verted blacksmith shop that once also served as a chicken coop— a juxtaposition that delighted her sense of humor.“ I always wondered how they managed not to burn the place down,” Kahn says with a laugh.“ But that’ s my mom— she saw beauty in unlikely places.”
Beyond the house, a network of trails weaves through woods and meadows, past mossy stone walls and wild mushroom patches. On clear days, Mount Monadnock rises on the horizon like a guardian.“ That view was one of my father’ s favorite subjects,” Kahn says, looking toward the distant ridge.“ He painted it hundreds of times, but it never looked the same twice.”
It’ s no wonder, then, that the farm has become a place of pilgrimage for artists and thinkers from near and far. Kahn opens the property for invite-only creative retreats, board meetings, and residencies for friends, colleagues, and nonprofit leaders— particularly those connected to her parents’ foundations and the Brattleboro arts community.“ The best and highest use of this farm,” she says,“ is to host people who are doing good work in the art world.”
Over the years, the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center and the Wolf Kahn Foundation have held retreats here. So have writers, filmmakers, and nonprofit boards seeking a quiet place to work. Among them is Nicole Kassell, a friend from Kahn’ s NYU film school days and the Emmy-nominated director of Netflix’ s Sirens and HBO’ s Watchmen. Kassell has developed scripts and visual boards in the very rooms where Emily Mason once painted.“ We joke that the farm is an Emmy-nominated workspace now,” Kahn says, smiling.“ It’ s like the land wants to keep creating.”
Creativity, in fact, seems to seep from the soil. The farm’ s cutting gardens provide flowers for The Porch Café, while the orchard yields blueberries, apples and koshi pears each fall. Visitors are greeted by flocks of woodpeckers and bluebirds; heifers from a neighboring farm graze in the lower meadow through summer. Everywhere you look, there’ s evidence of quiet collaboration between nature and art.
“ There’ s a feeling here that’ s hard to put into words,” says Kahn.“ Everyone who visits says the same thing— it’ s like time slows down. You feel this incredible sense of peace, and at the same time, an urge to create. I think it’ s the land’ s way of reminding us what matters: presence, attention, beauty, connection.” From the farmhouse kitchen to the fairy trails winding through the woods, the John Stark Farm has become not only the foundation of Melany’ s creativity, but also a living bridge between past and present— a place where art, memory, and community converge.
Foraging and Fairy Houses
Not far from the farmhouse, a narrow trail winds through maples and birches. Here, among the ferns and wild mushrooms, Melany Kahn finds another of her passions— one that, like her miniatures, celebrates the art of seeing.“ I’ ve always been drawn to small things,” notes Kahn.“ Miniatures, fairy houses, mushrooms— it’ s all the same impulse. It’ s about slowing down and noticing what most people walk past.”
Kahn’ s love of foraging began in childhood, wandering the woods of West Brattleboro with her parents. Her father, Wolf, loved the colors of the fields and the play of light through the trees; her mother, Emily, gathered mushrooms and herbs for the family kitchen.“ They taught me early on to pay attention to the world,” she says.“ To really look at it— to study how light moves, how textures change, how one color becomes another. For them, it was about painting.
For me, it became about foraging.” That connection between nature and observation eventually led to her debut children’ s book, Mason Goes Mushrooming, about her own son’ s foraging adventures. Published in 2022 locally by Green Writers Press and beautifully illustrated by Ellen Korbonski, the picture book follows a young boy and his dog, Buddy, as they explore the Vermont woods through the seasons, searching for morels in spring, chanterelles in summer, and black trumpets in autumn. Along the way, Mason learns not just to identify mushrooms, but to understand the interconnectedness of the forest itself.
The book’ s success— and its glowing reception among both children and parents— has deepened Kahn’ s commitment to the idea that creativity can bridge generations.“ Foraging and art have a lot in common,” says Kahn.“ They both require presence, patience, and a willingness to get your hands dirty. You have to be curious. You have to love the process.”
The connection between the natural and the imagined runs through every aspect of Kahn’ s life. On the farm, she has built a fairy trail where visiting children can discover miniature dwellings tucked among roots and ferns— tiny houses made from bark, shells, and twigs, each crafted with the same playful precision that defines her larger work.“ The fairies live here year-round,” she says with a smile.“ I just give them some good real estate.” To Kahn, these fairy houses, like the Festival of Miniatures, are more than fanciful creations— they are expressions of empathy and awareness.“ When we make something small, we’ re practicing care,” she says.“ We’ re saying,‘ This little world matters.’ That’ s a powerful kind of love.” n
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