Sustainability
Vermont Woods Studios was founded in 2005 by husband and wife team Ken and Peggy Farabaugh. As a woodworker, Ken's interest was in earning a living by promoting the tradition of high-quality, Vermont made wood furniture. For Peggy, Vermont Woods Studios was an opportunity to use business as a vehicle to advocate for wildlife conservation and forest preservation.
Commitment to Sustainability
Much of the furniture sold in the US today is manufactured overseas, oftentimes with illegally harvested woods from vulnerable forests like the Amazon. This supply chain contributes to worldwide deforestation and increased carbon emissions from international shipping, not to mention most imported furniture is low quality and soon ends up in a landfill.
Our commitment to sustainability is four-pronged:
- Responsibly Sourced Materials
- Local Manufacturing & High Quality Products
- Forest Preservation & Restoration
- Environmental Stewardship at our Headquarters in Vermont
Responsibly Sourced North-American Hardwoods
All our wood furniture is built with North American hardwoods like cherry, walnut, maple, oak, and ash. These woods come from trees that grow natively in our local forests. This means less resources are expended transporting the wood from forests to saw mills and workshops.
In addition to reducing carbon emissions that occur from shipping materials long distances and internationally, sourcing wood from North American forests ensures that we’re not contributing to deforestation, because forests in the US and Canada have strong environmental protections and are actually increasing in size and density.
Made in America & Built to Last
All of our wood furniture and home decor is made in the USA and guaranteed to last a lifetime, which means our products won’t end up in a landfill anytime soon. Building high quality wood furniture is something that has been passed down in Vermont through several generations and hundreds of years. Building our furniture in the US means higher quality products, a smaller ecological footprint, and good-paying jobs for local woodworkers, saw mill operators, and loggers.
Forest Conservation & Restoration
Forest conservation and restoration have always been at the heart of our business. In addition to sourcing all our products responsibly, we are also taking proactive steps to restore forests around the world.
We're committed to donating 1% of our revenue to sustainability focused non-profits. Through this commitment and our long-standing partnership with La Cruz Habitat Protection Program (aka Forests for Monarchs), we plant thousands of trees per year and are helping to reforest large swaths of land in Central America that are critical for the long-term survival of the Monarch butterfly.
Environmental Stewardship at Our Headquarters in Vermont
Our headquarters is located in southern Vermont on a historic 109 acre forest, and we’ve worked with a state-certified professional to make sure our forest and the ecosystem are healthy and productive. Stonehurst is a certified wildlife habitat, and we’ve built and maintained pollinator gardens and milkweed for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Come visit us! We have a food forest designed with you in mind. At Stonehurst you can enjoy fresh apples, peaches, pears, blueberries, raspberries and the many other fruits and vegetables we grow in our edible landscape.