Nurturing awe: after caring for forests and farms for decades, couple protects land in Enosburgh

Back to the land, planning for the future

Sarah and Steve met at the University of Vermont (UVM) in a plant and soil science class. It wasn’t long before the couple were trading dreams about owning their own homestead, raising kids, animals, and vegetables. The pair spent several years at Purdue University in Indiana chasing careers that would eventually allow them to buy land.  

Steve became a large animal veterinarian, and Sarah got certified to teach agricultural education. But their hearts remained back in Vermont.  

“On the day I graduated, Sarah had the U-Haul truck packed and was ready to roll back to Vermont,” joked Steve. 

He started working on dairy farms across northern Vermont, and Sarah began teaching at the Cold Hollow Career Center (CHCC). Sarah became a fixture at Cold Hollow, working there through her recent retirement, and continues as a substitute teacher today. Steve partially retired in 2022 and now runs UVM’s dairy farm program. 

“Sarah and Steve care not only for their property in Enosburgh and Fairfield but all the working landscape in Vermont,” said Bob Heiser, Project Director at VLT. “They’ve dedicated their lives to it.”  

Growing their family, growing their lands

Sarah and Steve connected with two sisters who were selling their homestead on about 80 acres in Enosburgh. One of the sisters, Barbara, had lived in the house her entire life. She wanted to sell to someone who would work the land as it had been for generations. After meeting the couple, the sisters agreed that Steve and Sarah could fulfill that vision.  

Sarah and Steve inherited Barbara’s pictures of the original barn raising on the property, back in the very early 1900s.

Over the next forty years, the couple added on five adjoining parcels. “There was no plan,” said Steve, “An adjacent landowner would approach us and ask if we were interested in purchasing his piece of land. We would figure out how to scrape together the money.”

In the meantime, Sarah and Steve adopted two children, a son and a daughter. The kids grew up on the Enosburgh homestead. They tagged along as Sarah and Steve bought more parcels, grew a beef herd and vegetables, and harvested firewood with draft horses.  

Both kids hold deep ties to Vermont’s land. Their daughter settled in southern Vermont and gets outside whenever possible. Their son, Brendan, lives a half mile up the road. He knows the land almost as well as Sarah and Steve and takes his own daughters out when he can. A few years back, he set up a sugaring operation in the forest.  

“This land was Barbara’s legacy, her joy,” reflected Sarah. “For our son to be sugaring on her land gave her the greatest joy, because she knew it would be another generation.” 

Conserving the land they love

Conservation was always in the back of their minds. Two of the parcels they bought had been on the verge of being sold to developers. They felt lucky to be able to prevent that outcome, because that would cut open a block of forest with streams and wetlands. They wanted to ensure it wouldn’t be a risk again, even after they passed.  

So, they worked with VLT and Cold Hollow to Canada (CHC) — a nonprofit dedicated to conserving and stewarding forestland in the region — to protect the land. In 2025, they conserved the land with us by donating a conservation easement on over 260 acres. CHC and the Town of Enosburgh helped cover the costs associated with the conservation project. 

“We are immensely grateful for our ongoing collaboration with land stewards like Sarah and Steve, and with our close partner the Vermont Land Trust,” said Dave Erickson, Executive Director of CHC. “Together we have helped protect vital forestland for wildlife and people for generations to come.” 

A meandering brook runs through the property, a favorite spot for Steve and Sarah to go on walks with their granddaughters.

Sitting next to other conserved parcels, the property is part of a forest block with important habitat for wildlife. It hosts a beaver pond and wetland, and black bears have been known to pass through over the years. In addition to limiting development, the land’s conservation promotes good forest management and protects natural resources on the parcel — the ongoing stewardship will ensure that habitat remains unbroken. 

“Conserving this property strengthens the integrity of the entire local ecosystem,” said Nancy Patch, former forester as well as Co-Founder and Vice President of CHC. “Sarah and Steve are active leaders and participants in the community, especially around the love of land.” 

For Sarah and Steve, conservation was a small piece they could do to support the working landscape across Vermont. “Our collective dream would be that it is well-managed and an active working landscape, whatever that might look like. Wooded, managed, and loved,” said Steve. 

“An integral part of our souls”

Today, the draft horses of yesteryear have passed away, but a small beef herd still grazes on the land. Sarah and Steve still grow vegetables and harvest their firewood from the forest.  

They discover new joys every year, like a patch of ramps they uncovered recently. And they make time for their favorite haunts, like the sloping meadow bursting with wildflowers. Whenever they can, they take their granddaughters up the little farm road following the meandering brook, hunting for crayfish and other critters on the way back down.  

“We know pretty much every nook and cranny of this land,” said Steve. “We see the seasonal changes, the vernal pools in the spring. We snowshoe, cross-country ski, mountain bike ride. It is an integral part of our souls.” 

“We live in awe of it,” added Sarah.