GREENSBORO — Off a snaking gravel road stands an “agricultural cathedral,” as Jennifer Ranz likes to call the big, 19th-century barn she has spent the last three decades restoring.
And it’s at the Turning Stone Farm barn this month that 18-year-old Ezekiel Anair has found some solace heading into an uncertain future.
“I had a lot of anxiety about transitioning into the real world,” the St. Johnsbury native said, standing outside the Greensboro property. “And this has been a nice stepping stone toward that.”
Ranz and Anair both benefit from the Vermont Barn Painting Project, a program to help preserve some of the most recognizable pieces of Vermont heritage and give young people skills to enter the workforce.
The project is a partnership involving the Vermont Department of Labor, Agency of Agriculture, ReSOURCE YouthBuild, Vermont Youth Conservation Corps and Vermont Works for Women. Barn owners apply to have teenagers and people in their early 20s beautify their historic buildings.
The vintage-red barn in Greensboro is the second site set for a paint job this year. The first was a barn in Peacham; workers started that job in late August. Since early September, a separate team of nine participants has been trekking to the Greensboro property.
“These are those kids that are not going to go to college right away,” said Hugh Bradshaw, assistant director of the labor department’s workforce development division. “It’s really about skill-building for those kids to be able to get them into careers.”
The team in Greensboro spent early Wednesday afternoon marching around the 15-acre property, perching on ladders to paint window trims or going up in an aerial lift with their jobsite supervisor.
Erin Baldwin, 21, didn’t know what to expect when she signed up. But she’s had fun so far — and enjoyed the opportunity to learn.
“I guess it’s really broadening my resume,” the Calais resident said during a break. “That’s what I’m most excited about.”
As a first job, the barn painting has been a baptism by fire for Elizabeth Morrison. “It can either be really fun, or you just want to nap,” said the 18-year-old from St. Johnsbury.
But the teen was attracted to the artistic aspect of the job. And she’s grown some mettle.
“If I can paint a barn, I can deal with people in retail,” Morrison said.
Chris Damato, site supervisor, has been impressed by his crew so far.
“These are Vermonters,” he said. “They ask what needs to be done, and they do it.”
The group is learning how to work as a team and how to be on time, he said. And they aren’t afraid to break out of their comfort zones — by working up high in the lift, for example.
The team begins and ends each day with a discussion about gratitude.
“They’ve been grateful for a change of pace,” Damato said. Like a lot of people during the pandemic, the participants spent the summer cooped up inside.
For Ranz, the young crew is a welcome sight.
“I’ve been picking away for 30 years at stuff,” said Ranz; inside the barn, she runs a gallery for her artwork, hosts events and operates an Airbnb rental.
“I’m just so thrilled that this is happening,” she said. “I’ll be able to step back and say, ‘Wow.’”
Crew members are painting a clear coat to preserve the weathered wooden look of the 150-foot-long barn, and they’ve already finished one side.
The project means more to Ranz than getting an extra hand.
“Why do people come to Vermont?” she asked, then answered herself: to see rustic structures like the one on this Greensboro hillside.
“If we don’t preserve these buildings, they’re going to be gone — because they’re obsolete,” she said.
Walking around inside the cavernous barn, she pointed out where hay would’ve been stacked and stored, where cows would’ve lined up to eat. That enthusiasm for Vermont’s past sits at the heart of the project — and people like Ranz see it as critical to the state’s future.
The youth workers felt the significance behind their effort, too.
Morrison described making painting mistakes, only to find the remnants of the same missteps made years earlier by someone else. “It’s like reaching through the decades,” the teen said.
Fellow St. Johnsbury resident Anair distilled the mission:
“We’re preserving, keeping it standing,” he said of the barn. “So it’s not just a picture.”
