Sheena Brown is a fourth-generation dairy farmer at Skyline Holsteins in Derby. Her great-grandfather bought this farm 81 years ago. As a child, she spent her days bottle-feeding lambs, walking a pet pig down the road, and following her father through the barn, convinced this was exactly where she belonged.

Then, when she was in middle school, the family sold the dairy herd. The barn went quiet, and it seemed like her dream of farming here might disappear.

Fortunately, it didn't.

In 2015, Sheena reopened the family dairy. Today, she and her partner, Ben, are raising three young boys on the same farm where she grew up.

Now they're taking on perhaps their biggest challenge yet: transitioning from conventional dairy farming to organic in hopes of creating a more sustainable future for the farm, and for the next generation.

This episode was made possible with funding from Vermont Dairy Farmers.

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The Seven Stars Arts Center is one of those rare places that blends history, community, reinvention, and a touch of quirkiness.

What began as a Baptist church later became a grange hall, then a garage, and eventually a healing arts center. Now the building is an education and performing arts venue run by volunteers.

Located a few doors from the Sharon Post Office on Route 14, the building still resembles an old church. But the steeple and an exterior clock from its earlier days are long gone. Today, the top of the building is flat, and musical notes are etched in a framed circle once told you the time.

The center gets its name from a 1990s creation. On the yellow front doors are two stained-glass windows hand-painted with seven stars.

Yet, despite its whimsical exterior, the inside the building is where the magic happens.

“There’s a great extended community that like to come to Seven Stars. They love the hall, and they love the music,” says Anne Mapplebeck of Sharon, a visual artist who volunteers regularly at Seven Stars with her husband, Michael Barsanti.

There’s a lot to love about Vermont general stores.

This episode includes an interview with Ben Doyle, the president of the Preservation Trust of Vermont in Montpelier. The organization has helped many Vermont towns save or reopen general stores.

I also chat with Dan and Alison Singleton of Singleton’s Store in Cavendish, which opened 80 years ago.

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Cory Ciklin and a group of volunteers are helping to bring the Townshend Town Hall and Opera House back to its former glory.

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This holiday season, windows on Brattleboro's Main Street and beyond are being decorated for the inaugural Festival of Miniatures.

Festival organizer Melany Kahn talks about the event and the town she loves. She also shares insight into Brattleboro's strengths and challenges, and why local art matters.

www.brattleboro.com

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