The Magic of Bread and Butter Farm
August 14, 2014

Bread and Butter Farm is the place to be on Friday nights.

The 143-acre farm in Shelburne hosts the wildly popular Burger Night from May to September, drawing between 400-700 people each week. Burger Night includes live music, grass-fed beef, fresh bread and veggies all made at the farm.
The idea of Burger Night came about three years ago when farm owner Corie Pierce and her partner Chris Dorman wanted to find a way to thank the community for helping them in their first year of business.

“Honestly, we expected 75 people at our first event and 150 showed up,” Dorman says. “And it just kept growing from there.”

Burger Night at Bread and Butter Farm

-Dancing to Chris Dorman’s music at Burger Night.

Burger Night isn’t just about food, it’s about community. When Dave, Phoebe and I attended our first Burger Night on a beautiful spring evening in May with our friends, we were thrilled to run into so many people we knew.

Phoebe danced in the grass to music performed by Dorman, an incredibly talented children’s musician (adults love his music, too). She also joined in her very first kids’ parade, one of the many highlights of Burger Night.
While Burger Night was new to us this year, we’ve been part of the Bread and Butter Farm community since 2012, when Phoebe first enrolled in Dorman’s wonderful Music for Sprouts program, held in the Farm Store. We’ve been fans of the farm ever since.

A Dream Come True

The Bread and Butter Farm team includes two couples, Pierce, Dorman, Adam Wilson and his partner Erik Weil. Pierce and Wilson, the farm’s owners and operators, met in 2005 while attending the University of California Santa Cruz Organic Farm & Garden Apprenticeship.

Instantly, they knew they could work together to create a working farm that served the land, the plants and animals, and the community.

After staying in touch over the years, Pierce and Wilson eventually purchased the former Leduc Farm in 2009 to create their dream farm together.  Burger Night and Dorman’s Music for Sprouts program soon followed.

“We all know that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we are so honored day in and day out to be stewards of such beautiful land,” Dorman says. “We each have our respective passions and dreams, and we are watching them come true every day. It’s kind of like growing plants or raising animals. Dreams don’t come true overnight, but if you tend to them daily, you are truly living the dream. And of course, new dreams are sprouting all of the time.”

**If You Go: Bread and Butter Farm is located at 200 Leduc Farm Drive (off Cheesecake Factory Road) in Shelburne. The Farm Store is open Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Burger Night is held Fridays from 4:30-7:30 p.m. between May and September.