Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms 2011

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2011 Addison County Guide to

Local Food and Farms

An Addison County Relocalization Network (ACORN) publication, produced in partnership with the Addison Independent.

PAGE 2 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

What’s inside Local processing on the rise

Page 4

Addison County: Rich farmland, rich history

Page 8

Young farmers find a niche in Addison County

Page 9

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms Publisher: Jonathan Corcoran

Four ways to cook a chicken

Project Editor: Andrea Suozzo

Food and farm directory

Contributing writers: Andrea Suozzo, Hannah Mueller, Kate Gridley, Andrew Stein, J.P. Allen

Page 13

Information on more than 200 area farmers and producers.

Page 14

County gleaning update

Map by: Claire Tebbs and Jess Minton Design: Andrea Suozzo

Page 20

Farm to school efforts

Directory compiled by: Susan Smiley

Page 26

Composting completes the cycle in schools

Page 27

Voices from the field

Meet four of the faces behind the food in Addison County.

Page 28

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Cover Photograph: Trent Campbell To make sure your farm is included in the next Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms, head to www.vermontgrowersguide.com to register your farm with the directory.

For more details about ACORN and to receive our member e-newsletter, please visit www.acornvt.org or call (802) 3820401.

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 3

Welcome to the second annual Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms!

For the first time in 50 years, the number of farms is increasing. The tide is slowly shifting as change wells up from the grassroots. People want more control over what they eat - they want to know WHO grew their food, HOW they grew it and processed it. They want to support their local economy and keep their dollars in the community. We are witnessing the early spring signs of an agricultural renaissance.

The ACORN Network has been in the difficult business of trying to grow awareness about the importance of local food and agriculture since 2005. It’s been a slow, patient journey. The results have often been underwhelming – beliefs and habits change slowly.

On the other hand, we’ve learned a lot about the land and people of this county and networked hundreds of connections between growers, businesses, schools and community organizations.

One of the problems we faced was that we had very little information or data about the local food market.

So we set out to find out for ourselves about what was happening on the ground. The results of that study were published in a local food plan in 2010 which you can download from the ACORN website at www.acornvt. org. You can also sign-up to receive our e-newsletter for updates.

The plan’s 10-year goal is to grow the local food market from a current estimated 5% share to 15%. The report recommended three key initiatives to support that growth: 1) launch a wholesale produce market to better connect local growers and local markets and institutions; 2) hire a Farm-to-School coordinator to encourage local food purchasing, gardening and food education programs in the three school districts in the county, and 3) develop a Local Food Index to create a baseline metric for the local food market to be able to track our growth going forward.

All three initiatives have now been launched. The ACORN Wholesale Collaborative is currently in the middle of an intensive 5-month planning phase which has been funded through grants from the High Meadows Fund and the John Merck Fund. Through a partnership with the Willowell Foundation, ACORN was able to hire Hannah Mueller, an AmeriCorps volunteer, to serve as the county’s first part-time Farm-toSchool coordinator. And the first quarterly report of the Addison County Local Food Index which includes Middlebury College, Porter Medical, Addison Northeast Foodservice, Greg’s Market and the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op, will be published in early April.

We invite you to participate in the following events which we are sponsoring in the next 6 months:

Young pigs sit in a pen at the Thompson/Duclos Farm in Weybridge last March.

Save the Date April 5: STONE SOUP: Addison County’s Farmto-School Conference from 4-7:30 PM at Middlebury Union High School, Middlebury April 14: ACORN ANNUAL MEETING featuring Ben Hewitt, author of “The Town that Food Saved” from 6:00-8:00 PM at the Lincoln Peak Winery in New Haven. Please RSVP to info@acornvt.org.

April 28: FARM-TO-PLATE REPORT by Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund Executive Director Ellen Kahler: “What does Farm-to-Plate mean to Addison County growers and businesses?” at McCardell Bicentennial Hall 216 at Middlebury College from 7-9 PM. September 18: TOUR DE FARMS and APPLEFEST, Bicycle tour and harvest celebration, Shoreham Independent photo/Trent Campbell

We’ve just learned that the 2010 Guide won a second place award for special sections among weekly publications at the New England Newspaper and Press Association conference - it’s a great honor for a first-time publication – we tip our hats to the Addison Independent and to everybody who helped make that happen!

The 2011 Guide is no exception. Susan Smiley, who has diligently built the grower directory since 2005, had the bright idea of approaching Kevin Behm and Claire Tebbs at the Addison County Regional Planning Commission to create the beautiful GIS map to help readers more easily locate growers.

We have a wonderful selection of stories, recipes and profiles this year, including a look at the history of agriculture in the Champlain Valley for which we turned to the Sheldon Museum for help. I’d like to personally thank Andrea Suozzo for her editorial leadership and Hannah Mueller for her many vital contributions to the 2011 edition. Finally, thanks are due to our many advertisers who work the local food economy every day and who make this publication possible – please support them with your business!

—Jonathan Corcoran The ACORN Network

Before Slow Food ®

&

Pioneering Vermont’s Local Food Movement Since 1983 Route 116, Bristol 802-453-2432 www.innatbaldwincreek.com Play Culinary Trivia on our facebook page.

PAGE 4 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

Photo courtesy Jessie Raymond

Local processing on the rise

By Tamara Hilmes and Andrea Suozzo

ADDISON COUNTY — When Francie Caccavo started making croutons in her kitchen over 20 years ago, she knew she wanted to use only the best ingredients.

Local grains, Cabot butter, organic herbs and Grafton and Shelburne Farms cheddar were Caccavo’s tools of the trade, and the endeavor blossomed into a successful business.

the added obstacles, some Addison County entrepreneurs say it’s worthwhile.

Bristol Works!

Kevin Harper and Robert Fuller, two of three businessmen behind the upcoming Bristol Works! development that will take over the former Autumn Harp space in Bristol, use only high-quality, local ingredients at the Bristol Olivia’s Croutons Bakery and Café, which they co-own. The In 2009, Caccavo’s homemade business pair plans to expand their baked goods brand outgrew her kitchen and moved into an into commercial production in the new Bristol 8,000-square-foot renovated barn and began Works! manufacturing space. producing as many as 1500 bags of croutons “We’re both very excited about the idea of per day. Caccavo was now producing on a mass taking what we have here at the bakery and scale for resale all over the United States, but expanding it,” Harper said. “We hand make despite the spike in business, one thing stayed everything seven days a week and it’s all made the same: her ingredients. from scratch and a vast amount of it is from At Olivia’s Croutons, it’s go local, or go home. local, raw materials.”

In recent years, the The idea, Harper said, is to take farm-to-table and local a handmade product and drop it foods movement has been “This is first and into a retail environment without trickling down through foremost about losing any of the original quality.

Vermont, from Hardwick Bristol Works!, Harper hopes, in the north — featured in the grower, and will provide the infrastructure the 2010 book “The Town creating viable needed to get this type of local that Food Saved,” — to processing underway. business opporAddison County, in the “We hope to build on the tunities that will heart of the state.

Bristol Bakery brand as a way Now, Addison County help make family to get the word out of quality entrepreneurs and farmers local ingredients in products for alike are following suit, farms in Vermont distribution up and down the getting into the nitty-gritty sustainable.”

Champlain Valley,” Harper said. of increasing the county’s “We’ll launch with an enterprise — David Dolginow that takes the values and reliance on homegrown food. products from the Bristol Bakery In January, Vermont retail kitchen and move it into legislators churned out the “Farm to Plate the commercial kitchen where we can produce Strategic Plan,” which provides a roadmap greater volumes without taking away from the to inspire new infrastructure and growth in quality of the product, then we’ll package and Vermont’s food and farm sector. The plan aims distribute.” to create new jobs and to make healthier, locally The Bristol Works! complex will house a large produced foods more easily accessible to the commercial kitchen that Harper plans to lease average Vermonter. out to other local producers in addition to using In this part of the state, the Addison County it for his own products. In this way, Harper is Relocalization Network (ACORN) is taking looking to bolster local processing on a broader a lead in beefing up the local food market, and scale rather than focusing solely on turning a others are already hopping onboard. profit.

One of the key ingredients to a stronger “By leading by example we can attract local foods market is the processing of local entrepreneurs and small-scale food purveyors ingredients into more viable products. Several who might be making it in their kitchen Addison County names are making strides in or barn and need a true, commercial-scale the processing sector, including Shoreham’s manufacturing space,” he said. “It’s part of a Vermont Refrigerated Storage, the Bristol larger manufacturing scheme — the idea of a Bakery and Café in Bristol and Olivia’s Croutons shared infrastructure system.” in New Haven.

And by sharing equipment like steam or water Relying on locally grown ingredients for large- kettles, small-scale food manufacturers can get scale production poses a number of challenges. access to commercial equipment they need at a Availability — both in terms of quantity and lower cost. time of year — is always an issue, and crop “Think of it as a large, flexible commercial ... continued on page 5 consistency can be hit or miss. But despite

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 5

Photo courtesy Francie Caccavo

Opposite page: cows gather on a hillside in January and an apple corer processes local fruit last summer. This page, clockwise from left: A Ferrisburgh silo sits on a rutted road in August; wheat is harvested in New Haven for Olivia’s Croutons; antique machinery at Farmall Hill in Shoreham; and workers build a barn on a New Haven farm.

Independent photos/Trent Campbell

continued from page 4... kitchen that could accommodate a variety of users who would commit to space,” Harper said.

“It’s not a cooperative, but a shared infrastructure rented by tenants who are currently operating on a small scale, but need room to grow.”

Green Mountain Organic Creamery

While Harper and Fuller will be providing the manufacturing space and the equipment to make local food processing a reality for small producers, organic dairy farmers Cheryl and J.D. DeVos of Ferrisburgh have already crossed that bridge. Starting in May, the owners of the 200cow Kimball Brook Farm will begin bottling and distributing 20 percent of their milk under their own label, Green Mountain Organic Dairy.

The DeVoses will continue selling the majority of their milk to Horizon Organic, their current milk buyer, but they are developing

a model similar to the one used by Strafford Organic Creamery, which processes, bottles and distributes its milk, cream and ice cream regionally. If they are successful, the DeVoses hope to expand production in order to take on more small organic dairies in the region.

Cheryl said in early March that the couple has already raised near $1 million through grants and local investors to build the business, and the DeVoses have secured a rental space in the old Saputo milk processing plant in Hinesburg.

They’re looking to distribute to sellers in Addison and Chittenden County, but they are also hoping to target larger regional markets like Boston and New York City.

For the DeVoses, the move toward local processing isn’t just an attempt to become more economically viable or more environmentally sustainable. It’s a response to the pressures that the nationwide dairy market faces.

“We want to make sure farmers are getting paid above their price of production,” said Cheryl. “We want the creamery to be profitable, but we also want the farmers to be profitable.”

Vermont Regrigerated Storage

Proponents of local food processing and distribution are also looking to a growing Shoreham outfit. While Vermont Refrigerated Storage (VRS) is predominantly an apple storage facility right now, owners Barney Hodges and Gregory O’Brien hope to develop it into a space for farmers to store and extend their crops yearround, in turn making locally grown ingredients available to businesses like Olivia’s Croutons and the Bristol Bakery.

VRS has hired recent Middlebury College graduate David Dolginow to carry out a feasibility study to see how a cold-storage facility could bolster the county’s food market.

“We want to provide Vermont farmers with an opportunity to extend their season beyond Oct. 1,” Dolginow said in a December interview.

“This is first and foremost about the grower, and creating viable business opportunities that will help make family farms in Vermont sustainable.”

But beyond storage, VRS hopes to do some processing of its own with the help of grant funding. If they are able to secure the necessary grants, processing, packaging and storing things like root vegetables could become a reality in the near future.

According to Jonathan Corcoran, president of ACORN, Vermont Refrigerated Storage could act as a hub for the county’s local food systems as they continue to develop in the coming years.

“It’s a really important asset we have here in Addison County,” said Corcoran. “It presents an opportunity for storage and, down the road, for food processing.”

Local Folks Carol’s Hungry Mind Café Middlebury, Vt. 388-0101

carolshungrymindcafe.com

PAGE 6 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

Quality, Service, Value We are a locally owned family business, and we take great pride in supporting our community.

3 Elm Street, Middlebury, Vermont 388-2162 Established 1981

GREG’S

Meat Market

Where Qualil ty and Service Co me First!

www.gregsmeatmarket.com

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 7

Organic Stone-Ground Whole Wheat Flour

Producing local wheat and flour since 1982 Try our new products:

Lemon Fair Sifted Pastry Flour Snake Mountain Sifted Bread Flour Gleason Grains Bran

Grown and Milled in Addison County!

2076 East Street, Bridport, Vermont • 802-758-2476 Vermont Organic Certified

by the Vermont Organic Farmers PO Box 697, Bridge St., Richmond, VT 05477

Croutons you would make yourself, if you had the time.

Olivia’s Crouton Company, Inc., New Haven, VT Toll-free: 888-425-3080 • www.oliviascroutons.com

• Unique wedding flowers • Organically grown bedding plants • Organic vegetables and berries • Pick your own flowers for special events Find our products at our Farm Stand (Monkton-Bristol Road, 3.5 miles north of Bristol),

the Middlebury and Bristol Farmers Markets, City Market & Middlebury Natural Foods Co-Op.

PAGE 8 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

Stepping Back

Addison County: Rich farmland, rich history Ask anyone who’s stuck a spade into Addison County soil and you’ll get the same reaction: it’s all clay, stubborn and resistant to tilling.

Less well known is the fact that this wasn’t always the case. As Ben Falk points out in a “Vermont Commons” column, Vermont soil maps state that the soil is six to 12 inches of silty loam over graveled subsoil.

“Yet, for the past five years I’ve been gardening and planting trees across this site and have found only pockets of loam soil a few times; it’s just clay, boulders and more clay,” he writes. “Where’s all the topsoil? Are the maps wrong?”

The answer lies with settlers from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island who, seeking unoccupied land in the mid 1700s, headed north. They were, drawn by reports of abundant, fertile land. The Henry Sheldon Museum in Middlebury describes the appeal of the land in the agriculture section of “From the Land to the Lake,” an online learning kit on Vermont history:

By Andrea Suozzo

“

Vermont’s Champlain and Connecticut River valleys promised everything that southern New England now lacked… The Champlain Valley boasted a milder climate and a longer growing season than other regions in northern New England due to the moderating effect of the lake and the protection afforded by the mountains.

Furthermore, sedimentation from glacial Lake Champlain had provided the valley with rich agricultural soil, “furnishing some of the finest farms in New England.”

“

Settlement in the Champlain Valley occurred rapidly, especially in the southern region, where most of the land along the lake was surveyed, granted and claimed before the Revolutionary War. New settlers faced many of the same obstacles as their colonizing ancestors: The densely forested ‘wilderness’ was virtually untraversable without a guide, and, once claimed, presented a population whose survival depended on agriculture with the daunting task of clearing the land. Clearing was as much a pragmatic necessity as a cultural ritual, in which settlers established their rightful claim to the land by opening it up to cultivation.

Over the next 100 years, settlers cleared large swathes of the land in the state for agricultural use — by the late 1800s, according to the Sheldon Museum, more than half of Vermont’s 6 million acres of forest had become open land for farming.

In short order, the Vermont land was put to heavy agricultural use. Former Vermont secretary of agriculture Roger Allbee writes in his introduction to the recently released Farm to Plate plan that the state’s first foray into large-scale agriculture came in the 1830s, earning Vermont the reputation as the sheep capital of the world.

Allbee reports that 1.5 million sheep roamed the landscape by 1840 — and Addison County was one of the centers of sheep

production in the state.

By 1850, however, wool markets had begun to decline, paving the way for dairy’s debut on the statewide stage.

But clearing the land didn’t just change the state’s agricultural output; it changed the entire ecosystem, from wildlife to plants to waterways to soils — the very soils that had brought settlers to the land in the first place.

The Henry Sheldon Museum points out:

“ “

Deforestation literally transformed the landscape, and its effects were immediately perceptible. As early as 1794, Vermont historian Samuel Williams noted that cleared land soon became “warm and dry,” while streams and brooks no longer supplied consistent waterflows.

As modern environmental historian William Cronon points out, “forests caused soils as much as soils caused forests.” The character of the soil changed dramatically with the clearing of forestland: Nutrients supplied by annual forest cycles were lost, drainage patterns changed unpredictably as water-retaining root systems were removed, and exposure to the considerable effects of direct sunlight widened the range of local climate conditions. Cleared land froze more deeply in the winter and thawed more quickly in the warm months, and while spring brought floodwater, the hot summer months often left streams and

rivers dry.

Still, according to Allbee, Vermont’s agricultural economy boomed until the early 20th century. Fluid milk had only regional markets at the time, but Vermont butter gained renown on Boston markets and went on to win awards and accolades on national and international markets.

In the early 1900s, competition from the West began to threaten Vermont’s markets for butter, and farms transitioned to producing fluid milk for regional markets. But, according to the Sheldon Museum, farms also began to go under around that time. A simultaneous conservation movement pushed for reforestation of abandoned farms.

Since the late 1800s, Vermont’s ecosystems have made a dramatic switch — now, nearly 80 percent of the state’s land has returned to forest.

Meanwhile, the number of farms in the state fell from 32,000 in 1900 to 6,984 in 2007.

Dairy continues to be an economic driver — according to statistics laid out in the Farm to Plate plan, dairy brings in 73 percent of Vermont’s annual agricultural income.

And 2007 USDA census of agriculture statistics reveal Addison County to be at the very heart of agriculture in the state — the county brought in 24 percent of the state’s agricultural income, closely followed by Franklin County.

Through the lens Today, Monument Farms Dairy is a household name in Addison County — the business distributes all its milk locally, from Orwell to Richmond.

Still a family-owned business, the dairy had humble roots. After spending some years on dairy farms in New York,in 1929 Richard and Marjorie James purchased the original 21acre Weybridge farm (pictured above in 1926).

It wasn’t enough for Richard James to milk 20 cows and bottle it for neighbors — he wanted a larger distribution. So he purchased a milk route from a man who was retiring, and a few years later got a restaurant account (top left, Richard James in 1937).

In 1938 the farm began pasteurizing milk, and it continued to expand (bottom left, daughter Millie James and her friend delivering milk, 1945). In 1949, Millie married Jim Rooney, and later the couple took over the business from her parents.

Today, Millie’s son Jon Rooney, Bob James and Peter James run the company, producing 200,000 pounds of milk each year.

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 9

Looking Forward

Young farmers carve a growing niche in Addison County

By Andrea Suozzo

The aging of the American farmer is a specter that’s haunted the industry since 1974, when the average age of the American farmer first topped 50 years old. That number has crept upward with each agricultural census, reaching 56 nationally in 2007, and 56.5 in Vermont.

Take this alongside the steadily declining number of farms, as larger and larger farms take on production of the nation’s food, and the agricultural picture looks bleak.

But some Vermonters are telling a different story.

Between 2002 and 2007, the number of farms rose from 6,571 to 6,984, an increase of six percent.

And Jessie Schmidt, one of the coordinators of the University of Vermont Extension’s New Farmer Project, said that right now, there’s no shortage of people who

want to farm.

“Every day we’re contacted by beginning or aspiring farmers,” she said. “There’s a lot of interest out there.”

The New Farmer Project began last year, after those working with UVM Extension noticed an influx of people interested in farming. The project seeks to connect new farmers with opportunities and resources that will help them get their start. And, said Schmidt, the range of people who have contacted the project doesn’t fall into any one category.

“The people that we’re serving are a really diverse mix of people,” she said. “It’s everything from the junior generation taking over existing family farms to people new to farming.”

Data shows that younger farmers do represent a significant slice of those going

into the business — 28 percent of the new farmers in the project’s database are over 45, while 58 percent are under 35.

And Schmidt said she expects that balance to shift even more toward younger people in coming years. “(Younger farmers) are definitely a growing contingent,” she said. “We’re looking at a situation nationally where we have an aging farmer base. There’s going to be a lot of farm transition.”

at Burlington College and the Community College of Vermont — but he is hoping to build the enterprise up to the point where it’s self-sustaining.

“It’s being able to work outdoors,” he said.

“Getting to know a piece of land throughout the seasons, what lives here. Just seeing what goes on.

“I’m not going to get rich from it, but it’s a quality of life that not all other careers can bring.”

For Sara Granstrom, 25 it was partially The new farmer A growing number of young people in family that brought her back to the land: Addison County are making the choice to go Chris and Michaela Granstrom, her parents, into the farming business, all for different own Lincoln Peak Vineyard in New Haven.

But it was also the diverse reasons. nature of the job.

“It’s largely because “It’s rewarding to work I really like food,” said with my hands, to have Caitlin Gildrien, 27, with a something tangible to laugh. show with what I’ve done,” Gildrien serves as she said. “Each individual outreach coordinator for the job may be repetitive, Northeast Organic Farming but there’s a huge variety Association of Vermont of tasks in farming in and runs a two-acre farm general, particularly in in Middlebury with her our business. Every week, husband Jeremy, 33. The every month, every season couple sells their produce at the farmer’s market and — Jessie Schmidt, has a different variety of tasks.” through a small CSA (see UVM Extension Granstrom said she’s not sidebar). sure if she’ll be working “I feel like food, and on the vineyard forever, raising food, is a way to get but she knows where she’ll at a lot of environmental be. issues,” she said.

“I am definitely in Vermont for my “For Jeremy, part of it is that he wanted to work for himself, not for someone else,” lifetime,” she said. “I’ve got really strong roots to the landscape and the community in she added.

Matt Davis, 36, produces maple syrup this area.”

AnnaJo Smith, a senior at Vergennes and grows oyster and shiitake mushrooms on land in Monkton. It’s not a moneymaker Union High School, will be leaving for ... continued on page 21 right now — for his paycheck, he teaches

“We’re looking at a situation nationally where we have an aging farmer base.

There’s going to be a lot of farm transition.”

Sara Granstrom of New Haven’s Lincoln Peak Winery, below, and Caitlin and Jeremy Gildrien of Middlebury’s Gildrien Farm, above, are among the younger generation working to make a living from the land in the county.

Independent photo/Trent Campbell

Local Vocab

CSA

Stands for: Community Supported Agriculture.

A sales strategy in which farmers and other food producers sell directly to local clients who have purchased a “share” in advance.

Shares are generally sold by the season, and they guarantee the buyer fresh, local food, often coming in weekly increments, and the seller a guaranteed source of income.

Some farms arrange central dropoff points, while some have buyers come to the farm for pickup.

You can find farms that distribute produce by CSA in our directory, pages 14-19.

PAGE 10 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

Songbird Farm 2344 Quaker Street, Lincoln, VT 05443 (802) 453-7935

100% grass-fed Beef and all-natural pastured Pork, raised right in Lincoln.

New this year: Our pigs are eating 50% Bristol-grown grain!

See website for details: www.fullbellyvt.com

NEW RETAIL GREENHOUSE!

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 11

Doolittle Farm Small diversified family farm in Shoreham

• Organic pastured heritage style chickens and turkeys • Delicious organic eggs with large bright yolks from pastured hens • Naturally raised and pastured lamb • Roving, custom spun yarn and pelts • Maple syrup produced on our wood fired evaporator • Organic blueberries Hammond Family ~ 1078 Doolittle Road ~ Shoreham, VT www.doolittlefarmvt.com (802) 897-2121 bkhammond@shoreham.net

Huestis Farm Supply & Hardware Store

Carrying repair parts for many kinds of farm equipment Richard Huestis 3877 Crown Point Road • Bridport, VT 05734 758-2289 store 343-0131 cell huestisfarmsupply@gmavt.net

T

he Nutrition Services Department at Porter Hospital is proud to serve locally produced foods on our menus in order to provide the freshest foods for our patients and staff, support our local businesses and honor our commitment to the Healthy Food in Health Care Initiative.

www.portermedical.org

388-4701

Middlebury, Vermont

PAGE 12 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

Support Addison County farms:

Sunrise Orchards is…

• Great tasting apples • Cool, refreshing apple cider • Third generation apple farmers • Advanced integrated pest management

… Committed to growing quality food for our neighbors in Addison County and Vermont

1287 North Bingham St. Cornwall, Vermont 05753 (802) 462-3500 www.sunriseorchardsvt.com

Buy Local!

Golden Russet Farm Kingsley’s Farm Stand Lalumiere Farmstand Lewis Creek Farm Lower Notch Berry Farm Maple Wind Farm Marble Rose Farm Mountainyard Farm New Leaf Organics Nola Kevra’s Farm Norris Berry Farm Orb Weaver Farm

Blue Meadow Farm Blue Stone Farm Champlain Orchards Douglas Orchards Elmer Farm Flower Power Foote Street Farm Garden Art Gildrien Family Farm

Quarry Hill Garden Rockville Market Farm Scott’s Greenbush Gardens Singing Cedars Farmstead Stoney Lonesome Farm Thanksgiving Farm The Last Resort Vermont Herb & Salad Co. Vermont Off-Season Organics Weybrige Gardens Woods Market Gardens

Cultivating and promoting synergy between the arts, education, and the environment through land-based activities since 2001.

Willowell is proud to partner with the ACORN Network in support of Farm to School in Addison County. Learn more about our gardening and place-based education initiatives at willowell.org.

The Walden Project Pond Brook Conservation Iniative

Professional Development School Enrichment Community Garden

The Vermont Beef Producers Association supports local foods and farms.

Our members in Addison County and surrounding towns include: LaPlatte River Farm, Shelburne

East Run Farm, Orwell

Dick Francis, Hinesburg

Wild Iris Farm, Orwell

Park Place Farm, Orwell

Shellhouse Mtn. Beef Farm, Ferrisburg

SMB Cattle Company, North Ferrisburg

Millbrand Farm, Brandon

Cream Hill Farm, Shoreham [Freezer Beef] 802-897-5331 Salisbury Angus, Salisbury [Freezer Beef] 802-352-4586 Wagner Ranch, Bridport [Retail] 802-758-2912 or wagnerranch@hotmail.com Spotted Dog Family Farm, Brandon [Retail] 802-247-6076 Riverbend Farm, Rochester [Retail] 802-767-3327 Gaylord Farm, Waitsfield [Retail] gaylordfarm.com Russell Farm, Monkton [Freezer Beef] 802-453-4144 North Hollow Farm, Rochester [Retail] 802-767-4255

A Family Farm in Orwell producing delicious turkeys since 1987 Turkey and Turkey products, Ground Turkey and Sausages, Boneless and Boneless Skinless Breast

Mountain Meadows Farm, Sudbury [Retail] 802- 989-0514 or Briankemp@shoreham.net

All our products are available at the Middlebury Natural Food Co-op

Hemlock Knoll Farm Grass Fed Beef, New Haven [Freezer Beef]

(802) 948-2277

Vermont Natural Beef, Benson [Retail] 802-537-3711 or vtnaturalbeef.com Lucas Cattle Company, Benson [Freezer Beef] 802-779-7261 Harvey Park Farm, Shoreham [Retail] (802)897-5051 Tammy Burnet, Salisbury [Freezer beef] 802-771-7153 Dick Stone 802-388-2318 Roads End Cattle Co. Panton [Feeders] 802-759-2050 August Jerger Ferrisburg (feeders)

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 13

In the kitchen

Four ways to cook a chicken

By Kate Gridley

I find it ironic that the week I take care of my friend Margy’s laying hens, I am focusing on all the lovely ways to eat chicken. Margy’s chickens have names like Fajita and Curry and Tender (her turkeys were named Thanksgiving and Christmas). They seem excited to see me when I arrive in the late afternoon bearing a bucket of food scraps, and a scoop of corn.

I check their water and lights while they argue over the leftover pasta and bits of lettuce and avocado. I look in the straw-filled boxes for eggs (today there are six, three blue-green and two brown and one white). And I look forward to eating a truly fresh egg, its deep golden yolk standing tall on its white. There’s nothing quite so delicious.

There was a time when I stopped eating chicken. I do not know whether I lost my taste for the ubiquitous white meat, or it lost its taste. Chicken just didn’t seem to have any flavor unless coated in some tangy, rich sauce, when it became a vehicle for the sauce. The flavor of the meat seemed to hover between sawdust and something faintly chemical, so I stopped eating and cooking it. Then I went to Italy -- and I made a discovery: Italian chicken tasted like something! This was not just because of the way it was cooked (though

that didn’t hurt); the chicken had a distinct and satisfying character all it’s own. Most of the meat was dark and it had texture.

The secret? Italian chickens were free to run around. They ate real food, foraging for grubs and scraps in the yard. I hadn’t heard the terms “free range” or “organic” at that point – these values had not yet been added. But the Italians hadn’t gone into mass production of their food the same way we had in the United States. Italian chicken tasted the way it is supposed to—the way a work-a-day chicken should.

So now I only buy chicken that has been raised where it can range around, and where it has not been plumped up on a diet of hormones and grain. If I can get a chicken that has run around in a friend’s yard, I do. If I can get an organic, free-range chicken, that is a treat. If I can get a local chicken raised without hormones that has been free to move around, like the chickens at Misty Knoll Farm in New Haven, I do.

These chickens are more expensive than industrially raised chickens, no question about it. At least it seems that way until I focus on how many delicious meals I can produce from one “honest” chicken. By the time I have wrung the flavor out of that one modest bird in four meals, it costs my family of two less than two bucks a person per meal. Here’s how:

Part One: The Roast The most important thing to know about roasting an honest chicken is: keep it simple.

This is about the chicken, not a lot of added flavors.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Remove the “giblets,” the neck, liver, heart and organs contained in the cavity of the bird and reserve them. Rinse the entire bird including the cavity with cold water. Pat it dry.

Rub the inside of the cavity and the outside of the bird with a little olive oil (sometimes I use coconut oil), and salt and pepper. Core and peel a large apple, and cut it into pieces. Quarter one lemon. Put the pieces of fruit into the cavity of the bird, except for one piece that you will stuff into the opening under the flap of skin. Tuck the

flap of skin back under the bird. Stuff some fresh parsley into the mouth of the cavity.

Place the bird breast side up in a rack in a roasting pan and put in the pre-heated oven. I occasionally baste the chicken – but sometimes I forget and the bird still turns a beautiful golden brown. A 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pound bird will cook in about one and three quarters hours. Check for doneness by piercing the thigh with a fork: if the juices run clear, the bird is done. Cover the chicken with foil for a few minutes after you remove it from the oven to let it rest before you carve into it. The apple pieces from the cavity are delicious served beside the meat.

I start counting how many times this bird will feed us: two servings.

Part Two: The Leftovers There are lots of options with the second foray into this chicken. Most nights I slice the remaining breast meat, and warm it gently in a sauce. I tend to experiment. One recent night I coated a pan with a tablespoon of coconut oil and heated it till the oil was liquid but not too hot.

Then I laid the slices of meat in it, and heated them gently for just a couple of minutes (if you cook the chicken at too high

a temperature, or for too long, it becomes dry). While the meat was heating, I chopped up a fist-sized hunk of fresh pineapple and mixed it with the juice of one lime.

I laid the pineapple mixture on top of the meat, covered it, and cooked it one more minute. The chicken with pineapple mélange was served with the addition of fresh ground pepper and a little cilantro.

There was enough for three servings.

Part Three: Kate’s Curry Now it is time to remove all the rest of the meat from the chicken. Once again, you have choices. The glistening pile of light and dark chicken meat can be made into creamed chicken (a childhood favorite), chicken tetrazzini (just the name sounds interesting), or what I usually concoct, a curry.

Every time I make a curry, it comes out differently. That’s the beauty of it. When my boys are home, I add potatoes and chickpeas to make it go farther. And sometimes after a day of work, I do not have time to grind all the spices.

So here is a simple and quick way to make a curry with the last of the meat on the chicken carcass.

Heat one tablespoon of olive oil and when hot add a coarsely chopped medium sized onion. Sauté, stirring, till the onion wilts and is transparent, adding a dash of salt and pepper

(this will take about five minutes). Add one to two tablespoons of curry powder (your taste) and continue to stir the onions for one to two more minutes. The curry powder blossoms when heated in the oil.

Add a cup of golden raisins. If you wish to have carrots in the curry, peel and cut three carrots into one half-inch long disks, and add to onions. Add a cup of chicken broth (see Part Four), cover and simmer till the carrots are just getting soft.

Add the chicken and continue heating. When the chicken is warm, it is time to add either a cup of sour cream, or a cup of heavy cream. Stir till thoroughly heated and somewhat thickened.

Serve with Basmati rice. Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro or parsley and slivered almonds.

There will be enough curry for three servings.

Part Four: John’s Chicken Broth

A moveable chicken house rests in a Weybridge field below Middlebury College’s Bicentennial Hall one afternoon last fall.

Independent photo/Trent Campbell

After most of the meat is removed from the carcass, do not throw it away! It is time to make broth. My husband makes the broth in this household from the remains of anything that has been roasted: veal bones, lamb bones, duck bones, even pork bones when he makes pate, and, most frequently, chicken bones.

The result of all these broths is that we have an unlimited supply of bases for soups.

The secret to a good broth is to simmer it slowly, barely bubbling on the stove (sometimes we put it on the edge of the woodstove). John’s recipe for chicken broth is based on Marcella Hazan’s and whatever other ingredients we happen to have in the house—except the leftover lemons from roasting the chicken. Remove them: they can give the broth a bitter overtone.

Place the chicken carcass and all bones in a 6- to 8-quart pot. Add a bay leaf; one medium onion cut in half with skin left on (the onion skin colors the broth to a goldenbrown); a carrot or two chopped into 3-inch lengths; a celery stalk or two, preferably with leaves, chopped; one potato, peeled; one or two canned tomatoes that you squeeze with

your hand as it goes into the pot; 8-10 pepper corns; and salt to taste.

Fill the pot with cold water to an inch or two above the carcass. Leaving the pot uncovered, bring the water to a gentle boil. Turn down the burner to bring the water to a very slow simmer, just bubbling. During the first 10-15 minutes check the broth for scum floating on the surface; remove it with a slotted spoon.

Cook for 2-3 hours. Let cool to room temperature and then pour through a sieve. John starts with a colander and then progresses to a finer sieve for a clear broth.

Use immediately, or refrigerate in a covered container. It will last 4 days at least. If you keep it longer, bring it back to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

After the broth is refrigerated, you will notice that the fat rises to the top and solidifies. It can be removed with a spoon, and you are left with a healthy, fat free base for homemade soup, or risotto.

By the time I have made up a soup or risotto from the broth (two to four servings), one honest chicken has provided us with eight to twelve servings over at least four meals.

PAGE 14 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

Addison County Food and Farm Directory Addison

Vermush Eric Swanson | Bristol | 881-8754 | vermush@ yahoo.com Wild harvested mushrooms.

Garden Art Paul Mahan | 1357 Route 17, Addison | 759-2752 Vegetable transplants.

Yore Fare Farm Anthony Myrick | 67 East Street Bristol | 4536616 | yorefarefarm@hotmail.com Pastured chicken, turkey, pork.

Harwood Farm Alden Harwood | 1582 Route 17, Addison | 9890479 | aldenh@gmwireless.net Hay.

Cornwall

Mike’s Farm Mike Eastman | 435 Town House Road, Addison | 759-2764 Organic milk, raw milk at farm, beef.

Robin Falta 231 Bourdeau Road, Cornwall | 462-2331 Duck eggs, chicken eggs.

Vermont Green Meadows Lisa & Tim Davis | 3051 Route 22A, Addison | 759-3374 | vtgreenmeadows@yahoo.com Tomatoes, corn, squash, peppers, cukes, turnips.

Hibernia Farm Rene & Donna Audet | 188 Audet Road, Cornwall | 462-2434 Organic hay.

Benson

Lemon Fair Honey Works Kristin Bolton & Andrew Munkres | 2703 West St Cornwall | 462-3722 | ajmunkres@yahoo.com Raw honey, comb honey from untreated bees.

Falkenbury Farm Bob & Jacki Ambrozaitis | 1520 Park Hill Road, Benson | 537-2979 | jojoerobert@shoreham.net Eggs, rabbits, goats, raw milk, turkey, farm stays.

Lemon Fair West Farm Sean & January Stearns | Quiet Valley Road, Cornwall | 462-2341 | sjcj@together.net Natural beef.

Foggy Meadow Farm Sally Beckwith & Paul Horton | 2494 Lake Road, Benson | 537-4754 | foggymeadowfarm@ shoreham.net Leeks, micro greens, tomatoes, corn, squash, peppers.

Meeting Place Pastures Cheryl & Marc Cesario | 1368 West Street Cornwall | 462 -759 | meetingplace@shoreham. net Organic beef, pork, ham, bacon, sausage, meat birds.

Over the Hill Farm John & Shelbie Wing | 502 Stage Road, Benson | 537-2811 | shelbie.wing@yahoo.com Meat processing, USDA Inspected, certified organic.

Vermont Natural Beef Bob & Pati Stannard, | 1943 Stage Road, Benson | 537-3711 | vermontnaturalbeef.com A cow chomps on some hay for an afternoon snack in Shoreham last April.

Retail beef, custom cut and delivered.

Independent photo/Trent Campbell

Vt. Herb & Salad Company Jared & Heather McDermott | 1204 Money Hole Road, Benson | 537-2006 | vtherbandsalad@ shoreham.net Organic salad greens.

Brandon

Queen bees, raw honey, nucleus colonies.

Gleason’s Grains Theresa & Ben Gleason | 2076 East Street, Bridport | 758-2476 | tgleason@gmavt.net Organic wheat, sifted & whole wheat flour.

Neshobe Farm Hannah Davidson | 142 Steinberg Road, Brandon | 310-8534 | neshobecsa@gmail.com Organic vegetables, full range CSA, farmstand.

Heavenbound Farm Ginny & Harold Welch | 1446 Happy Valley Road, Bridport | 349-8829 Organic livestock, organic milk,

Woods Market Garden Jon Satz | 93 Wood Lane, Brandon | 247-6630 | woodsmarketgarden@me.com Vegetables, full range, pickles CSA, baked goods.

Hemenway Hillbillies of Vermont Cindy Myrick | Hemenway Hill, Bridport | 7582436 | myrick@middlebury.edu Angus beef, organic raw milk, eggs maple syrup, honey, beeswax candle, jams, jellies.

Bridport

Champlain Acres Henry & Donna Lawton | 5301 Lake Street, Bridport | 758-2396 | lawtonfamily@gmavt.net Organic grain, hay, silage, wheat.

Champlain Valley Alpacas Les & Jenny Foshay | 152 Merino Lane, Bridport | 758-3276 | alpaca@wcvt.com Alpacas.

Champlain Valley Bees and Queens Kirk Webster | PO Box 381, Middlebury | Bridport | 758-2501

Paul Connor Farm Paul & Marian Connor | 6858 Route 125, Bridport | 453-2333x2083 | mconnor@anesu.org Organic hay, haylage.

Beef cuts.

Bristol

Baldwin Creek Apiaries Kevin Neil | 436 Dan Sargent Road, Bristol | 453-2792 Honey.

Bristol Community Gardens 1 South Street, Bristol | 453-5885 Garden sites.

Dreamhouse Orchard, George Landis | 382 Hewitt Road, Bristol | 4532805 | georgemlandis@gmavt.net Apples PYO. Hillsboro Sugarworks Dave & Sue Folino | 270 Rounds Road, Bristol | 453-5462 | shfolino@gmavt.net Certified organic maple syrup.

Vermont Heritage Grazers, LLC Alethea Bahnck | 2175 East Street, Bridport | 758-5040 | alethea@gmavt.net Pigs (whole and half), year-round eggs.

Lower Notch Berry Farm Al & Linda Lunna | 1946 Lower Notch Road, Bristol | 453-4220 | lowernotchberryfarm@ gmail.com Blueberries & raspberries PYO.

Wood Creek Farm Chip & Kathy Morgan | 560 Lake Street, Bridport | 758-2909 | chip@woodcreekfarmbeef. com

Two Old Saps Paul & Luise Greco | 11 Spring Street Bristol | 453-3081 | twooldsaps@yahoo.com Maple syrup.

Moonlit Alpacas Carol & Cass Tillman | 2170 Route 125, Cornwall | 462-3510 | moonlitalpacas.com Alpaca breeding stock and fiber, Mountain Meadows Brian Kemp & Amiel Cooper | 2711 Route 30, Cornwall | 989-0514 | briankemp@earthlink.net Organic beef, wholesale/retail, organic.

Pine Meadow Farm David & Sharon Reising | 4440 Route 30, Cornwall | 462-3582 Raw milk, pork, eggs maple syrup.

Rowe Crest Farm Daniel Rowe | 123 Lambert Lane, Cornwall | 462-2609 Grass fed beef hay.

Severy Farm Joseph Severy | 6039 Route 30, Cornwall | 4622515 Organic milk, bulk maple syrup.

Sunrise Orchards Barney Hodges | 1287 N. Bingham Street, Cornwall | 462-3500 | sunriseorchards@ shoreham.net Apples, cider.

Sunset Hill Farm Garden & Nursery Nancy Edson | 2771 Route 74, West Cornwall | 462-2497 | alsdairy@shoreham.net A Note on the Map and Directory: The map and directory do not include all the food and dairy producers in Addison County. Producers listed are there by choice, and primarily represent businesses that supply local markets. If you are interested on being on the map in the future, please contact Susan Smiley at 352.9078.

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 15

Addison County Food and Farm Directory Vegetable plants, annuals, perennials, baskets strawberries, blueberries.

melons, zucchini, summer squash, strawberries, fall raspberries, mums, PYO.

Twig Farm Michael Lee & Emily Sunderman | 2575 South Bingham Street, Cornwall | 462-3363 | twigfarm@shoreham.net Goat and mixed (raw) milk cheese.

SMB Cattle Co. Scott & Michelle Barnes | 239 Quaker Street, Ferrisburgh | 425-2862 Beef.

Williams Farm Lucille Williiams | 5283 Route 30, Cornwall | 462-2470 | wmsmaple@shoreham.net Maple syrup, maple products.

Windfall Orchard, Bradley Koehler | 1491 Route 30, Cornwall | 462-3158 | www.windfallorchardvt.com Apples, cherries, plums, blueberries, cider, iced cider.

East Middlebury

Elmer Farm Spencer & Jennifer Blackwell | 885 Case Street, East Middlebury | 388-3848 | elmer.farm@yahoo. com Organic vegetables wheat, black beans, CSA.

Ferrisburgh

Dakin Farm Sam Cutting | 5801 Route 7, Ferrisburgh | 4253971 Maple Syrup

Vt. Livestock Slaughter Carl Cushing | 76 Depot Street, Ferrisburgh | 8773421 | vermontmeat.com USDA Inspected Meat Processing, beef, pork sides/qtrs, retail.

Huntington

Maple Wind Farm Bruce Hennessey & Beth Whiting | 1340 Carse Road, Huntington | 434-7257 | maplewindfarm. com Vegetables, grass fed beef, lamb, pastured pork & poultry, eggs, maple syrup, CSA.

Leicester

Depot Farm Supply Rick Dutil | 2681 Leicester Whiting Road, Leicester | 247-6700 Organic animal feed.

Garland Goat Soap Greg, Linda & Nathaniel Moore | 671 Ferson

Road, Leicester | 247-9249 | garlandgoatsoap@ gmail.com Goat milk soaps with essential oils, lip balm.

Mt. Pleasant Sugarworks Andy & Donna Hutchison | 1627 Shackett Road, Leicester | 247 3117 Maple syrup.

Oliver Hill Farm Suki Fredericks & James Maroney | 1033 Bullock Road, Leicester | 247-3479 | spfspf@ gmail.com Organic eggs, organic hay.

Stoney Lonesome Farm James Ellefson & Lesley Wright | 588 Fern Lake Road, Leicester | 247-5920 | cehp@gmavt.net Organic garlic, vegetables.

Taconic End Farm Annie Claghorn & Caitlin Fox | 1395 Leicester Whiting Road, Leicester | 247-3979 | foxclag@ gmavt.net Organic milk, bulk maple syrup.

Lincoln

Blue Meadow Farm Kristin Andrews | 696 Forge Hill Road, Lincoln | 453-6936 | bluemeadowfarm@gmavt.net Organic herbs, vegetables organic eggs, goats,

Isham Brook Farm William & Bonnie Roleau | 1426 W. River Road, Lincoln | 453-3713 Vegetables, beef, pork, retail cuts, maple syrup.

Meetinghouse Farm Ruth Shepherd & Ken Pohlman | 192 Isham Hollow Road, Lincoln | 453-4786 | mhfarm@ gmavt.net Lamb, grass fed beef.

Metta Earth Institute Gillian & Russell Comstock | 334 Geary Road, Lincoln | 453-8111 | info@mettaearth.org Vegetables, milk, eggs, flowers, CSA. Pin Money Farm Stephen & Judith Harris | 514 W. River Road, Lincoln | 453-6384 Goat’s milk, eggs.

Song Bird, Farm Nate Gusakov | 2344 Quaker Street, Lincoln | 453-7935 | fullbellyvt.com Grass fed beef, grain/grass fed pork, sausage, retail cuts.

Twin Maple Sugar Works Don & Jodi Gale | 88 River Road, West Lincoln | 453-2785 Maple syrup.

Earth House Farm Finn & Katherine Yarbrough | 4215 Sand Road, Ferrisburgh | 877-6288 | finn@ earthhouseproductions.com Lamb, organic.

Weed Farm Sue Borg & Rashi Nessen | 613 Quaker Street, Lincoln | 453-7395 | weedfarm@gmavt.net Herb plants (medicinal & culinary), fresh herbs, eggs, PYO.

Flower Power VT Ann Flack | 991 Middlebrook Road, Ferrisburgh | 877-3476 | flowerpowervt@comcast.net Organic vegetables, dried flower designs, nursery plants, hops, herbs, eggs, Belgian sheep dogs (Tervuren).

Middlebury

Champlain Valley Apiaries Charles E. Mraz | 504 Washington Street, Ext., Middlebury | 388-7724 | champlainvalleyhoney. com Honey, bee products.

Garden Goddess Michele Racine | 399 Quaker Street, Ferrisburgh | 425-4433 | smbqueenie@gmavt.net Flowers, annuals, perennials, vegetables starts, wedding flowers.

Foster Bros./Natural Ag Products Heather Foster-Provencher | 297 Lower Foote Street, Middlebury | 388-1137 | hfmoodoo@ sover.net Compost, potting soils.

Good Companion Bakery Erik & Erica Andrus | 276 Burroughs Farm Road, Ferrisburgh | 877-1396 | erik@ goodcompanionbakery.com Beef, pork, bread, pastries and porridge.

Gildrien Farm Caitlin & Jeremy Gildrien | 340 Halladay Road, Middlebury | 989-7223 | gildrienfarm.com Vegetables, ginger, turmeric, CSA, pickles.

Honey Gardens Apiaries Todd Hardie | 2777 Route 7, Ferrisburgh | 8776766 | honeygardens.com Honey, honey products, elderberry syrup,

Green Mountain Beverage Middlebury | 385-3630 Hard cider.

Kimball Brook Farm Cheryl & JD DeVos | 2263 Greenbush Road, Ferrisburgh | 425-3618 | cherylldevos@gmavt.net Organic milk products.

Happy Valley Orchard Stan & Mary Pratt | 217 Quarry Road, Middlebury | 388-2411 | happyvalleyorchard.com Squash, tomatoes, sweet corn, apples, cider, cider donuts, baked goods, PYO.

Lalumiere Farmstand & Greenhouse Karolyn & Louie Lalumiere | 3747 Sand Road, Ferrisburgh | 349-7782 Vegetables, bedding plants and seedlings soup, baked goods.

Scott’s Greenbush Gardens Bill & Donna Scott | 79 Quaker Street, Ferrisburgh | 425-2370 | wjscottjr@comcast.net Vegetables, pumpkins, wholesale sweet corn &

Breault Family Farm Jessica & Kevin Breault | 1200 French Settlement Road, Lincoln | 453-6792 Potatoes, garlic, lettuce chickens, broilers.

An allium plant that has not quite flowered rises high into the air in Cannon Park last June.

Independent photo/Trent Campbell

Marble Rose Farm Sue Evans & Tom Cruk | 1733 Case Street, Middlebury | 388-9411 | marblerosefarm@ comcast.net Organic tomatoes, melons, beans, pumpkins, asparagus, garlic, organic strawberries, raspberries, farmstand.

PAGE 16 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

Addison County Food

Monkton

Boyer’s Orchard, & Cider Mill David & Genny Boyer | 1823 Monkton Road, Monkton | 453-2248 | orchard@together.net Apples, pears, cider, pies, donuts, PYO Little Hogback Farm Matt Davis | Monkton | 598-8204 Maple syrup.

New Leaf Organics Jill Koppel | 4818 Bristol Road, Monkton | 4536160 | newleaf@gmavt.net Organic vegetables, flowers, plants, CSA, PYO. Norris Berry Farm Norma Norris | 686 Davis Road, Monkton | 4533793 | norrisberryfarm@gmavt.net Rhubarb, tomatoes, cukes, squash, beans, lettuce, peppers, herbs, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, black currants, jams/jellies, PYO.

South Hardscrabble Farm Joan Cook | 93 Choiniere Road, Monkton | 4532290 | sohardscrabblefm@gmavt.net Vegetables, wide variety strawberries, blueberries, baked goods, pickles, farmstand.

The Last Resort Eugenie Doyle & Sam Burr | 2246 Tyler Bridge Road, Monkton | 453-2847 | lastresortfarm.com Organic garlic, mixed vegetables, organic strawberries, raspberries, blueberries eggs hay, CSA, PYO, farmstand.

Walden Community Garden Matt Schlein | 1823 Monkton Road, Monkton | 453-6195 | willowwell.org Garlic, kale, pickled products, vegetables.

New Haven

Ash Farm Watson Scott | 3105 River Road, New Haven | 388-7878 | watsonsaca@yahoo.com Pumpkins, beef.

Greenhaven Gardens Peter Norris | 2638 Ethan Allen Hwy, New Haven | 453-5382 | greenhaven@gmavt.net Certified organic mixed vegetable starts.

Lester Farm Sam & Maura Lester | 2297 Ethan Allen Highway New Haven 453 3132 lesterfarm@ yahoo.com Vegetables.

Lincoln Peak Winery Chris & Sarah Granstrom | 142 River Road, New Haven | 388-7368 | vermontwine@gmail.com Wine.

Earth House Farm Vermont Live Stock LaLumiere Farm

Riverbend Farm George Crane | 3357 River Road, New Haven | 388-8044 Vegetables, maple syrup, Christmas trees.

Smith Family

Woodman Hill Orchard Farmhouse Table Miedema Farm

Olivia's Croutons WALTHAM WALTHAM Misty K Farm Roads End Cattle Co. NEW HAVEN Water Vermont Green Farm Meadows N E W H A V E N Sweet Hill Farm Harwood Farm Greenhaven G Garden Art A Lester ADDISON Farm ADDISON Weybridge Gardens Ledge Hill Lincoln Pea Vt. Offseason Organics Mike's Farm WEYBRIDGE WEYBRIDGE PANTON PANTON

WALTHAM

NEW

Wendy & Randy Butler 1846 Halpin Road, New Haven | 388-3209 Maple syrup.

Bloomers Karen Hescock | 13 Beauvais Road, Orwell | 948-2434 | bloomersgardenflowers.com Flower arrangements, perennials, landscaping.

Flower Power Vermont Honey Gardens Apiaries

Good Companion Bakery Orb Weaver Fa

PANTON

Water Haven Farm Barb Torian & Tim Bouton | 181 South Street, New Haven | 453-4596 timbarb@gmavt.net Maple syrup.

Boyers

M ON N MO K TK OT NO N MON

FERRISBURGH

VERGENNES V GNE V EERR GE NN E SN E S

Sweet Hill Farm Chris & Dianne Bingham | 3835 Ethan Allen Highway, New Haven | 453-7751 | sweetcorn@ gmavt.net Sweet corn, tomatoes, cukes, squash, pumpkins cut flowers.

Animal Farm Diane St. Clair | 194 Old Sawmill Road, Orwell | 623-6599 Butter, buttermilk, humanely raised veal and pork.

Garden Goddess

Champlain Valley Creamery Vadeboncoeur Nougat Otter Creek Farm

Smith Family Beef Harvey Smith | 2516 Lime Kiln Road, New Haven | 877-2712 | smith45@together.net Grass fed beef, retail cuts, pastured pork, poultry, eggs.

Orwell

Kimball Brook Farm

FERRISBURGH

HAVEN

ADDISON

\

Orb Weaver Farm Marjorie Susman | 3406 Lime Kiln Road, Monkton | 877-3755 | orbweavr@together.net Organic vegetables, cheese, raw milk, beef.

Dakin Farm DeVosFarm SMB Cattle Co. Scott's Greenbush Gardens

Olivia’s Croutons Francie Caccavo | 1423 North Street, New Haven | 453-2222 | fwc@oliviascroutons.com Wheat, flour, croutons.

mp lain

Omar Fugaro Middlebury | 282-6739 | omarfooge@yahoo.com Raspberries, melons, plums, pears.

CHARLOTTE

No

Cha

Otter Creek Brewing Brendan Rogers | 793 Exchange Street, Middlebury | 388 0727 Craft Beers

Minda Lafountain | 1687 Main Street, New Haven | 453-4748 | mistyknollfarm.com Turkeys, chickens, turkey & chicken pot pies.

Lak e

Middlebury Area Community Garden 115 Porter Drive, Middlebury | info@ middleburygarden.org Garden sites.

Addison County Local Food Producers

Champlain Valley Alpacas Wood Creek Farm Paul Connor Farm

Vermont Heritage Grazers, LLC Gleason's Grains

Monument Farms MIDDLEBURY

IDDLEBURY MoonlitM Alpacas Champlain Valley Singing Brook Farm Bees and Queens Lemon Fair Honey Works Hemenway Hillbillies of VT Sunrise Orchards Meeting Place Pastures BRIDPORT CORNWALL Windfall Orchard Heavenbound Farm BRIDPORT Mountain Meadows Hescock Farm CORNWALL Rowe Crest Farm Golden Russet Tio Grain Farm Farm Doolittle Champlain Pine Me Farm Hibernia Farm Acres Sunset H and Nur Harvey Park Williams Farm Heudorf Blue Stone Farm Farm SHOREHAM Vermont Moo Moo Madison Dairy Farm Trade Winds Severy Farm Sentinel Pine OrchardS H O R E H A M Tottingham Old Wooster Farm Douglas Orchard Farm Twig Farm S A L I S B U R Y Lemon Fair LEICEST West Farm Blue Ledg Shoreham Winery Elysian Fields WHITING Oliv Wood Notch Millborn Dairy Champlain Orchards Tac Depot Farm Farm Supply Hall and Breen Danzahn Farm Crawford Fami Animal Farm LaDuc Acres Mt. ORWELL ORWELL Independence Bloomers Farm Stonewood Farm Lake Home Farm Buxton's Custom Cutting Red Sky Farm Ledge Haven Farm Brookside Stock Farm Eagles Flight Farm Crescent Orchard Singing Cedar Farmstead BRIDPORT

CORNWALL

Brookside Stock Farm Tench Murray & Olga Sears | 183 Route 22A, Orwell | 948-2211 | osandy@live.com Vegetables, organic rhubarb, organic grassfed belted galloway beef, USDA-inspected, individual cuts, heritage poultry, sheep and pigs, maple syrup, honey.

Crescent Orchard Andrea Ochs | 37 Needham Hill Road, Orwell | 948-2670 | anox@shoreham.net Mixed vegetables apples, plums, pears, cherries, apricots, seconds for canning.

Eagle’s Flight Farm Elizabeth Frank | 212 Mt. Independence Road, Orwell | 948-2840 | elizabeth@effarm.com, Workshops and farm stays.

East Run Farm Jacqueline & Jonathan Bump | Orwell | 257-0687 Organic hay.

Hall & Breen Farm Louis Hall & Jennifer Breen | 177 Route 73, Orwell | 989-9247 Bulk organic milk.

LEICESTER

ORWELL

SUDBURY

Misty Knoll Farm BENSON

RICHMOND BOLTON

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 17

and Farm Directory

HINESBURG

Brace Sugarhouse

DUXBURY

HUNTINGTON

Maggie Brook Sugarworks Shaker Maple Farm orris Berry Farm Clifford Farm Rockville Market Farm The Last Resort #15 Schoolhouse Maple Sentinel Farm BrownHill Sugarworks STARKSBORO Maple Wind Farm Walden Garden Highland Sugar Works s Orchard LaFayette Farmstand

NKTON

LaDuc Acres Robby LaDuc | 32 Royce Hill Road, Orwell | 948-2681 | sugarman54@live.com Maple syrup, maple products.

MORETOWN

STARKSBORO

Little Hogback Farm Spring Mt. Herbs Russell Farm Lewis Creek Farm Rockwell Family Farmstand

New Leaf arm Organics

y Beef

FAYSTON

Dunham Family Maple Bee Happy Vermont Ghyll-Fenn Farm

Mt. View Farm Norris Sugarworks Hallock Brook Farmstand

South Hardscrabble Farm Two Old Saps BRISTOL Vermush s Knoll Yore Fare Farm Hillsboro Sugarworks Bristol Com. r Haven Gardens Dreamhouse m Orchard River Bend Farm Gardens LINCOLN Ash Farm Lower Notch Berry Farm ak Winery

BUELL'S

GORE

WAITSFIELD

NORTHFIELD

Isham Brook Farm Blue Meadow Farm Weed Farm WARREN Harris Farm Twin Maple Sugar Works Breault Family Farm Metta Earth Institute

Scholten Family Farm Otter Creek Brewing Champlain Valley Apiaries Happy Valley Orchard

Red Sky Farm Ed & Paula Barnes | 613 Route 73, Orwell | 9482566 | pfarmer@shoreham.net Vegetables, dried ornamentals.

GRANVILLE

RIPTON

Marble Rose Farm Elmer Farm Foster Brothers Green Mt. Beverage Gildrien Farm

H ANN CCO HA CO KC K

Maple Meadow Farm

Sunshine Valley Berry Farm

Mt. Pleasant Sugarworks

ge Farm ROCHESTER

GOSHEN

ily Farm

9

B RAA BR NN D OD NO N

1

0.5

1 0 Miles

2

Kilometers

Ripton

Mountainyard Farm Freeman & Mia Allen | Ripton | 388-7394 | mtydfm@together.net Organic vegetables, greenhouse tomatoes.

Nola’s Secret Garden Nola Kevra | 2936 Natl. Forest Route 59, Ripton | 388-6107 Organic greens, herbs, plants, mixed vegetables, agriculture, educational activities.

North Branch Farm Sebastian Miska & Kate Corrigan | 1652 Lincoln Road, Ripton | 388-2059 | greenmountaingrown. com Lacto-fermented vegetables, chickens, pork, ducks, turkey, eggs and more, CSA.

Rochester

Sunshine Valley Berry Farm Rob Meadows & Patricia Rydle | 129 Ranger Road, Rochester | 767-3989 | rob@ vermontberries.com Organic blueberries, rasperries, blackberries PYO.

Singing Cedars Farm James & Louise Carlotto | 15 Wicker Lane, Orwell | 948-2382 Beef, veal, organic hay.

Four Family Farm Alex Wylie | 8 Shard Villa Road, Salisbury | 3524452 | alex@vlt.org Grass-fed lamb, beef, pastured pork & poultry, eggs.

Stonewood Farm Peter Stone | 105 Griswold Lane, Orwell | 9482277 | stone@stonewoodfarm.com Turkeys, turkey products.

Heudorfer Farm Paul & Chris Heudorfer | 195 Leland Road, Salisbury | 352-4586 Beef.

Otter Creek Farm Annie Henderson | 354 Basin Harbor Road, Panton | 475-2940 | ottercreekfarm@live.com Organic vegetables, seasonal and root crops, pastured pork, poultry and eggs,

!

PITTSFIELD

Groundworks Farm Kevin Brown & Margaret Evans | PO 437, Pittsford | (703) 347-2448 Vegetables, pastured chicken, pork, egg, Middlebury CSA.

Salisbury

Farmhouse Table Theresa Smith | 21 Fisher Lane, Panton | 3455360 | madhunter@gmavt.net Locally raised, all natural,beef, pork, chicken & turkey,

1 0.5 0

Pittsford

Singing Cedar Farmstead Scott Greene | 30 Black Snake Ln., Orwell | 9482062 | singingcedars@shoreham.net Certified organic vegetables eggs, chicken, turkey, CSA, prepared foods, special order and wholesale and some delivery.

Panton

TER

ver Hill Stoney Lonesome Farm conic End Garland Goat Soap

Morningside Farm Brian & Patty Wilson | 101 Hemmingway Hill Road, Orwell | 948-2675 | bpwilson@shoreham. net Organic bulk milk.

Mt. Independence Farm David & Deborah Lamontagne | 34 Shoales ROXBURY Dr., Orwell | 948-2693 | debbielamontagne@ earthlink.net Organic barley, soy, wheat and beef.

Nola's Secret Garden North Branch Farm

eadow Farm Hill Garden rsery fer Farm Motel

Ledge Haven Farm Thomas & Michael Audet | 145 Mt. Independence Road, Orwell | 948-2545 | tmaudet@shoreham.net Maple syrup and maple products.

Maple Shade Farm Bob & Sue Balfe | Orwell | 948-2829 Organic bulk milk.

Meetinghouse Farm Song Bird Farm

BRISTOL

Lake Home Farm Inc. Gerry & Cheryl Audet | 399 Mt. Independence Road, Orwell | 948-2888 lakehome2@yahoo. com Sunflower seed for bird feed, all natural grassfed beef.

Dean Jackson | 420 Jackson Road, Panton | 7592050 | roadsendcattleco.com Grass fed freezer beef, purebred Polled Herefords, show prospects.

Roads End Cattle Co.

Blue Ledge Farm Hannah Sessions | 2001 Old Jerusalem Road, Salisbury | 247-0095 | sales@blueledgefarm.com Goat cheese, fresh, aged.

Maple Meadow Farm Jackie & George DeVoid | 518 Maple Street, Salisbury | 352-4241 | jdevoid@myfairpoint.net Eggs.

Moo Moo Motel Terry & Susan Quesnel | 213 Dewey Road, Salisbury | 352-9070 Organic milk, bulk.

Shoreham Blue Stone Farm John Reynolds & Edwina Ho | 869 Watchpoint Road, Shoreham | 897-5333 | clayman@

Addison County

Regional Planning Commission STOCKBRIDGE

Map produced by the Addison County Regional Planning Commission (ACRPC), in collaboration with the Addison County Relocalization Network (ACORN) and Middlebury College student Jess Minton.

PAGE 18 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

Addison County Food and Farm Directory shoreham.net Certified organic vegetables, hard neck garlic, grass-fed beef, Champlain Valley Orchards Bill Suhr | 2955 Rte 74, Shoreham | 897-2777 | elissa@champlainorchards.com Organic mixed vegetables, apples, plums, raspberries, cherries, apple pies, apple slices, organic cider, CSA. Cream Hill Farm Paul Saenger | PO Box 205, Shoreham | 897-2101 Beef, Danzahn Farm Julie Danyew | 44 Hemenway Hill Road, Shoreham | 948-2852 | zahn1@shoreham.net Artisanal goat cheese.

Douglas Orchard Scott Douglas | 1050 Route 74, West Shoreham | 897-5043 | ssview@shoreham.net Squash, cider, apples, rapsberries, cherries, strawberries PYO. Elysian Fields Kathleen, Joseph & Tir Hescock | 3658 Route 74 W Shoreham 897 7484 Beef and pork by the half or whole, organic milk, bulk.

Golden Russet Farm Will & Judy Stevens | 1329 Lapham Bay Road, Shoreham | 897-7031 | wstevens@shoreham.net Organic bedding, plants, vegetables, CSA.

Photo by Andrea Suozzo

Above, a colorful bunch of radishes sits at a Middlebury Farmer’s Market booth in July 2009. Bottom left, homegrown garlic hangs up to dry late last summer. Bottom right, a bunch of grapes hang in the shade one sunny day last September.

Harvey Park Farm Susan Harvey | 372 Lapham Bay Road, Shoreham | 897-5051 All natural grass fed beef, Madison Dairy Farm George & Joann Madison | 2806 Smith Road, Shoreham | 897-2024 | jojoselixir@yahoo.com Bulk milk, garlic tincture for livestock, organic eggs.

Millborn Dairy Gert Schut | 322 Shoreham Depot Road, Shoreham | 897-2737 | millborn@shoreham.net Drinkable yogurt.

Morningside Farm Brian & Patti Wilson | 101 Hemenway Hill Road, Shoreham | 948-2675 | bpwilson@shoreham.net Organic milk, organic Jersey calves and cattle.

Sentinel Pine Orchard, Whitney & Roberta Blodgett | 832 Witherell Road, Shoreham | 897-7931 | sentinelpineorchard. com Apples, tours (Sept .to May), direct sales.

Shoreham Winery Pat & Greg Borah | 3442 Route 22A, Shoreham | 897-7126 Wine.

Tio Grain Farm Ken VanHazinga & Ann Harper | 32 Doolittle Road, Shoreham | 897-5420 Organic grain.

Tottingham Farm Story & Dia Jenks | 277 Tottingham Road, Shoreham | 897-5155 | tottinghamfarm@mac.com Organic eggs, organic hay, straw.

VT Tradewinds Farm Tim & Loraine Hescock | 1674 Route 74, Shoreham | 897-5447 | tim@vermonttradewinds. com Vegetables, maple syrup, maple products.

Wood Notch Farm Gail Wood | 5866 Route 22A, Shoreham | 8978201 Bulk milk.

Photo by Trent Campbell

Photo bt Jessie Raymond

Starksboro

Honey, Christmas mead, honey comb, honey cream, beeswax candles.

#15 Schoolhouse Maple David & John Adsit | 198 Brown Hill Road, Starksboro | 425-3624 | david@ northernedgeassociates.com Maple syrup.

Brace Sugarhouse Henry Emmons | 160 Sugarhouse Lane, Starksboro | 434-2382 Maple syrup, maple products.

Bee Happy Vermont Pedro Salas | 258 Big Hollow Road, Starksboro | 453-7996 | beehappy@madriver.com

BrownHill Sugarworks Daniel & Dolliver | Brown Hill Road, Starksboro | 453-3794 Maple syrup.

Clifford Farm Eric Clifford | 6147 Route 116, Starksboro | 4533810 | ejclifford@comcast.net Bulk milk.

Dunham Family Maple Jeff & Betsy Dunham | 3702 Ireland Road, Starksboro | 453-4219 Maple syrup.

Ghyll-Fenn Farm

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 19

Addison County Food and Farm Directory Chris Brady | 3556 Route 17, Starksboro | 4532330 Maple syrup.

Hallock Brook Farmstand Robert Lang & Roxanne Smith | 1901 Robert Young Road, Starksboro | 453-3378 Vegetables, pastured poultry, pork, turkeys, maple syrup.

Jim Mac Isaac Sugarbush Bean Road, at the end, Starksboro | 479-1747 Maple syrup.

LaFayette Farmstand Rick & April Lafayette | Starksboro | 453 7848 Vegetables, berries, maple syrup.

Lewis Creek Farm Hank Bissell | 3071 Route 116, Starksboro | 4534591 lcfarm@gmavt.net Mixed vegetables, eggs, pickles, CSA. Maggie Brook Sugarworks John & Rita Elder | Ruby Brace Road, Starksboro | 453-3625 | elderita@gmail.com Organic maple syrup.

Norris Sugarworks Kelly & Kathleen Norris | 745 Robert Young Road, Starkboro | 453-4753 | norrissw@gmavt.net Maple syrup.

Rockville Market Farm Eric & Keenan Rozendaal | 205 Cemetery Road, Starksboro | 355-0059 | eric@ rockvillemarketfarm.com Organic vegetables, whole and peeled winter squash, raspberries, eggs, chicken, pork, spring, summer & fall/winter CSAs, meat CSA.

Rockwell Family Farmstand Rick & April Rockwell | 12 Ireland Road, Starksboro | 453-7848 | arockwell@gmavt.net Vegetables, sweet corn, tomatoes, cukes blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, maple syrup, homemade pies & breads.

Russell Farm David Russell | 1248 Route 116, Starksboro | 4532208 | amymansfield@gmavt.net Sweet corn, winter squash, bulk milk, maple syrup.

Shaker Maple Farm Leah & Steve Wilsey | 2047 Shaker Hill Road, Starksboro | 434-5353 Organic maple syrup.

Spring Mountain Herbs of Vermont Margi Gregory | 4570 Ireland Road, Starksboro | (413) 320-1920 | margigregory@comcast.net Western, Chinese, Ayurvedic herbs, teas, oils, soup bases.

Dan Faircloth 439 Robert Young Road, Starksboro | 453-4893 | danielfaircloth@gmail.com Maple Syrup Mountain View Farm Erin Buckwalter & Mike Shepard | 101 Mountain View Farm Lane, Starksboro | 349-5785 | info@ mountainviewfarmvt.com Pastured eggs, pork & chicken.

Mountain View Farm Larry & Sue Shephard | 1109 Robert Young Road, Starksboro | 453-4217 Beef.

As temperatures warm and the snow begins to melt, Addison County maple sugarmakers head for the sugarbushes to begin boiling off sap. Top right, Zach Sullivan, 18, stokes the fire last winter under an evaporator that he and five friends put together in a small Ferrisburgh barn. At bottom, Sullivan and Eric VanWyck check for syrup. Above, a New Haven sugarhouse sat ready for snow last October.

Independent photo/Trent Campbell

Sudbury

Rupp’s Custom Cutting Rupert Larock | 2015 Willowbrook Road, Sudbury | 247-4570 Meat processing.

Vergennes

Champlain Valley Creamery Carleton Yoder | 11 Main Street, Vergennes | 8772950 | cheeseguy@cvcream.com Organic cream cheese, Champlain Triple Créme cheese.

Margaret Lowe’s Green Street Gardens Margaret Lowe | 150 Green Street, Vergennes | 277-3783 | margaret.lowe150@gmail.com Fresh vegetables, tomatoes, beans, jams, jellies, pickles, homemade bread.

Vadeboncoeur Nougat Didier Murat | 247 Main Street, Vergennes | 8707157 Confectionary nougat.

Vergennes Community Garden Carol Kress | Vergennes | 759-7777 Garden plots.

Woodman Hill Orchard David Ambrose | 175 Plank Road, Vergennes | 989-2310 | david.ambrose1@gmail.com Apples, PYO & prepicked, drops.

Waltham

Miedema Farm Tom Miedema | 1410 Maple Street, Waltham | 877-2893 Eggs, bulk organic milk.

Weybridge

Ledge Hill Farm Violet LaFountain | 58 La Fountain Lane, Weybridge | 545-2104 | springviolet@gmavt.net Vegetables, flowers, fruits, USDA-inspected goat meat, raw goat milk, eggs, baked goods, jams.

Monument Farms Robert James | 2107 James Road, Weybridge | 545-2119 Milk, bottled cream, half & half, chocolate milk.

Scholten Family Farm Roger & Patricia Scholten | 1097 Weybridge Road, Weybridge | 545-2522 | scholten@gmavt. net Bulk milk, organic raw milk, cheese.

Vt. Offseason Organics Walt & Goodale | 4818 Snake Mountain Road, Weybridge | 349-9325 | goodale77@hotmail.com Certified organic bedding, plants, transplants.

Weybridge Gardens Audra Ouelette & Kris Bowdish | 181 Thompson Hill Road, Weybridge | 545-2306 Pumpkins, sweet corn.

Whiting

Crawford Family Farm Sherry Crawford, | 165 Sawyer Needham Road, Whiting | 623-6383 | scrawford@surfglobal.net Farmstead Ayrshire cheese.

Old Wooster Farm Paul & Doris Seiler | 438 Wooster Road, Whiting | 462-3140 Organic bulk milk.

PAGE 20 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

Gleaners thank community for ongoing support

By Corinne Almquist

The Addison County Gleaning Program The gleaning program truly stands testament grew as vigorously as our farms’ crops this to the generosity of our neighbors in Addison past year. After a successful inauguration County. The program remains productive and in 2009, interest and participation in the strong due to the enormous donations of food, program grew dramatically, resulting in time, and supplies from so many different huge increases in healthy food available at volunteers.

We look forward to another year of increasing our county’s food shelves. Beginning with access to local foods in an early spinach glean our county, and we need in March at Singing your help! Once again, Cedars Farmstead we encourage you to and ending with a Grow an Extra Row in large donation of your garden to donate to winter squash from The process of harvesting the food shelf. Greens Golden Russet Farm leftover, surplus and less-thanlike spinach and lettuce in December, the perfect crops on a farm — the provide a healthy gleaning program ones that, while perfectly good, alternative to processed, salvaged a total of either would not sell or would non-perishable foods, 19,508 pounds of fresh, and storage crops like local produce from take too much time to harvest winter squash, onions, our county’s fields to make it worth picking. and carrots will keep in 2010, more than well at HOPE for late doubling our harvest Gleaning efforts route produce fall and early winter from our first year. that would otherwise be wastdistribution. If you are Thirty-six different interested in helping to farms and market ed to those who can benefit coordinate the gleaning gardens contributed to from it. In Addison County, program for 2011, or the gleaners, as well the produce goes to area food would like to volunteer as a large number of shelves and shelters. in any capacity, let us home gardeners who know! You can email generously donated To get involved, send an e-mail us at gleanaddison@ extra produce to gmail.com or call families in need. to gleanaddison@gmail.com Corinne at 377-1435.

Special recognition We look forward to goes to Will and Judy seeing you in the fields Stevens of Golden Russet Farm, Sam and Maura Lester (or in the kitchen) this growing season! of Lester Farm, Karolyn LaLumiere of Thanks to our 2010 Contributors: LaLumiere Farm, and Spencer and Jennifer Blackwell of Elmer Farm for being our Golden Russet Farm top donors, all giving in the thousands of Lester Farm pounds (see below for a complete list of LaLumiere Farm contributors). Gleaners distributed produce Elmer Farm to food shelves and meal sites around the Middlebury College Organic Garden county, including the Addison County Food Singing Cedars Farmstead Shelf at HOPE, Vergennes Food Shelf, New Leaf Organics Bristol Food Shelf, John Graham Shelter, Last Resort Farm Living Well, Community Supper and Lunch Charlotte Berry Farm programs, VT Adult Learning Children’s Sunrise Orchards Lunch Program, Middlebury Parent Child South Hardscrabble Farm Center, and the Bristol Family Center.

Scott’s Greenbush Gardens Without funding for a full time gleaning Foster Brothers Farm coordinator this past year, volunteers invented Gildrien Farm creative solutions to manage responsibilities.

Walden Project Thanks to student ingenuity and funding Neshobe Farm from Middlebury College’s Alliance for Civic Pedalbarrow Farm Engagement, gleaners Corinne Almquist and Happy Valley Orchard Julie Clark were able to rely on the strong Sunrise Hill Farm and Farden leadership of students Jessie Ebersole, Jacob Marble Rose Farm Udell, and Kate Olen for direction of the Vermont Hydroponics program. In another partnership with the 4Ever Green Garden Club college, five Middlebury freshmen (led by Foggy Meadow Farm two upperclassmen) participated in a full Mt. Abe High School Garden weekend of gleaning and food processing LeValle’s Farmstand as part of a volunteer service orientation.

Hawk Hill Farm Younger scholars, too, were able to enjoy the Roundabout Sprouts sunshine and learn about local agriculture as Norris Berry Farm part of the gleaning program. Students from Blue Meadow Farm the Red Cedar School in Bristol embarked on Big Hollow Farm their second annual gleaning field trip in 2010, Shepherd’s Boy Farm harvesting almost 200 pounds of food from Four Pillars Farm New Leaf Organics in Bristol and Lester Farm Maple Hill Farm in New Haven.

Good Earth Farm

Labor did not end in the fields in Rockville Market Farm the attempt to salvage produce; staff and Spring Mountain Herbs volunteers at HOPE were kept busy all season and many, many generous home gardeners! processing food for fall and winter storage. We filled our freezer with produce, applesauce, With gratitude, and apple pie filling that were distributed in The Addison County Gleaning Program Thanksgiving and winter holiday baskets.

Local Vocab Gleaning

The Addison County Gleaning Program – moving food from the fields to the families who need it.

You can help. Find out how at www.hope-vt.org

Hope Helping to overcome poverty’s effects in Addison County since 1965.

282 Boardman Street, Middlebury, VT 802-388-3608

A third generation family owned company, Champlain Valley Apiaries has been producing and packing high quality naturally crystalized, unheated and unfiltered honey since 1931. With 1200 honey bee colonies in the Champlain Valley we are as local as your back yard.

Charles Mraz 1905-1999

Champlain Valley Apiaries

Washington Street Ext. Middlebury 388-7724 www.champlainvalleyhoney.com

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 21

Young Farmers continued from page 9 ... college next year to study agricultural education or diversified agriculture, but she, too, said she’ll be back after graduation.

While neither of her parents farms, AnnaJo grew up working with her grandfather, State Rep. Harvey Smith (R- New Haven), on his farm. A longtime dairy farmer, Harvey transitioned to raising forage crops and producing grass-fed beef, pork, turkey, chickens and eggs.

“From everything I’ve done with my grandfather, he’s shown me how much there can be in agriculture,” she said.

AnnaJo, with the help of teachers from the Hannaford Career Center, is working on a plan to build a slaughterhouse at her grandfather’s farm to address a regional shortage.

Following her graduation from college, AnnaJo said she hopes to teach at the vocational high school level and, of course, to work on her grandfather’s farm.

“Leaving the family farm is not something I could do,” she said. “Continuing our farm has importance to me, and moving into slaughter has an importance to the community. Everybody needs to eat.”

Creating community

Many young farmers are reaching out and finding ways to get involved, both with others in their community and on a statewide level.

Derrick Dykstra, Phil Livingston and John Chamberlain are co-presidents of the Addison County Young Farmers group, which brings together young people involved in the county dairy industry for

monthly informational events, keeping its members up to date with the business and the politics of agriculture.

In December, the group invited then Gov.elect Peter Shumlin to speak in Addison, and in February a number of the group’s members attended a recent bus trip to speak with state representatives in Montpelier.

“We needed to see what was coming down the pipe,” said Livingston in December.

Caitlin Gildrien said creating a community is important for the purposes of sharing knowledge like how best to deal with clay soils, but it’s also important for facing the emotional challenges of the agricultural live.

“From the emotional standpoint, if it’s been raining for a month, someone who is not a farmer doesn’t necessarily have an idea of what that means for you,” she said.

Facing the challenges

Weather is just one of a host of challenges that accompany the agricultural business, especially for young and beginning farmers.

“For young farmers, the primary challenges are access to land and access to capital,” said UVM’s Schmidt.

With a recent growth in direct sales opportunities like farmers’ markets and CSAs (see sidebar), said Schmidt, the challenge of how and where to sell food is an easier one to overcome.

Other challenges that new farmers face, she said, depend on their backgrounds.

“We talk to people who have plant and soil science degrees, and then second career people who might have a strong business and marketing background but not a lot of

AnnaJo Smith, second from right, was part of the Vergennes FFA Dairy Foods team that took a silver medal at the National FFA Convention last fall. Other members of the team were Adam Delisle, Ben Rao and Jason Vorsteveld; their coach is Harmon S. Boyce Jr.

production knowledge,” she said. “There’s a real diversity of needs out there.”

Schmidt said there are a growing number of grants and other opportunities available to young farmers hoping to address these challenges.

And Caitlin Gildrien said there are other challenges to the job.

“It’s a lifestyle in addition to just being a job,” she said. “We don’t go anywhere in the summer, and we don’t go very far in the winter, either.”

Davis said that in order to surmount some of the challenges, he had to give up some cultural expectations surrounding farming — including owning his own land. Right now, he is leasing land.

But he’s welcomed other challenges, like lack of production knowledge.

“There are a lot of problem-solving aspects,” he said. “It’s brought together a lot of different interests in terms of skills, and required a better understanding of what’s going on in the world around me.”

PAGE 22 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

Farm Shares Available Eugenie Doyle & Sam Burr Tyler Bridge Road, Monkton Mail: 2246 Tyler Bridge Road, Bristol, VT 05443 802-453-2847 - localfood@lastresortfarm.com LastResortFarm.com

Dedicated to the Production and Advancement of Vermont Cheese

SENTINEL PINE ORCHARD 832 WITHERELL ROAD, SHOREHAM VERMONT 802-897-7931 Home of some of the Finest Macs in the County!

We ship apples throughout the country.

We offer small group tours, awesome Fund-raising opportunities and consulting services on pruning and spraying.

Mention this ad and receive $1.00 off Utility Apples & $2.00 off Packed Fruit!

VISIT US ON THE WEB AT www.sentinelpineorchard.com

Printable Vermont Cheese Trail Map Complete Listing of Cheese Council Members Guide to Vermont Cheese, searchable by Farm, Variety, Type of Milk, and Name Links to Vermont Cheese Classes & Events Guide to Retailers featuring Vermont Cheese Recipes featuring Vermont Cheese

www.vtcheese.com

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 23

We grow the corn that… Feeds the cows that… Makes the milk that…

We bottle Fresh for you Everyday!

Local Milk at its Best

MONUMENT FARMS DAIRY 2107 JAMES ROAD, WEYBRIDGE • 545-2119

PAGE 24 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

For your conventional bag or bulk feed needs call Depot Farm Supply in Leicester Junction, Vermont 802-247-6700 For your organic bag and bulk feed needs call Green Mountain Feeds in Bethel, Vermont 802-234-6278 We are proud to support the Addison County Relocalization Network.

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 25

Addison County Farm Bureau supports local food and farms by providing member benefits including Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance to Dodge Truck Discounts and a voice in the Vermont Legislature.

To Join Us, call 802-434-5646

Sunday, September 18, 2011 Shoreham, VT

PAGE 26 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

Local Vocab

Farm to School A movement that seeks to connect classrooms and cafeterias with local food and agriculture.

Central to the movement is the idea that an awareness of food and where it comes from will help students to make informed, healthy food choices throughout their lives.

For more information, check out farmtoschool. org.

Second annual Stone Soup conference to highlight county Farm to School efforts

By Hannah Mueller

enthusiastic.

Did you know: At Vergennes Elementary: “The school garden • 75% of public schools in Addison County, 15 really hits it home for the kids and connects local schools in total, have gardens.

• 15 Addison County schools purchase a bit closer still to their own lives.”

At Cornwall: “We’ve tried so many new vegetables locally.

• Girl Scouts, Future Farmers of America things with our taste tests and have had great (FFA), the Middlebury Natural Foods Coop, and success in having the kids at least try bites of the Master Gardeners are all working to bring local new items.”

And at Middlebury High School: “We have foods into schools in Addison County.

These facts all sprout from the Addison County just started but have put in ten 3x12 foot raised Relocalization Network’s Farm to School survey, garden beds. We have also purchased a 30x50 conducted online late last year in preparation for foot greenhouse that we will install this spring.”

The final question asked respondents to rate the second-annual Stone Soup summit on April 5 at Middlebury Union High School. Last year, the top four areas in which the school could most Stone Soup brought together over 100 people to use help taking Farm to School to the next level. discuss bringing Farm to School activities into The top four issues were: identifying new and/or sustainable funding options; expanding food and their school districts.

“Farm to School” refers to the nationwide nutrition educational programming; getting kids movement to connect classrooms and cafeterias to eat healthy foods; and building connections with local food and agriculture. The goal with farmers.

With 21 pages of survey results in hand, the is to improve school nutrition and foster students’ abilities to make informed, healthy, Stone Soup steering committee—composed and environmentally-conscious food choices. of members from all three districts—came up with seven workshop topics for Vermont is a Farm to School the 2011 Stone Soup summit. leader, and Addison County’s The topics will be: Building and healthy localvore culture places Don’t miss it!

Soup Summit Sustaining a Farm to School us right in the sweet spot of the Stone Growing Farm to School in Coalition; Funding Farm to movement.

Addison County School Programs; Farm to With the Stone Soup survey, April 5, 2011 School in the Elementary School ACORN aimed to take a 4:00-7:30 PM snapshot of Farm to School Middlebury Union High School Curriculum; Farm to School in the High School Curriculum; programming in the county in Keeping the Garden Growing order to identify major successes so far, as well as the areas that need support. The Strong in All Seasons; Composting at School; organization called on principals, foodservice and Buying Locally for the Cafeteria. Leading directors, teachers, and community volunteers each panel and discussion will be people from to answer questions in six categories: Gardens, Addison County, plus a few from further afield Compost, Education, Lunch and Breakfast in Vermont, who have had success with the issue Programs, Farm to School Organization, and at hand.

If you’re involved in or curious about Farm Looking Ahead.

All twenty public schools in the county’s to School programming where you live, please three school districts and the Hannaford Career come out to the Stone Soup summit! Hear about Center participated in our survey. Asked to how others have overcome challenges you may share specific triumphs and successes of their be facing, ask questions, and network with your Farm to School programs, respondents were district over a tasty local meal.

Top, Monkton Central School second-graders sample local cheese, grapes and apples last September as part of the school’s push to incorporate more local foods into the classroom. Above, Vergennes Union Elementary School students plant seedlings in the school’s vegetable garden last June.

Independent photo/Trent Campbell

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 27

Composting completes the cycle — and teaches valuable lessons

By Hannah Mueller To most fifth graders, “dirt” and “soil” are two words for the same thing—and the brown stuff doesn’t inspire much enthusiasm. At Ferrisburgh Central School, though, “soil” means something precious.

Students make their own soil over the course of the year by collecting waste and monitoring it outside in the school’s new composting structure. Composting is hardly a dull process: for students in kindergarten through sixth grade at FCS, it combines an element of hands-on fun with an understanding of environmental stewardship.

Ferrisburgh’s composting structure went up over the summer of 2010 with help and donations from parent volunteers, says Judy Elson, fifth-grade science teacher and coordinator of the project. All the school’s food waste—from classrooms, snacks, and the kitchen—now comes out to the facility to start its transition back into soil. That soil, in turn, will enrich the school garden, which provides fresh vegetables for the school lunch program.

“Doesn’t that look yummy?” asks fifthgrade student Alia on an afternoon this January, pointing to the onion skins on top of one of the blue plastic bins that the school uses to transport food scraps outside. A student answers, “For bacteria!”

Beatrice, another fifth-grader, says of composting, “I think it’s a good thing because we can get soil for our garden and we don’t have to throw food away.”

A classmate replies, “You can’t throw things away, remember? There is no ‘away.’”

On-site composting is a constant reminder that the school’s trash is not someone else’s problem. If composting is going to work at a school, says Elson, then teachers, staff, and students all have to take responsibility for their own garbage and for the new system as a whole.

“It’s teaching our kids how to deal with our waste,” says Elson. “It’s a cultural change, and cultural changes in On a February afternoon, teacher Judy Elson and her students deliver food scraps from our institutions don’t happen overnight.” the school kitchen out to the school’s new composting shed.

Ferrisburgh has put in more than six years Independent photo/Trent Campbell of work to arrive where they are now, with an eight-bin covered compost facility. parent volunteer Nick Patch took the lead which is what kids so need.”

Their system now serves as a model to on constructing the new facility. Student This year, Ferrisburgh’s garden has other schools and institutions in the county. participation at all grade levels is also recently expanded to 24 raised beds and The Highfields Center for Composting key in composting success. Fourth, fifth, two 25 by 25-foot field plots. Last year, in Hardwick, VT, which supports and sixth grade students take turns during Wyckoff incorporated carrots, tomatoes, organizations that want to start their own lunch periods to monitor their classmates salad greens, peppers, green beans, composting systems, advised Ferrisburgh as they divide trash from recyclables, and broccoli, celeriac, Swiss chard, squash, in the planning stages. Highfields helped recyclables from compost. Many students leeks and basil from the garden into school the school to develop what Elson calls their helped to transfer a large manure donation in meals. “recipe.” Speedy and healthy composting the fall. Kindergarten “It’s a way of life requires a precise combination of food classes regularly carry at the school for the “You can’t throw things students and staff,” waste with nitrogen and carbon sources. the blue containers of At Ferrisburgh, these sources are mainly food waste outside. away, remember? says Wyckoff. donated manure from Al and Karen Myers Students who help There is no ‘away.’”

Since full-scale of Ferrisburgh, and wood shavings from manage their own composting started, David Delp of North Ferrisburgh. A long- food waste get to see — Ferrisburgh Central Ferrisburgh has term goal of Elson’s is to incorporate paper the full transition of reduced its solid waste School fifth grader towel waste from the bathrooms into the food back into food. removal by an average compost as a new carbon source. That “I really like how the of 250 pounds per next step will take more organization and students are involved week. For the first practice. “It’s one big science experiment, in the cycle of composting, to seeding, time this year, Ferrisburgh will be able to really, every day,” says Elson. “Our to harvesting, to cooking the vegetables use their own compost in their own garden. program is constantly evolving as we we get from our garden,” says Suzanne Before last year, the school sent food integrate students into the process and Wyckoff, director of the breakfast and scraps off-site and did not receive compost. experiment with recipes and procedures.” lunch programs at FCS. “Then they get to This spring, though, Elson hopes they will reap the benefits by enjoying the nutritious not have to purchase any compost for the Many hands Volunteer participation makes large- meals here that they helped produce. I feel garden. In February, one pile of compost scale composting possible; in particular, this gives them a sense of accomplishment, already sat outside the facility, ready for

the garden in the spring, and two more stacks lie in the structure at different stages of decomposition.

It’s easy for a visitor to perceive the pride students take in their shared science experiment. One fifth-grader is especially proud of the unique bags that the cafeteria uses to hold food waste: “I don’t think a lot of schools have decomposable bags for their compost, so I think they should get them.”

Spreading the word

Ferrisburgh students recently shared what they have learned about sustainability in the Farm to School video contest sponsored by VT FEED (Food Education Every Day). Their photostory, developed primarily by five fifth-grade students with writing teacher Amy Downing, won first place and a flip camera for the school. The FCS website hosts the video, for which the five students were honored in Montpelier on January 20.

On April 5, at the Stone Soup summit in Middlebury, Judy Elson and James McSweeney of the Highfields Center for Composting will share insights gleaned during this process at Ferrisburgh. Stone Soup participants will have the chance to gain a realistic view of the investment that a group needs to make before composting can become a reality — because, as fifthgrader Beatrice says, “You might not get a compost shed at first.”

Elson recommends that organizers get all parties on board with the project: custodial staff, kitchen team, school board, parents, teachers, and students. Do your research, she says, and visit other schools to learn what has worked for them. Student groups from Vergennes and Mt. Abraham Union High Schools and Thetford Elementary School have recently visited Ferrisburgh in preparation for their own composting journeys.

“Be patient. Take little steps,” Elson recommends. “It takes work to deal with our waste.”

PAGE 28 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

A chance discovery

By Andrew Stein

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“We don’t like to spray.

When we run into pests, we diversify.”

—Sue Evans

Sue Evans and Tom Cruk of Middlebury grow an unusual set of crops in unusual soil.

Marble Rose Farm, their 17-acre plot of sandy, high alkaline farmland, lends itself to excellent drainage and a diverse range of fruits and vegetables from asparagus to cantaloupes — not common in the predominantly clay soil of Addison County.

Sue met Tom on the back of a vegetable truck in Scotia, New York (WHEN), and the rest was history. The two former General Electric employees have a rich background in strawberry farming, and when they stumbled across the Vermont border from New York one evening in 1995, they came across a property ideally suited to growing the fruit.

While their staple goods are strawberries, asparagus, cantaloupe, watermelon, and sungold cherry tomatoes, though, they grow many other crops: black

raspberries, peas, garlic, onions, potatoes and radicchio, among others.

Marble Rose Farm follows two primary mantras: 1.) To provide customers with nutrient-dense, flavorful fruits and vegetables.

2.) To protect and enhance the natural environment of the farmland.

“We don’t like to spray,” said Evans.

“When we run into pests, we diversify!”

So last year, when the Mexican bean beetle began devouring their beans, diversify they did. They dropped beans as a crop and instead added several others.

“My wife is the real plant propagator here,” said Tom with a chuckle. “She really is.”

Although Sue and Tom don’t run a CSA, they sell their produce at the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op and at their weekend farm stand open in the summer and autumn.

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 29

PAGE 30 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

Local roots, national distribution

By Andrew Stein The humble beginnings of Woodchuck Hard Cider trace back to 1990 in Proctorsville, Vermont with a bundle of Vermont apples, a ten ounce 1940’s soda bottling machine, a Gatorade bottle to top off the last two ounces, and a firm commitment to creating high quality cider.

Back then, few would have guessed that this little cider operation would one day grow to control 62 percent of the national hard cider market. Perhaps Bret Williams would have been one of those few — after jumping on board the Woodchuck team in 1996 as their first salesperson, he became President and CEO of Green Mountain Beverage (GMB) after he and a team of investors purchased the company in 2003.

Although Woodchuck’s rapid expansion has led GMB to source apples from other states, the company still espouses Vermont ingredients. “I don’t think that a lot of people realize that the quality of apples that come out of the state of Vermont are some of the best in the world,” said Williams.

GMB still sources apples from Shoreham’s Champlain Orchards and other Addison County orchards, and Williams said that 100 percent of Woodchuck’s ingredients come from within the U.S. Here in Addison County, GMB plays an integral role: providing 75 jobs to the area, working with many local businesses, and even pitching in some volunteer hours.

According to Williams, GMB was the first business to kick off the Vermont Pick

for your Neighbor Program. Under the program, half of GMB’s employees take the day off to pick several hundred pounds of apples at local orchards, and GMB pays the bill. The apples are donated to hungry Vermont families through the Vermont Foodbank.

So what’s next on Woodchuck’s agenda?

New duds.

Right now, the company is in the due diligence process of purchasing a 120,000 square foot facility on Route 7. The new facility is twice the size of the company’s current base of operations, and it will come as a much needed expansion.

“We don’t have enough room for our juice…and the warehouse is jam packed,” said Williams He hopes that the deal will close by the end of March 2011 and expects that outfitting the new facility will take one calendar year. GMB does not want to disrupt business, so the company’s current operations will stay online until the new facility is up and running.

The Route 7 location will give the company better visibility, and among its many new additions, GMB hopes to open a visitor center. The new facility’s ample space will provide GMB with many new opportunities to innovate and expand.

“It gives us the flexibility to have everything self-contained in one location,” said Williams. “A world class facility is our goal.”

A small business flourishes

By Hannah Mueller As Carleton Yoder pours fresh milk a cheese vat by substituting a commissary into a cream separator at his Champlain soup kettle with a welded top.

Valley Creamery in the Kennedy Brothers But when it comes to the ingredients, Factory Marketplace in Vergennes, he is Yoder doesn’t skimp. Journey’s Hope Farm participating in a long tradition. Addison in Bridport provides all of the creamery’s County dairy farmers delivered their milk to organic milk. the same building 100 years ago, and their “The whole product is from this county,” cheese and milk would make their way on he said. the nearby railroad as far as New York City.

He choose to go organic for the point of Yoder brought difference from other cheesemaking back to and because “We don’t subscribe creameries, the site in 2003. Before he sees it as the healthier, that, he worked making to the ‘if you don’t more traditional way to hard cider for the grow, you die’ phifarm and eat. The value American Hard Cider of tradition shows in company in Middlebury, losophy.” their signature product, now called Green — Carleton Yoder Old Fashioned Cream Mountain Beverage.

Cheese—“not like Just last year, his wife, Philly at all.”

Moira Cook, joined him Most of the Cream at the Creamery. Cheesemaking, she said Cheese and their Triple Crown Cheese recently, “is about growing a small family travels of out Vermont, but Champlain business that’s sustainable and something Valley Creamery products also make an we can be proud of.” appearance at the Starry Night Café in “We don’t subscribe to the ‘if you don’t Ferrisburgh, Antidote in Vergennes, and grow, you die’ philosophy,” said Yoder. other local restaurants.

Producing a relatively small amount of Since 2003, Yoder said support for his cheese—between 300 and 400 pounds per business in Addison County has been week—allows them to have control over “tremendous.” And he’s in good company every aspect of the business. Yoder has — his business is among the many already come a long way, considering that, springing up to make use of dairy, the as he puts it, “we started stripped-down county’s primary agricultural offering. capital-wise.”

“There’s something to be said for taking Finding equipment was a creative a raw agricultural product and turning it process. Their cream separator is from into something by the end of the day,” he 1952, and Yoder saved about $12,000 on said.

“A world-class facility is our goal”

— Bret Williams

Happy fruit

A batch of homegrown tomatoes basks in the sun last summer.

At left, Green Mountain Beverage Marketing Director Bridget Blacklock stands in front of oak barrels used for aging Woodchuck Hard Cider. Right, two newly installed juice tanks tower against the winter sky.

Independent photos/Andrew Stein

Photo courtesy Jessie Raymond

2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms — Page 31

All in the family

By J.P. Allen Peter Stone grew up farming alongside his parents, Paul and Frances Stone. In 1976, when Peter was 11, the family set down roots in Orwell on a 600-acre dairy farm that they founded.

By 1989, the family had shifted the farm from dairy to turkey production, attempting to address a shortage of poultry production in the state. Today, Peter owns the family business, and the 1,000 acre Stonewood Farm has become Vermont’s largest turkey producer. In a typical year, the farm grows, slaughters and processes about 27,000 turkeys per year.

Thoughout May, June and July, the farm purchases day-old chicks from a hatchery in Canada. By staggering the turkeys’ ages, the farm can sell multiple sizes of Thanksgiving birds come November.

The turkeys roam and grow in large, fenced, open-air barns until the end of October, when slaughtering begins. “We freeze (the first ones) to make ground turkey for turkey sausage,” Stone explained.

Then, he said, “the week before Thanksgiving, the turkeys are all slaughtered, except for some for Christmas.”

After the holiday rush, the farm prepares for the next season and focuses on sausage production, which proceeds year-round.

As Stone sees it, Stonewood Farm has reached a kind of equilibrium.

“There’s a demand for (our products),” he said, “but at the same time we don’t want to be too big.”

Since Thanksgiving turkeys must be slaughtered within a short timeframe before the holidays, Stonewood’s on-site processing plant already runs near capacity in its busiest few weeks. Recent high grain prices have also led Stone to keep business stable rather than chart expansion.

“I was always involved in the farm,” said Stone.

Despite his heavy involvement in the family business, though, Stone left the farm at one point to work in construction. Soon, however, he returned to the farm for good, to eventually take over the business from his parents.

“My work and my life are pretty close together,” he said.

Indeed, he lives on the farm with his wife and the third generation of Stones.

“I have an eight-year-old, a four-year-old and a nine-month old,” he said.

At this age, of course, it is anybody’s guess whether any of the youngest generation will someday take up management of the family farm.

“Some days they’re thinking of it,” says Stone. “They’re thinking of a lot of things at that age.”

At right, Stonewood Farms employees gather on the property.

Photo courtesy Stonewood Farms

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PAGE 32 — 2011 Addison County Guide to Local Food and Farms

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