Episódios
-
It was in the middle of high school that I really started to carve out an interest for myself in and seek experiences inagricultural production of some fruit and veg, some small livestock. I remember having a conversation with my college counselor about “I'm interested in this, like, where should I look?” She mentioned some of the top agricultural schools in the Northeast, like UVM and UNH, but that was where the conversation ended. It wasn't, “This is what these programs will have to offer you and this is how they can really open your world and help you see all the different paths that might be before you.” I was pretty sure I wanted to farm. I wanted to really be in on the ground in the day-to-day operations of production.—Kate
Since 2015, Kate has worked on nine dairy farms in five states throughout the Northeast. Fascinated with different dairy farming systems, she has sought experience in an array of production models: conventional, organic, certified grass-fed, dairies shipping to a commodity market, and dairies directly marketing raw milk products. She has also pursued work in food and agribusiness with her most recent off-farm roles being in supply chain and agricultural sciences at General Mills Inc. She tries to bring a ground-level and a survey-level perspective to everything she does.
As the Assistant Manager at Wolfe's Neck Dairy in Freeport, Maine, Kate loves stewarding the land, the herd, and theapprenticeship program. Kate also boards her own grass-fed Jersey cows here, which she hopes will support the dairy’s transition to an increasingly pasture-based model. She truly enjoys working in a place that centers learningat the heart of its mission.
Kate Sabino email
Wolfe’s Neck Center website
New England Grazing Network web site
More educational and transformational offerings from Jenn Colby
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review or buy us a coffee at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show or even buy me a cup of coffee at the Choosing to Farm web site!
-
Estão a faltar episódios?
-
I remember…doing some chores one day with the pigs and thinking, “I don't need anything other than this. Everything is whole and complete as I do this work here with these animals. –Carrie
You start with lambing and move through into lactation and then we start processing and so being able to manage thefarm in that integrated way. Being able to really understand the performance of the animals and their health and how that relates to the quality of the milk and then how that milk is transformed into our finished products. Having that kind of oversight is special--surprising.—Brent
Carrie & Brent Wasser run a sheep dairy in the Hudson Valley of New York. They produce sheep's milk yogurt and bottled sheep's milk in their on-farm creamery, and raise pastured lamb. They came to farming in their late 30's/early 40s after careers in journalism (Carrie) and food production (Brent). They met each other on a farm in New England, andtalked about their mutual interest in livestock farming on the very first night they met.
Willow Pond Sheep Farm email
Willow Pond Sheep Farm web site
Willow Pond Sheep Farm Instagram
Green Mountain Girls Farm website
Charlotte Smith podcast
Northeast Pasture Consortium web site
More educational and transformational offerings from Jenn Colby
Whole Human web site
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review or buy us a coffee at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Wantto help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show or even buy me a cup of coffee at the Choosing to Farm web site!
-
We might not see the payoff of the things that we're doing here…but the legacy we're leaving for someone to walkin behind us, that's really important.—Sarah
For me, especially having a job for so many years where there were a lot of days when you wake up and you go, “Man, I really don't want to go to work today”… that really doesn't happen anymore. I wake up every day ready to go. We're working, we're doing what we love together. You can't beat this. –KennyKenny and Sarah are the proud owners of Berry Brae Farm located in Central New York. They specialize in raising highquality Berkshire Pork, White Dorper Lamb, seasonal turkeys and chickens.
Berry Brae Farm email
Berry Brae Farm web site
Berry Brae Farm Instagram
Berry Brae Farm Facebook
Northeast Pasture Consortium web site
Sylvanaqua Farms Instagram
Vermont Grass Farmers Association web site
NOFA Vermont web site
More educational and transformational offerings from Jenn Colby
Whole Human web site
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review or buy us a coffee at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show or even buy me a cup of coffee at the Choosing to Farm web site!
-
“I think a lot of people seek out farm and food jobs because they're looking for something profound and they don't even know what it's going to be until they get there.”—Rose
“Every year on the farm is so different. It really is. It feels every year we have different bandwidth for different things and we're improving all the time and making more bandwidth in some areas and losing it in other areas.”—EmilyEmily and Rose both grew up in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. Their paths crossed in 2015 while working at Maple Wind Farm in Huntington, VT. Rose and Emily have been a team ever since that first summer and have dedicated their life to creating community around nutritious and delicious food starting a small poultry operation together in 2017. The purchase of Union Brook Farm was the culminating event that allowed Emily and Rose to begin advancing their pursuit of those dreams.
They are now in their 5th season of farming pasture raised broilers, layer hens + sheep with pigs in the forest. They also offer a farm stay through Airbnb should you want to come experience first hand their version of paradise!
Union Brook Farm email
Union Brook Farm web site
Union Brook Farm Instagram
New England Grazing Network web site
Vermont Grass Farmers Association web site
NOFA Vermont web site
Intervale Center Farm Business Program
WWOOF web site
More educational and transformational offerings from Jenn Colby
Whole Human web site
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review or buy us a coffee at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show or even buy me a cup of coffee at the Choosing to Farm web site!
-
“Raising animals is heavy. Even when it goes really well, it's heavy. And when you have losses, like we have had in the last couple of years, it changes the math -- even the finances of it. Okay, yeah, we lost money because we lost so many hens, but what we also lost sleep and tears and to wake up and go out and have a hundred chickens killed in one night--that happened to us once--and it just is so devastating.”—Hannah
“To know that food is not a product that you buy at the store and food is not something that is made by a company and branded and marketed to you, food is something that comes from the earth and nourishes your body. That's more important to me than whether or not [our kids] decide to operate a farm.”—John
Boneyard Farm is a labor of love. Hannah and John began on a small farmstead on ten hardscrabble acres in northern Vermont. They scaled up in 2021, purchasing a former conventional dairy. With the help of the Vermont Land Trust and the farm’s previous owners, their 180-acre property is forever conserved as working agricultural land.Hannah Doyle runs the day-to-day business of the farm and the vegetable operation. John is behind the scenes on infrastructure and maintenance, and he manages the rotational grazing and animal health for their livestock. He builds all the things and fixes all the problems. Two young boys, Reuben and Dimitri, help out on the farm and provide tons of laughter.
Boneyard Farm web site
Boneyard Farm email address
Boneyard Farm Instagram
Boneyard Farm Facebook
New England Grazing Network web site
Janet McNally’s Tamarack Farm web site
Vermont Grass Farmers Association web site
More educational and transformational offerings from Jenn Colby
Whole Human web site
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review or buy us a coffee at Choosing to Farm!
-
I came into farming really, as I got into it, being like--I'm a grower. That's where I want to grow my expertise; how to be a better caretaker for these animals, how to be more efficient with my time, with the land that we're using. To lean on people who are in processing, lean on them because their resources, their expertise are in processing or on the kosher side, lean on those people who really know what is required for it, bring them in and have them apply their expertise. The growth for me has been really needing to not just understand those other pieces muchmore, but also get much more directly involved.
Robert Friedman is the founder and owner of Robariah Farms. Located in the Connecticut River Valley of WesternMassachusetts, Robariah Farms specializes in local, pasture-raised, kosher-certified poultry and other meats.
Robariah Farms raises slow-growing poultry breeds that thrive on pasture. Sustainable pasture management practices, including daily rotation of mobile shelters, provide animals with continuous access to fresh pasture, sunlight, and clean air, supporting healthy, vibrant life.
For processing, Robariah Farms applies an ethical, humane framework through its kosher certification. Local, kosher supervising agencies oversee the slaughter, plucking, evisceration, salting/brining, and packaging of each animal, certifying a higher standard of quality for the meat.
Robariah Farms offers CSA meat shares directly to customers, as well as wholesale discounts to food co-ops, farm stores, caterers, and institutions across New England.
Robariah Farms email address
Robariah Farms Instagram
Robariah Farms Facebook
Top 7 Quotes of Gene Logsdon Youtube
New England Grazing Network web site
Christine Jones soil health tour link
Vermont Grass Farmers Association web site
More educational and transformational offerings from Jenn Colby
Whole Human web site
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review or buy us a coffee at Choosing to Farm!The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generationlivestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionallyin agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show or even buy me a cup of coffee at the Choosing to Farm web site!
-
The occasional summer I would go to Arkansas for a few nights when my family would make the trip out there fromDallas, Texas, they would only stay for a short period it was my aunt and uncle's Chicken farm. They were conventional growers for Tyson. It was a fun time out there, but I do remember thinking this is an enormous amount of hard work. My aunt and uncle never get to leave this farm and there's one thing I know for sure. And that's--I don't want to be a farmer.—Vanessa
Chickens can't be productive without a grain implement. The other thing is a lot of our farmland needs a lot more nutrients in the soil. This is an input into the system, but the intention is that this input is helping make our soilsmore productive and more regenerative over time so that we can support more ruminant animals on a given land base. Hopefully that will help the farm be more productive and profitable and sustainable. —Justin
Our names are Justin and Vanessa and we're first generation farmers with a passion for healing our environment. Justin has a background in permaculturedesign and education, and Vanessa is a graphic designer and marketer. We use our past experiences daily to grow our farm, and to help refine our customers understanding of regenerative agriculture, organic growing practices and how they can positively contribute to healing our food systems. We pride ourselves in providing high quality, fresh and healthy food from the land in a way that benefits the environment.
We deeply value our community, which makes our work rewarding, but we know food producers are facing some serious challenges (because of ongoing climate change) and we want to help face those issues head on. How our food is farmed can either add to the destruction of ourplanet or it can do the opposite- creating abundance and resiliency across our communities.
Leaping Bear Farm email address
Leaping Bear Farm website
Leaping Bear Farm Instagram
Leaping Bear Farm Facebook
Vermont Land Trust web site
Real Organic Project
Vermont Farm & Forest Viability Program website
New England Farm Link website
Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust website
2022 USDA Ag Census website
New England Grazing Network web site
Christine Jones soil health tour link
Vermont Grass Farmers Association web site
More educational and transformational offerings from Jenn Colby
Whole Human web site
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review or buy us a coffee at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generationlivestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionallyin agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show or even buy me a cup of coffee at the Choosing to Farm web site!
-
It feels good that we're providing this product for people's nutrition, for their families. They keep coming back to usand appreciating that. We are who we are; we're the face, we talk to them, we have them to our farm for tours. That's what people are looking for.—Beth
We both have a full time job figuring out how to move this business forward that that you can't get done if you're picking eggs and putting down bedding in the layer houses or fulfilling orders. Can't do it.—Bruce
Beth Whiting and Bruce Hennessey are the co-founders and co-owners of Maple Wind Farm, a diversified pasture-based farm and USDA processing plant located in Richmond, Vermont.
Maple Wind Farm email address
Maple Wind Farm website
Maple Wind Farm Instagram
Maple Wind Farm Facebook
Pasture Pet website
Vermont Land Trust web site
USDA Poultry Plant in a Box video
New England Grazing Network web site
Vermont Grass Farmers Association web site
More educational and transformational offerings from Jenn Colby
Whole Human web site
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review or buy us a coffee at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show or even buy me a cup of coffee at the Choosing to Farm web site!
-
I describe farming as really just one long extended expedition. It's very much like a mountaineering expedition where you wake up every day, you're working outside. You have problems, often new problems that crop up at least weekly. It's very much like being in a big mountain expedition where you're constantly working with the weather. You're working with the people on your team. You are focused on a goal. That takes all of your effort that you really have to commit to a hundred percent.—Bruce
It's very similar to being at a camp in a way, because we're managing people; a lot of young energy, a lot of people that need training and direction and they're coming to work on our farm,…and a lot of teaching. –Beth
Beth Whiting and Bruce Hennessey are the co-founders and co-owners of Maple Wind Farm, a diversified pasture-based farm and USDA processing plant located in Richmond, Vermont.
Maple Wind Farm email address
Maple Wind Farm website
Maple Wind Farm Instagram
Maple Wind Farm Facebook
Grit by Angela Duckworth
New England Grazing Network web site
Vermont Grass Farmers Association web site
More educational and transformational offerings from Jenn Colby
Whole Human web site
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review or buy us a coffee at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionallyin agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show or even buy me a cup of coffee at the Choosing to Farm web site!
-
Watching them [kids] come to the farm; at first, it can be quite challenging. There is definitely an arc of sort of comfortableness just with being outside doing chores, hard manual labor. That takes a minute for a lot of kids to adjust to. But as they adjust, it's so cool to watch them come out of their shells.--Haley
Hello my name is Haley Goulet, I am a livestock manager at a community farm and work to educate the public about livestock farming. I am passionate about teaching folks about the origin of their food and continuing to learn the best ways of ethically raising meat.
Haley Goulet email address
Haley Goulet Instagram
Haley Goulet LinkedIn
Natick Community Organic Farm website
Natick Community Organic Farm Facebook
UMass Amherst ASCI website
Trustees of Reservations website
Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) Model
New England Grazing Network web site
Vermont Grass Farmers Association web site
Your Transformation Story link—Click here to learn more!
Whole Human web site
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review or buy us a coffee at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show or even buy me a cup of coffee at the Choosing to Farm web site!
-
I remember being seven or eight years old and drawing… having construction paper, big rolls of paper all over theliving room floor, drawing pictures of where my cows and my sheep and my chickens would go on my future farm.—Melissa
You pick and choose your battles for sure…do we want to focus on cleaning up all of our step-in fence for the sheepand do all the outdoor stuff or are we going to focus on a house that we can bring friends into? So unfortunately, our game nights have taken a hit on not being able to invite people over, but our understanding of field management and what is required outside is more of a priority and we're appreciating that. Our decor is not the best, but whatever.--Toby
As Toby writes:Melissa and I own and operate Three Square Farm. We do rotational grazing of our beef and dairy cows and meat sheep. We moved to Vermont 5 years ago and started our farming journey 3 years ago. Toby also does hay crops on almost 100 acres and is diving into precision ag. Through many challenges, lessons learned (some the hard way), and classes with NOFA, we have gotten our enterprise on a good standing. With many more years to come and the passion for agriculture ever blossoming within our selves we like to look back on the struggles of being newly married, a new location, and many other challenges we faced. This only makes us stronger and the love of this career richer. At this point we couldn't see ourselves doing anything else.
Three Square Farm email address
Three Square Farm website
Three Square Farm Instagram
Three Square Farm Facebook
NOFA Vermont Beginning Farmer programs
Todoist app
New England Grazing Network web site
Vermont Grass Farmers Association web site
Your Transformation Story program registration is open!
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generationlivestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show or even buy me a cup of coffee at the Choosing to Farm web site!
-
We had bought this house in Brattleboro. We'd bought the truck. We bought the sheep. We bought dogs. We did all of this long before COVID hit, but then we were like, okay, this is our pandemic project.—Kimberly
Kimberly and Zan Walker-Gonҫalves were both kids exposed to animals but not raised on farms. As parents, they circled back to growing food and raising the maximum number of livestock their town in Massachusetts would legally allow. Five years ago, they packed up everything and moved to a new home where they created WagonTail Farm, set up sheep camp, started breeding for intentional wool color, and have been managing invasive knotweed as sheepscapers all while balancing career and health challenges.
WaGonTail Farm email address
WaGonTail Farm Facebook
Whetwoods Wildscaping Facebook
New England Grazing Network web site
Vermont Grass Farmers Association web site
Your Transformation Story program registration is open!
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review or buy us a coffee at Choosing to Farm!
-
I've wanted to quit about a hundred gazillion times, a lot- a lot. But I want to do what I love. So that is the key, right? To do what we love. And this is what I love to do. It comes with difficulties and it comes with rewards. I have to be able to handle both and know both.
Nicolle Ferrier and family moved from Southern California to central Vermont to experience a more relaxed lifestyle, but soon found themselves creating a farm and business with plenty of excitement. They raise six different types of unusual and heritage fowl, from game birds to emus (in order of size), caring for each animal personally. They ship eggs, chicks, and birds across the country, connecting with experienced fowl enthusiasts and new owners to support them with guidance and advice.
Nicolle’s email
Sugar Feather Farm website
Sugar Feather Farm X/Twitter
Sugar Feather Farm Instagram
Sugar Feather Farm Facebook
Sugar Feather Farm Youtube
Sugar Feather Farm Go Fund Me
New England Grazing Network web site
Vermont Grass Farmers Association web site
Whole Human web site
About RIM
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show!
-
There is a legacy throughout my family of having at least one member who served in all major conflicts back to the Revolutionary War. The other side of that coin is they were all farmers, homesteaders and innovators of their time from Eastern Tennessee and Kentucky.
In 2009, my wife and I kept grew our first garden in a community growing space in northern Vermont. There was a moment of clarity and renewed sense of purpose after being recently discharged from the Marine Corps with multiple combat deployments, that encouraged further exploration into foodproduction. Over a decade later, we now manage 10 acres of land and implemented practices deeply rooted in agroforestry, agroecology and whole systems thinking.
Wild Roots Community Farm is a diversified operation dedicated to community resilience through food systems education, wilderness survival, and self-rescue.
We are a part of the fabric which molds and shapes our landscape, and if we take moments to observe how natural systems function- their patterns, existing wildlife, how weather moves and reacts to topography and micro-climates, etc., we can make decisions that increase our ability to adapt to the internal and external forces of a food system.
On the farm we raise pigs, goats and chickens, grow annual vegetables and various tree crops in our pasture that is managed by rotating species. Through service-learning projects with community partners, we have built dedicated wildlife corridors to support native pollinators and songbird habitat. Wild Roots Community Farm is also the host site for a nature based early education program, Wrens Nest Forest Preschool.
Wild Roots Farm email
Wild Roots Community Farm website
Wild Roots Farm Instagram
Fieldcraft Farmer Instagram
Accipiter Fieldcraft email
Yestermorrow Design School
Heroes and Horses program
Future Farmers of America (FFA)
Farmer Veteran Coalition
Guardian Revival
Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sports
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers Association
Five-minute meditation link
Intro to Breathwork video
New England Grazing Network web site
Vermont Grass Farmers Association web site
Whole Human web site
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show!
-
Your humble host has been through some stuff the last few years. At a recent food system gathering event this fall, the call went out inviting folks to tell their stories of transition and transformation. How we went from the old to the new. What we overcame, and what we learned. How our world view changed. I’m still very much a farmer and will continue to be, but the last few years have shown me a new path helping others. That’s why I’m here.
Jenn’s email
Chris Sargent email
Whole Human website
About RIM page
Jenn delivering the talk on YouTube (with some jumps)
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show!
-
We could actually look into the animal, the live animal, see intramuscular fat and tenderness. We also had these tools, linear measurement tools that we could actually physically measure the animals and began to find almost in any group of cattle the right kind of cattle that would make a delicious piece of meat.
Ridge Shinn is the Executive Director of the Northeast Grass-fed Beef Initiative (NGBI). He also is the co-founder and CEO of Big Picture Beef, recently launched to produce Northeast grass-fed beef for Northeast customers. He has been a leader in the shift from feedlot production to raising cattle on a diet of 100% grass and forages – no grain. In addition to raising a large herd of grass-fed Rotokawa Devon beef cattle in Massachusetts, he was the Vice President of a Connecticut slaughterhouse and founded a successful meat company, Hardwick Beef. He has developed markets and distribution systems for 100% grass-fed beef throughout the northeastern United States and has consulted all over the US and for the Argentine government on the production and marketing of grass-fed beef. His work has been recognized in Time Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, Wine Spectator and Smithsonian.
Ridge Shinn email
Northeast Grassfed Beef Initiative website
Ridge’s book: Grassfed Beef for a Post-Pandemic World
Old Sturbridge Village website
American Milking Devon Association website
Livestock Conservancy website
EatWild website
American Devon Cattle Association website
Hardwick Beef website
North American Devon Association website
Big Picture Beef website
Alliance Pastorale Wikipedia page (click translate)
Gathering of Good Graziers Event Information
Northeast Pasture Consortium web site
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show!
-
I'm excited that the pandemic--for all its negativity--also said, “Hey, wait a minute. We need to concentrate on food resiliency”. We need to encourage these small diverse farms because the big operations, the five huge companies that sell 99 % of the meat in this country, failed us. For what reason? The structure, this foodsystem structure failed us.
John Roberts was appointed by the Biden Administration to serve as the State Executive Director of the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) in Vermont in February 2022.
Roberts immigrated to Vermont from Great Britain in 1974 after earning his Bachelor of Science degree in farm management.
He managed Shelburne Farms in Vermont until 1977 and then started his own dairy farm in Cornwall, Vermont, which was managed by his family until 2012. Roberts worked for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture as a water quality specialist for over six years and as the Executive Director of the Champlain Valley Farmer Coalition, which he joined in 2020.
He continues to serve as a select board member for the town of Cornwall and was a delegate to the New England Dairy Promotion Board. Roberts also served terms on the Vermont Water Resources Board, Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, Board of the Vermont Land Trust, Vermont Brown Swiss Association, and as Chair of the Vermont USDA FSA State Committee. Roberts also served in several state and national committee positions for the National Beef Promotion Board and the Grazing Land Conservation Initiative.
Roberts’ wife is a nurse and they have been married for 47 years. They have four children, all married, residing in various states across the country, with four grandchildren and another on the way. He enjoys bird watching, hiking, wood working, and photography.
Vermont USDA-FSA web site
Champlain Valley (VT) Farmer Coalition
Vermont Required Ag Practices for Small Farms
Sustainable Dish web site
UC Davis Frank Mitloehner brief overview of dairy emissions video
Bill Murphy Greener Grass on Your Side of the Fence book
Gathering of Good Graziers Event Information
Northeast Pasture Consortium web site
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show!
-
We'd rebuilt the milking parlor, which hadn't been operating. We've done all of this sort of stuff. When we came to close the sale we had two years of numbers to show that we actually knew-vaguely knew--what we were doing. We were off and running. We were here from 1977. We’re still here. We sold the farm, and we kept 10 acres, but we farmed until 2012.
John Roberts was appointed by the Biden Administration to serve as the State Executive Director of the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) in Vermont in February 2022.
Roberts immigrated to Vermont from Great Britain in 1974 after earning his Bachelor of Science degree in farm management.
He managed Shelburne Farms in Vermont until 1977 and then started his own dairy farm in Cornwall, Vermont, which was managed by his family until 2012. Roberts worked for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture as a water quality specialist for over six years and as the Executive Director of the Coalition, which he joined in 2020.
He continues to serve as a select board member for the town of Cornwall and was a delegate to the New England Dairy Promotion Board. Roberts also served terms on the Vermont Water Resources Board, Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, Board of the Vermont Land Trust, Vermont Brown Swiss Association, and as Chair of the Vermont USDA FSA StateCommittee.
Roberts also served in several state and national committee positions for the National Beef Promotion Board and the Grazing Land Conservation Initiative.
Roberts’ wife is a nurse and they have been married for 47 years. They have four children, all married, residing in various states across the country, with four grandchildren and another on the way. He enjoys bird watching, hiking, wood working, and photography.
Vermont USDA-FSA web site
Mycoplasma bovis in cattle
Champlain Valley (VT) Farmer Coalition
Vermont Required Ag Practices for Small Farms
Gathering of Good Graziers Event Information
Northeast Pasture Consortium web site
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show!
-
“My husband had been fascinated by Scottish Highlanders. We would drive by this place and you'd have to stop, get out of the car and like look through the woods to see them. And I was like, they're just big, shaggy horned beasts. I don't know about horns, you know, and it was like, oh my gosh. They wanted to sell the herd. They were getting older, had health problems. They wanted it to go somewhere local. A young family. I'm like, well, we're young, we're a family, maybe we could buy some calves. I didn't want anything to do with moms. I will buy some calves. So I come home and made the mistake of telling my husband about this. He's like, let's buy the whole herd.”
Tricia Park is a former volunteer EMT & Medic. She is a USAF veteran (ground equipment mechanic), serving three years in turkey & then four years in the NY Air National Guard. She’s been a grocery store night manager, legal assistant, house cleaner, insurance data processor, and editorial assistant. Now she’s a farmer, soap & salve maker and recent baker for their farmstand. Tricia is Holistic Management practitioner and mentored for four-plus years for Beginning Women Farmers with Holistic Management.
Creekside Meadows is 150 acre diversified farm in Madison County NY, in the hills southeast of Syracuse, raising 100% Grassfed Beef, Pasture/Woodland Raised Pork, seasonal vegetables, popcorn, soaps, baked goods, and firewood. The farm started as a homestead raising their own food and slowly expanded to sell meats to whomever wanted it. Tricia and her husband of 30 years, Matt, moved from the original 26-acre homestead and purchased a new farm twelve years ago.
Socials
Creekside Meadows Farm website
Creekside Meadows Farm email
Creekside Meadows Farm Instagram
Creekside Meadows Farm Facebook
Holistic Management online courses
Gathering of Good Graziers Event Information
Northeast Pasture Consortium web site
Choosing to Farm Patreon link
Leave us a review at Choosing to Farm!
The Choosing to Farm podcast is all about telling origin stories, learning from the journeys, and creating connection among first-and returning-generation livestock farmers and ranchers across the US and the world. After nearly 30 years working professionally in agriculture as well as being a returning-generation farmer myself, I’m here to share stories, tips and resources to help livestock farmers and ranchers heal our relationship with success. Want to help? Like, share or review this episode! Want to help even more? Join our Patreon to support the show!
- Mostrar mais
