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Vermont Conversation: Shepherd, farmer and award-winning author Helen Whybrow on life, death and belonging
https://vtdigger.org/2026/05/06/vermont-conversation-shepherd-farmer-and-award-winning-author-helen-whybrow-on-life-death-and-belonging/David Goodman
The Fayston author discusses the history of Vermont's hill farms as one of struggle and subsistence, and how life as a shepherd helped her deal with the grief of losing her mother.
Podcast at the website.
When Helen Whybrow isn't herding her flock of Icelandic sheep or in the paddock with a ewe that's giving birth to lambs, she can be found writing. This week, this shepherd was awarded Vermont's highest literary prize.
Whybrow received the 2025 Vermont Book Award for creative nonfiction for her memoir, "The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd's Life." The book has also been long-listed for the National Book Award and named a Best Book of 2025 by The New Yorker.
"The Salt Stones" tells the story of tending sheep on a 200-acre farm that she and her husband, Peter Forbes, began restoring after acquiring it a quarter-century ago. Whybrow lyrically weaves a tale about the rhythms of life on the farm and how the lessons that she has learned there have informed every aspect of her life. The time span of the book juxtaposes one season of a sheep's life with 20 years of Whybrow's life, during which she gets married, has a daughter and cares for a mother with dementia.
For Whybrow, farming has enabled her to fulfill her desire for belonging, which she says has preoccupied her for much of her life.
. . .
Whybrow received the 2025 Vermont Book Award for creative nonfiction for her memoir, "The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd's Life." The book has also been long-listed for the National Book Award and named a Best Book of 2025 by The New Yorker.
"The Salt Stones" tells the story of tending sheep on a 200-acre farm that she and her husband, Peter Forbes, began restoring after acquiring it a quarter-century ago. Whybrow lyrically weaves a tale about the rhythms of life on the farm and how the lessons that she has learned there have informed every aspect of her life. The time span of the book juxtaposes one season of a sheep's life with 20 years of Whybrow's life, during which she gets married, has a daughter and cares for a mother with dementia.
For Whybrow, farming has enabled her to fulfill her desire for belonging, which she says has preoccupied her for much of her life.
. . .
David Goodman (https://www.dgoodman.net/) is Amy Goodman's (DemocracyNow.org) brother.