If you're willing to take a beautiful drive about an hour from Essex I'd recommend The Black Lantern in Montgomery. Chef Hirsch uses tons of local meat, produce, and dairy. Not just Vermont local but focused on farms in the Franklin County community.

We primarily raise dairy beef crosses, but from some friends that are still milking who AI their bottom 80% of the herd to beef and use sexed semen on the top 20% of their herd for replacements. We do have about 20 cow calf Herefords, but in general it’s more economical to raise a “waste product” aka dairy bull calves, and kind of completes a missing loop in the food chain.

Captive cervid farming scares the shit out of me, as captive deer have been the primary spreader of CWD, which as an avid hunter I’m very concerned about. But lamb is something we may be diversifying into as well, possibly this coming year. We’ve also thrown around the idea of doing a value added dairy product, but we are on year two of going off on our own and I want to get the pork expansion figured out first (it’s primarily just me, we have two very young children so my wife doesn’t do an awful lot with the farm)

Anyways, it’s been nice chatting with you! Hope you get the ruts smoothed out around your place before it freezes back up this week!

Went to an event there also and it was delicious!

A shipping container for chickens would be overkill and then some. If you don't want to build a shed yourself, there's a lot of people around who build and will deliver small sheds. What part of the state are you in?

Frog Hollow Farms in Hubbardton sometimes hosts dinners on their farm with all local ingredients. I bet they'd be open to arranging a private event for all of you!

It's a bit of a drive (but what isn't in this state?!)

https://www.froghollowvt.com/

Starry night cafe in Ferrisburgh is excellent, and their entire back room (super cozy enclosed panoramic patio with a fireplace) can be reserved with enough notice. It’s a perfect space for that size party and the food/drinks are consistently excellent

-1 for adventure dinner. Had a valentine's dinner with my wife through adventure dinner. It was offensively overpriced even accounting for the valentine's day premium, most dishes came out lukewarm, we left hungry. Diners were pissed; one couple got up before the last course to cut their losses. My wife (who is herself a head chef at a popular farm to table restaurant in VT) tried to reach out charitably to give feedback about what went wrong, never heard back, not even a thanks for your feedback. They contract with chefs and venues, but are not themselves preparing or doing logistics, so inconsistent. And when it does go wrong, you're going to be out in the cold with a hole in your wallet.

Tldr; don't do adventure dinner. High prices guaranteed, but quality control is ymmv.

until you have to clean it. Build a proper coop. It's gonna be time consuming but cheaper and better in the end. Something that can easily be cleaned. A camper will be covered in shot after a few months and you're going to have to get it out of there.

Can you please paint me a picture of Garfield eating a giant house sized lasagne? What will I do with this painting? Nothing. I’ll look at it for ten seconds and laugh at the absurdity and then move on with my life.

I’ll pay you in upvotes.

+1 for Adventure dinner. Really unique & thoughtful events

Find a local builder/carpenter and tell them your budget is $1700 (or whatever you want to spend). You will get far better value for your money having a tradesperson knock out exactly what you need, and your money stays local (you might pay them in eggs). I work, own, and invest in the trades.

Why not look into building something like this? https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/comments/102g6ma/my_diy_potting_shed_made_mostly_from_free_doors/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Much more attractive than a shipping container, unless you're going to do alot of work to the container. Probably nicer than an old bus or camper as well.

If you are willing to stretch the distance a bit, The Drake in St Albans has done private events, and the food and service is amazing.

> can’t separate weather from climate

I get that. And I was just homesteading, living off land; with chickens, rabbits, summer pigs.... You're on a whole other level, problems different from, say, a dairy farmer but in same boat as them (succession, COL, markets...). Good luck to you!

FWIW, since you're doing beef (angus?), maybe look into raising mini-deer; a few years back it looked kind of promising. Back in my advocacy days (dealing mostly with issues regarding high feed costs, low cull prices, difficulty finding help, succession...) I realized that VT does grass best; and pity that the 400K lamb carcas market from Boston-to-Baltimore was lost to the New Zealanders :(

Had a pitch to fix that but it was too much of a stretch.

You know that chicken shit is good fertilizer right?

People don’t just have gardens and tanned livestock to save money, some people enjoy gardening and caring for animals.

Shipping containers are often contaminated with heavy metals, formaldehyde, fumigants. People often want to build a house out of one which is a really bad idea, I wouldn’t put livestock in one either.

You severely underestimate the creativity of the HUMAN MIND.

Hire a human being to paint it for you

I think OP was referring to 25 people, not a $25 budget.

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You can't get a meal at Michaels on the hill for $25 though. That place is 16 apps and 40 entees. It is worth every penny, just not in the $25 budget.

You should look into Adventure Dinner. Awesome staff and they put out great meals in cool places across the state. I know the owner and she’s a gem too https://www.adventuredinner.com

I had my rehearsal dinner at Jericho Cafe and Tavern with about 30 people and that was perfect for us! They are popular though, so I would make sure to book the party sooner rather than later.

Tortorelle has a private room or a barn that could work. The setting is beautiful and the food very good.