Luna Bleu Farm Subject of Article In November ‘Vogue’ Magazine

Luna Bleu crew members loading up to go to the farmers market included (l-r) Jane Herman from Vogue, Suzanne Long, Owen Marshall, Leah Erlbaum, Erin Woodard, and John Smith. (Photo courtesy of Vern Grubinger, UVM Extension Service)

Suzanne Long and Tim Sanford are very much in vogue!

Planted neatly in the middle of a photo spread of pricy fall fashions in the November issue of “Vogue” magazine, is an account of a week-long visit by writer Jane Herman to Luna Bleu Farm in South Royalton.

Herman notes in her article that she came to this certified organic meat, vegetable and flower farm owned by Tim Sanford and Suzanne Long to “wwoof” (“willingly work on an organic farm”) for one week.

“In exchange for my labor,” Herman wrote, “Sanford and Long have provided me room and board: a mattress in the barn and daily meals, all of which are made from leftover crops (the best stuff goes to market first).

“Our exchange, made through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF.org) a global network that connects people who want to learn more about growing organic food with qualified host farms, is more than fair.”

Herman’s article was set in the midst of six glossy pages autumnal-hued photos showing models frolicking in farm fields, posing in $3000 outfits in the hay and on tractors. A casual reader would deduce that those photos were taken at Luna Bleu, but they weren’t. They were taken on a California farm.

Herman’s visit to Luna Blue was for real, however. She spent a week there, sleeping in a barn and joined by three other temporary workers. These included, she said “a recent Dartmouth graduate who double-majored in economics and environmental studies; a cheerful globe-trotter and nature enthusiast; and a fellow New Yorker and wwoofer who does volunteer work planting community gardens in low-income neighborhoods.”

Long told The Herald that Luna Bleu Farm has participated in the WWOOF program for about five or six years.

“People come at many times throughout the year and volunteer on the farm to get room and board for working, but mostly in the summer,” she explained.

“It’s an international program, so we have had people from overseas. Ironically, our 18-year-old daughter Shona was ‘wwoofing’ on several farms in England while Jane was here!”

“Jane told us she had wanted to have this experience for a while and was hoping she could pitch it to the magazine she worked for,” Long added. “She worked hard and I think she got a lot out of it.

“We didn’t originally know she worked for Vogue. Our crew would tease her because they knew where she was from, and she was a great sport. When one of the other workers, Henry, first met her, he teased her about her fancy wardrobe and said, ‘we’re going to have to take you to the thrift store to get you some real work clothes!’”

“We enjoyed having her with us because she was so willing and good-natured,” Long commented. “We had a good time together, laughing at our two different worlds. Here on the farm, we’re the antithesis of Vogue! When the magazine came out, she sent us two copies—one of them for the privy by the barn!”

Herman also found much to like, not only about life on Luna Bleu Farm, but Long as well. Her article concludes on an admiring note:

“She (Long), an Ivy-League educated mother of two who can drive a tractor, play the cello, speak basic Swahili, and carry a bushel barrel with the sly power of a yoga instructor, wears her years of good, hard work with a great sense of farm humor.

“If a bit of dirt every day is what she’s having, then I’ll take some of the same.”