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We know what draws you to Vermont: maple syrup, skiing, foliage, and (of course!) the World’s Best Cheddar. Those are four pretty amazing things, and definitely worth the visit. But have you ever wondered what makes us Vermonters stay? There are...

This post was written & photographed by Gretchen Powers – filmmaker, photographer, and writer with a passion for storytelling and capturing the essence of a person, place or thing.  Vermont is a small but mighty state and one of its many accolades...

Before the awards. Before the grocery-aisle displays. Before the cool of the cheese caves. Even before the products—the best cheddar and cottage cheese and yogurt and clothbound and the rest. Before that, there was simply this: a powerful love for...

Change of Heart Mark Cary did not plan to be a farmer. He grew up on small dairy farm east of Saratoga Springs, one of seven children. “I knew I didn’t want to farm after long, hot days throwing hay...

 Woodcrest Dairy lies just a few miles south of the St. Lawrence River and the Canadian border, in the flat, fertile farmland of Lisbon, New York. The property covers nearly 10 square miles, and houses more cattle than the entire...

Ben Dykema runs the Wilcon Farm in North Ferrisburgh, Vermont, and its name is a combination of his parents’ names, Wilma and Cornelius. After emigrating from Holland and getting married in New Jersey, Wilma and Cornelius purchased the family farm...

More Than Milk Since 1945, Whittiers have worked together to make good food for neighbors. In addition to their dairy herd, they run The Milk Store, which they describe as a 40-year-old, overgrown 4-H project. It has grown from a table under a tree piled with sweet corn to a year-round store bursting with vegetables grown...

Year-Round Schedule Rob and Karen Wheeler share the early-morning milking, which means being at the barn by 4 a.m. They don’t mind it though. “I appreciate the serenity, the peacefulness of the valley,” says Karen. “You’re at one with what’s...

Wappingers Falls, New York, is located along the eastern bank of the Hudson River, just south of Poughkeepsie. The village dates back to the mid-18th century, when much of the area was farmland. Today, due to the constant bustle of U.S....

Bob Foster has been on the leading edge of dairy diversification since the early 1980s. He coined the term “Cow Power” when he saw the opportunity to source clean-burning, environmentally safe, abundant energy from right under his feet…so-to-speak. The Fosters were among the first to install an anaerobic digester on their dairy farm, which allowed them to meet their electricity needs through generators powered by methane gas released from treated cow manure.  The family built one of the largest manure-based compost companies, producing and marketing Moo Doo, which is sold around the Northeast.

Coming Home to Stay While some dairy farms are challenged to find the next generation of farmers, Tiashoke Farms had the opposite problem—if you can call it a problem. Although Frank and Terry Ziehm pushed their three sons to explore...

A Different Kind of Chocolate Milk Farmer-chocolatier Kimberly Thorn crafts her Milkhouse Chocolates by meticulously matching the milk of each cows with all-natural flavorings like farm-grown mint or raspberries. The “buttery, honey, creamy caramel” milk of Daydream, for example, is...