The Gray Lady Notices South Burlington's Field of Dreams

The New York Times' business section ran a nice piece on South Village, a 22-acre housing development in South Burlington that's preserving prime Vermont farmland by keeping it in food production. One interesting aspect about the Times article: Its lead borrows a theme from Aimee Picchi's feature on South Village, which ran in the May 13 issue of Seven Days. 

Aimee's subhead: "If you build a development with its own farm, will they come?"

Alec Appelbaum's lead: "The bewildered Iowan who converted his farm into a ballpark in 'Field of Dreams' in 1989 might reverse the move today. From Vermont to central California, developers are creating subdivisions around organic farms to attract buyers. If you plant it, these developers believe, they will buy."

Guess there are only so many "field" analogies to go around.

Photo by Andy Duback.