Community

Tucked into the rolling hills of central Vermont is a picture-perfect farm with a herd of caramel-colored Jersey cows, beautiful wooden barns and a sugarhouse with artfully piled firewood. Along with their dad, Gordon, Scott Richardson and his younger brother Reid now run the farm their great-grandparents bought over a century ago.

Greg is the third generation on Porterdale Farms, and he has never wanted to be anywhere else. Lisa was also raised on a New York dairy farm and the couple met in college in farm finance class.The Porters raised three kids on the farm; their youngest, a daughter, is studying agriculture and might come home to farm. The couple also feels lucky to own and operate the farm with Greg’s younger cousin, Stephen Porter and his wife, Angela.

Paul was born on his family’s farm and his son Ryan, the fourth generation, came home recently after a decade spent in California to join his father on the farm. Taking advantage of plentiful visitors year-round, Paul and his wife Lee also run a maple syrup operation and grow a corn maze for the busy fall leaf-peeping season. They rarely lose a visitor, Paul jokes: “I don’t make it that complicated.”

The Poupore brothers run PAPAS Dairy in North Bangor, New York, and the name of the farm is a shout out to their father and an acronym for the five siblings. Peter, Alan, Patrick, Aaron, and Scott initially ran the family’s operation. PAPAS Dairy is a large operation with 2,100 milkers, about 2,100 young stock, and 4,000 acres of land. They grow corn silage and haylage, and with some 4,200 cows to feed, they use every bit of it on the farm.

Brothers John and Bruce Osborne, Bruce’s wife Dale, and son Bradley farm in the East Central New York region of Cherry Valley. The farm has been recognized as a 25 year “Dairy of Distinction” for farmstead appearance and are recipients of the “Super Milk” award for maintaining high quality milk.

Walter and Anne Trombley own the North Star Acres Farm in Ellenburg Center, NY where they have about 250 acres and a Holstein herd of 45 milkers and 35 young stock. They pasture the cows on about 70 acres of open land and grow haylage and alfalfa on the rest of the land for the winter months.

 

Some people host Open Houses for a few dozen friends and family, but the Gladstones do things on a slightly bigger scale. Their annual Open Farm event draws up to 800 visitors.The family’s original goal with the Open House event was to reach out to the community to offer a behind-the-scenes peek into daily life on their farm, from adorable baby calves to manure management.

Getting back to milk In a county known more for mountain activities and outlet stores, the Husseys run the only dairy farm. Justin’s grandfather, a veterinarian, started a farm in North Conway in 1960. The family took a break for almost two decades until Justin and Julie decided in 2003 to dip a toe into farming again.

Diane and Ed McGarry both studied agriculture in college and spent years working for and with farmers before they started milking their own herd in 1989 and set down the permanent roots of McGarry Dairy in 1993.

It was 1919 when 94 central Vermont farmers joined forces to turn their surplus milk into butter. McDonald Farm in Danville, one of the original co-op members, is still going strong.