, and within two hours I had bought it,” Rich says. “I went home and said to my wife, ‘Guess what’” So four years ago, Rich and Barbara O’Connell moved to Vermont with their children (they now have six). They were planning just to build a new home on the 50-acre farm. But Rich started wondering what it would take to start the old dairy again. Then he went ahead and did it. This year the O’Connells conserved their now-operating small dairy farm, with a VHCB grant through the Upper Valley Land Trust (UVLT). With the proceeds from the sale of development rights, they built a new, freestall barn onto the back of the old barn, and added 27 cows to make a herd of almost 50. With other funding, they also built a new, concrete manure containment, coupled with a new plan for nutrient management and stream protection. Rich and Barbara O'Connell reclaimed an old farm in Corinth. This year they conserved the farm, added 27 cows, and built a new freestall barn. “This is more a lifestyle choice, for us. Sometimes the paychecks aren’t big, sometimes they’re not enough — but I’m driven by determination.” — Rich O’Connell
“Watching the O’Connell family revitalize (their farm) . . . is encouraging to the many people in town who value our agricultural heritage,” said a letter written on behalf of the Corinth Select Board, supporting the farm’s conservation. The project was also supported by the Orange County Headwaters Project, an initiative in Corinth and Washington that has gathered momentum as well as quite a bit of local and regional funding support for their efforts. Rich has learned how to farm by asking questions, reading, and just doing it. “We work every inch of this property,” he says. “We’re no strangers to 18-hour days, if that’s what it takes. “We’re upgrading and getting more efficient. To make it small, you need to be more efficient.” The O’Connells started shipping milk when prices were at a 40-year low, but they have stuck it out. “This is more a lifestyle choice, for us,” Rich says. “Sometimes the paychecks aren’t big, sometimes they’re not enough — but I’m driven by determination.” The new barn was “100 percent made possible by the UVLT,” he says. The public funding was the first he had received for the farm, from any source. “Being a small farm, you aren’t the first choice for any financial institution handing out money,” he observes, drily. The O’Connells’ decision to conserve helped leverage similar choices by several adjoining landowners. Jack and Susi Learmouth, Glynn Pellagrino, and Anne Bergeron conserved a total of 129 acres, much of which had been part of the original farm now owned by the O’Connells. “These landowners were cheered as pioneers in a conservation initiative organized by Corinth and Washington residents,” the UVLT told its members in a September letter, “to conserve large blocks of working forest and farmland — an opportunity, say the project’s organizers, ‘to collectively affect the way our area will look, feel, and function far into the future.’” Rich O’Connell knows it’s up to him to make his farm work. “This is my place — and if I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done.” But now he also knows the land on which his business relies is secure. “The whole area around here will remain rural,” he says. “The leaf peepers are going to keep coming by. They’re going to want to come to places like this.” Local Conservation Program Helps Towns Realize Their Objectives VHCB’s Local Conservation Program provides funding for the acquisition of land or easements to provide public access to water, trails or greenways, to protect or expand town parks and town forests, and to conserve agricultural land and public historic properties. Local Conservation awards are limited to $150,000 and require a minimum one-third match of total project costs in the form of local fundraising, in-kind services, and/or donations of land and easements that further the conservation goals of the project. More than 60 towns have used the program to acquire or conserve land, creating ballfields, public parks and trails, and securing public access to swimming holes and historic buildings. Local Farmland Conservation Smaller farms like the O'Connell Farm that may be unable to compete for funding under VHCB’s statewide Farmland Conservation Program are eligible for grants under the Local Conservation Program. 25
Page 1 and 2: 2005 Annual Report to the General A
Page 3 and 4: james h. douglas governor State of
Page 5 and 6: statutory mandates that require per
Page 7 and 8: in the marketplace, and for homes b
Page 9 and 10: documents. But an applicant’s ent
Page 11 and 12: the 1906-vintage edifice stands out
Page 13 and 14: Bob Eddy photos Laurie Webster, who
Page 15 and 16: “These are people who are very en
Page 17 and 18: HABITAT FOR HUMANITY Hard-Earned Ho
Page 19 and 20: “Owning a home isn’t just luck.
Page 21 and 22: portation,” said Brenda Torpy, di
Page 23 and 24: So Jon and Lise Yandow, whose seven
Page 25: Addison Vermont Land Trust photos a
Page 29 and 30: Bob Eddy “Farming is such a labor
Page 31 and 32: This joins a mix of new and retrofi
Page 33 and 34: CROSS VERMONT TRAIL A Trail to Conn
Page 35 and 36: Liz Thompson/The Nature Conservancy
Page 37 and 38: HISTORIC PRESERVATION A New Role fo
Page 39 and 40: Bob Eddy photos England what became
Page 41 and 42: VERMONT COMMUNITY STEWARDSHIP PROGR
Page 43 and 44: VERMONT LEAD-BASED PAINT HAZARD RED
Page 45 and 46: Housing Awards July 2004 -June 2005
Page 47 and 48: Housing Awards July -December 2005
Page 49 and 50: Conservation Awards July 2004 -June
Page 51 and 52: Conservation Awards July 2004 -June
Page 53 and 54: Conservation Awards July -December
Page 55 and 56: Partners in Project Development Jan
Page 61 and 62: Revenues $22,486,033 Interest Incom
Page 63 and 64: PROJECT AWARDS BY COUNTY 1987-2005

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